Nearly two-thirds of U.S. employees say businesses have a positive impact on people’s lives—small businesses especially so—but many are skeptical about employers using artificial intelligence responsibly, according to a new report from Gallup and Bentley University in Waltham, Mass.
First, the good news: Among 5,458 adults ages 18 and older in the U.S. surveyed in May, 63 percent said businesses have a positive impact on people’s lives. That’s an 8 percentage-point increase from 2022.
“That number has risen significantly, even as Americans’ faith in other institutions has fallen,” writes Bentley President E. LaBrent Chrite in the introduction to the second annual Business in Society Report. “I think the reason is clear: Positive margins and profitability necessitate community investment, stakeholder engagement and commonality.”
Research also found workers are more likely to give a thumbs-up to small businesses over big employers—85 percent versus 42 percent.
But businesses overall fall short in 12 areas ranging from engaging in sustainable operations to promoting inclusion, equity and diversity and reducing emissions and their carbon footprint, workers said.
For example, while 81 percent of workers said it’s extremely important businesses offer fair wages to all workers, only 30 percent think employers are good or excellent at it—it’s also one of the practices workers most want businesses to prioritize.
“Notably, Americans who identify a business practice as ‘extremely important’ are often significantly less likely to believe businesses are performing that practice well, compared with their peers who state the practice is less important,” the report says. “In other words, Americans who assign the greatest responsibility to businesses to do good are the least likely to believe they are doing so.”
Additionally, 82 percent of workers said it’s important to reduce the pay gap between CEOs and employees, but only 13 percent think employers do a good or…
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