"As our Great Place To Work Trust Index score has gone up, so has our profitability."
— John Burke, CEO Trek Bicycles

Transform your workplace culture with the Trust Index Survey

The best employers attract and retain top performers by obsessing over the employee experience. They also rely on employee experience software from Great Place To Work® to measure, benchmark, and improve employee satisfaction.

In broad terms, the Great Place To Work Trust Index Survey measures the level of trust in your organization and the consistency of the employee experience. In other words: How often can employees count on something happening in their workplace, such as clear and honest leadership, fair treatment, and employee recognition?

More specifically, the Great Place To Work Trust Index Survey measures individual employee experiences of five focus areas of a high-trust company culture through 60 statements and two open-ended questions. Three of the focus areas are connected to the actions of leaders and building trust: credibility, respect, and fairness. The other two focus areas measure the workplace experience of employees in relation to their colleagues and the wider organization: pride and a sense of belonging.

These five focus areas create a workplace culture where employees feel empowered and encouraged to do their most meaningful work. High-trust cultures are shown in Great Place To Work research to outperform their competitors in recruitment and retention, productivity and innovation, and financial performance.  

Survey answers are assessed on a five-point scale, revealing the most common experience of employees in the organization. Employee scores are averaged to provide an organization-wide assessment of workplace culture: the Trust Index score.

Our Trust Index™ Survey platform is designed to support a wide range of feedback collection needs. You can use it to gather insights from various groups across your organization — whether you’re running engagement surveys, onboarding feedback, pulse checks, or other internal assessments. This flexibility allows you to include different types of workers depending on your goals, such as contractors, interns, or even franchise employees in some contexts.

However, the criteria for Certification eligibility are more specific and must be followed closely. If you’re unsure how to best capture feedback from various populations within your organization, or if you have any other questions, our team would be more than happy to talk to you.

To be eligible for Certification, you must include all indivduals who are legally employed by your company, paid directly by your company, and classified under one or more of the following at the time of survey launch:

• Employment status: All part-time and full-time employees
• Job roles: Including the CEO and all levels of staff
• Locations: All company locations
• Union status: Both union and non-union employees
• New hires: Including those from mergers or acquisitions
• Remote workers: Telecommuters and those working from home
• Employment type: Seasonal, casual/per diem employees, interns
• Age: Employees under 18, as permitted by local laws

Important: Failure to include any eligible group — whether intentionally or inadvertently — or failure to invite the required number of employees will result in disqualification from Certification and Best Workplaces™ list eligibility.

Do not include individuals who are not legally employed by your organization at the time of survey launch, such as:

• Contractors: Employed by another company or self-employed. These individuals should be surveyed by their legal employer.
• Furloughed employees: Temporarily not working and not expected to perform any duties during the furlough period.
• Franchise workers: Typically employed by the franchisee, not the franchisor. Only include them if they are legally employed by your company.