"Korean Employees Show Particularly Low Trust in Immediate Supervisors and Management"

Trust in Top Management Only 27% in Korea, Compared to 51% Globally
"Learned Job Skills" at 31%... Far Below the Global Average of 56%

A recent survey found that employees in South Korea have a significantly lower level of trust in their immediate supervisors and top management compared to the global average. The analysis also revealed that the gap in opportunities for training to improve work proficiency is severe depending on job level.

On November 14, Samil PwC released the results of the '2025 Global Workforce Hopes and Fears Survey.' This survey, now in its sixth year since 2019, was conducted between July and August, targeting 49,843 employees across 48 countries worldwide.

Trust in Immediate Supervisors and Top Management in Korea Is Half the Global Average

The survey results showed that Korean employees exhibited a stark difference from the global average in terms of trust in their immediate supervisors and top management. Only 30% of Korean respondents said they trust their immediate supervisors, and just 27% said they trust their top management. These figures are far below the global averages, where 58% of employees trust their immediate supervisors and 51% trust their top management.

As artificial intelligence (AI) rapidly spreads in the workplace, providing opportunities for 'upskilling' to enhance work proficiency has become increasingly important. However, the gap in training opportunities by job level was also found to be severe. The percentage of respondents who said they receive sufficient learning and development resources was 72% among executives, 66% among middle managers, and only 51% among rank-and-file employees, showing a gap of up to 21 percentage points.

The situation was even more pronounced in Korea. Only 31% of Korean respondents said they had learned new skills at work that were helpful to their careers in the past year, far below the global average of 56%.

The report advised, "Leaders should specify which skills will be most important in the future, connect them to business strategies, and provide fair opportunities to build those skills. Establishing protocols for testing and applying new capabilities in the workplace will further enhance the effectiveness of upskilling."

Employees Who Use AI Daily Experience Higher Wages, Job Security, and Productivity

Meanwhile, the survey also found that the adoption of generative AI is spreading rapidly. Among employees who use generative AI daily, 92% reported a noticeable increase in productivity, outpacing occasional users (58%) by 34 percentage points. These daily users also reported greater improvements in job security (58%) and wage increases (52%) compared to occasional users (36% and 32%, respectively). Additionally, 69% of daily AI users expressed optimism about their job prospects in the next year, significantly higher than occasional users (51%) and non-users (44%).

Despite the proven positive effects of AI utilization, the percentage of employees using AI daily increased only slightly from 12% last year to 14% this year. The percentage of employees who used AI at least once for work in the past year was just over half, at 54%. The usage rate of agent AI, which autonomously makes and executes decisions including decision-making, was even lower at 6%. More detailed information on the report can be found on the Samil PwC website.

Choi Changbeom, People & Organization Strategy Partner at Samil PwC, stated, "True innovation in the AI era requires not just the adoption of technology, but also the establishment of transparent leadership, a trust-based organizational culture, and systematic support to strengthen employees' AI transformation capabilities." He added, "Korean companies must go beyond simply building systems to restore trust in leadership, enhance education and communication, and establish a collaborative culture that encourages participation from all members."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.