New report shows growing trust gap when it comes to pay equity
One in four workers globally would trust artificial intelligence over their own HR department to audit and assess pay equity, according to new global research, which warned of a widening trust gap between employees and the organisations that manage their pay.
The study, commissioned by Globalization Partners (G-P) and conducted by Talker Research, surveyed 4,000 employed professionals across the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Singapore, and Australia in April 2026.
More than a quarter (26%) of respondents said they would trust AI more than their HR department to audit and assess pay equity.
Workers cited neutrality and freedom from internal company pressure as reasons. A further 40% said they believed AI could make pay more equal across their workforce.
A trust deficit
The preference for AI over HR on pay equity sits alongside broader scepticism about employer intentions.
Forty-four per cent of workers said they believed their employer would withhold pay information if it were legally permitted to do so, according to the G-P findings.
Another 82% percent of respondents said pay transparency was important to them, yet only 34% believed they worked at an organisation that actually practised it, either informally or through a formal policy.
Laura Maffucci, Head of HR at G-P, said the AI finding did not necessarily signal a failure of HR.
"No HR team, no matter how great they are, can be an expert in every single market or stay completely detached from internal pressures," Maffucci said.
"By using specialised AI systems — the ones purpose-built for global compliance and local laws — we're giving our teams a neutral, data-backed foundation for sensitive issues like pay equity."
Workers raise the bar
The trust gap emerges as workers indicate they expect more from employers on pay transparency than many currently deliver.
Some 71% of respondents said they expected their employer to apply the most rigorous pay transparency regulations company-wide, regardless of the country in which they or their employer operated.
Those expectations come as new pay transparency rules take effect in Europe.
The EU Pay Transparency Directive, which came into force in June 2026, requires employers to inform jobseekers about starting salary or pay range ahead of interview, prohibits asking candidates about pay history, and gives employees the right to request information on their individual pay level relative to peers doing the same work.
Employers with at least 100 employees must additionally publish data on the gender pay gap and carry out a pay assessment if that gap exceeds five per cent without justification.
