- Nearly 90% of CEOs Are Confident Employees Trust Their Leadership, but Only 46% of Employees Agree
- One in Three CEOs Have Considered Stepping Down in the Past Six Months, Rising to More Than 40% at the Largest Companies
BOSTON—CEOs are significantly overestimating how much their employees trust them, particularly as they lead transformations around artificial intelligence (AI), according to new research from Boston Consulting Group (BCG). Four in ten employees say their CEO has not been transparent enough about how AI will affect their roles and career opportunities. Yet just 15% of CEOs worry that their approach to AI transformation could erode employee trust.
The disconnect extends well beyond AI. Nearly 90% of CEOs are confident that their employees trust their leadership overall, but just 46% of employees agree.
The findings come from the second edition of BCG’s CEO Insomnia Index, based on global surveys of 645 CEOs of leading companies with at least $100 million in revenue and 500 nonexecutive employees, as well as five years of CEO turnover data from the S&P 1200. By bringing employee perspectives into the Index, this edition aims to help CEOs better understand how their leadership is experienced across their organizations and identify ways to build trust as they navigate AI-driven change.
“Historically, there’s always been this perception gap,” says Julie Bedard, a BCG managing director and partner and a member of the firm’s Global AI Leadership team. “Leadership teams, including CEOs, sometimes overestimate this type of trust, and I think it has only increased as the relationship between employer and employee becomes more transactional in some companies.”
An AI Trust Gap with Real Costs
Half of employees who say their CEO’s handling of AI has increased their trust are more willing to go above and beyond at work than they were three months ago. Among employees whose trust in their CEO’s AI leadership has eroded, fewer than 10% say the same, a difference of more than 40 percentage points.
“CEOs assume that since employees hear their words, that’s enough to build trust, but employees also judge CEOs by their actions,” says Matthias Tauber, a BCG managing director and senior partner and regional chair for Europe, the Middle East, South America, and Africa. “CEOs must be realistic in their words and consistent in their actions.”
Nearly 70% of CEOs are confident employees trust them to prioritize employee well-being when deciding how to fund critical business priorities. Only 36% of employees agree—a gap of more than 30 percentage points.
Despite these disconnects, 58% of CEOs say they are not concerned about rising employee disgruntlement, with many pointing to existing efforts to keep employees satisfied.
One in Three CEOs Have Considered Stepping Down
CEOs report feeling somewhat less stressed overall. The CEO Insomnia Index stress score fell to 64.2 out of 100, down from 66.7 earlier this year.
Despite this, 34% of chief executives say they have considered stepping down at some point in the past six months. That figure rises to more than 40% among CEOs of the largest companies in the study. Among the reasons they cite for leaving are better health, more family time, improved work-life balance, and a happier life.
C-Suite Changes May Be Coming
Sixty-three percent of CEOs are confident their senior leadership teams can execute their vision over the next two to four quarters. Yet nearly 60% of CEOs—and 70% of those leading the largest companies in the study—say they plan to replace a member of their C-suite within the next six months.
CFOs top the list, echoing the inaugural CEO Insomnia Index, in which 26% of CEOs identified their CFO as the C-suite colleague who posed the greatest threat to their own job security.
Media Contact:
Eric Gregoire
+1 617 850 3783
gregoire.eric@bcg.com
