Credit Unions top the Ireland RepTrak® 2023 study of 100 organisations

 

Study reveals largest overall drop in scores over 14 years of tracking reputation 

Greatest decline in perceptions that organisations demonstrate concern for employee health and well-being

 

Dublin, Wednesday 10^th May 2023 – The Reputations Agency has today announced the results of the Ireland RepTrak® 2023 study, the largest and longest running study of reputation in Ireland. The results have been revealed ahead of a breakfast briefing for C-suite executives at The Merrion Hotel centred on the theme of “Building a Great Workplace Reputation”.

                                                     

The fourteenth annual Ireland RepTrak® 2023 study is based on the perceptions of over 5,500 members of the public. It measures the level of trust, respect, admiration and esteem the public has for 100 organisations in Ireland, alongside 100 other reputation, brand, purpose and ESG indicators. The study was completed between the 2^nd January and 28^th February 2023, capturing public sentiment in the midst of a “new normal” that remains highly unsettled by the cost of living crisis, war in Ukraine, technology sector redundancy announcements and continuing fallout from a global pandemic.  This year Twitter and An Bord Pleanála were included for the first time, to replace Ulster Bank and KBC who were exiting the Irish market.

 

Top ten winners 2023

 

Credit Unions took the top spot overall as the most reputable organisation in Ireland with an excellent Reputation Pulse score of 82.8. credited with being a cornerstone of local communities with over 3.6 million members. The public acknowledged the trust that members place in their local credit union and their friendly people focused approach.

An Post was recognised as the second most reputable organisation with an excellent score of 80.8, recognised for bringing its purpose to life in acting for the common good, improving the quality of life across every community in Ireland, and for its transformation towards a sustainable business, successfully delivering in a new world of eCommerce and financial services. 

 

Bord Bia’s vision of driving high standards for quality and sustainability, supporting Irish food producers, and bringing Ireland’s outstanding food, drink and horticulture to the world resulted in their third place ranking with an excellent reputation score of 80.6. 

 

The top 10 most reputable Irish organisations in the Ireland RepTrak® 2023 study

Rank	Organisation	Reputation Score	Rank	Organisation	Reputation Score
1.	Credit Unions	82.8	6.	Aldi	77.6
2.	An Post	80.8	7.	St Vincent’s Private Hospital	76.6
3.	Bord Bia	80.6	8.	Boots	76.1
4.	Toyota	78.9	9.	Lidl	75.9
5.	Blackrock Healthcare	77.7	10.	Samsung	75.9

 

Speaking on the theme of this year’s event, Building a Great Workplace Reputation, Niamh Boyle, CEO, The Reputations Agency, stressed the strong correlation between positive Workplace perceptions and overall Reputation:

 

“We’ve chosen Workplace as our theme this year because, over the last year, attracting and retaining the best people has become intensely challenging and is the single biggest threat to businesses, even more than managing the rising costs of doing business.  At the same time, the public is taking greater notice of how organisations treat their workers, and this is having more influence over corporate reputation. 

 

“Of the 23 factors that drive an organisation’s reputation, the largest decline in this year’s study was in the public’s perceptions that organisations Demonstrate concern for the health and well-being of their employees – a significant decline of five points”. 

 

Of the 16 sectors studied, two have incurred the highest levels of decline in both reputation and support over the last two years of the study:

 

The Infrastructure sector’s reputation score has fallen from a strong score of 70.8 to a Moderate score of 60.5 out of 100 - a 15% decline in score. With this reputational decline support has also fallen 31% in the willingness to work for the sector, 29% in propensity to trust to do the right thing and 22% in willingness to buy products or services from the sector.

 

The Energy Retail sector’s reputation score has fallen from a Strong score of 72.5 to a Moderate score of 62.1 out of 100 - a 14% decline in score. With this reputational decline support has also fallen 24% in the willingness to work for the sector, 30% in propensity to trust to do the right thing and 33% in willingness to buy products or services from the sector.

 

“Perceptions of an organisation’s workplace is strongly correlated with the health of a corporate reputation. This year seven of the top ten organisations with most positive Workplace perceptions hold a top ten place in overall reputation.  Equally, the healthier your reputation, the more willing people will be to work for you. Our research proves that every five-point gain in reputation score increases the public’s propensity to work for your organisation by four percent.  People are 12 times more likely to work for an organisation they believe has an Excellent reputation than one they believe has a Poor reputation. Workplace policies and programmes can also support important perceptions that organisations are fair, ethical, and ultimately a positive influence on society.”

Workplace reputation

We asked the public to rate the 100 organisations across three key workplace metrics:

1. Does the organisation offers equal opportunities in the workplace
2. Do they reward their employees fairly
3. Do they demonstrate concern for the health and well-being of their employees

 

Bord Bia took first place, followed by Kerry Group (2^nd), Boots (3^rd), Glanbia (4^th) and Aldi (5^th) taking up the top five places. The remaining five were taken by Credit Unions (6^th), Lidl (7^th), An Post (8^th), Kellogg’s (9^th) and Blackrock Health (10^th) in tenth place.

 

Most desirable places to work

When respondents were asked a more personal question “Given the opportunity, would you work for this organisation?” Google took first place with Toyota (2^nd), Microsoft (3^rd), Samsung (4^th) and Kerry Group  (5^th) taking the remaining top five places, followed by An Post (6^th), Apple (7^th), Bord Bia (8^th), Janssen (9^th) and Glanbia (10^th) in tenth place. 

Six new entrants arrive into the top ten when we ask about Workplace in this way – Google, Toyota, Microsoft, Samsung, Apple, Janssen.  Just four organisations remain in both Workplace top tens - An Post, Bord Bia, Kerry and Glanbia – all Irish indigenous organisations. An Post is noteworthy for being the only customer facing organisation in both top tens, having focused so strongly in offering Decent Work to their employees.

Uncertainty drives down Reputation across sectors

The average Reputation score across 100 organisations dropped by -3.7 points with the largest year on year change over the 14 years of this study.  Reputation, the emotional bond based on trust, respect, admiration and esteem, declined as the public became more critical of organisations’ intentions and actions in the face of price hikes, in particular energy and food price hikes, a series of mortgage interest rate increases and layoffs.  A widespread, cross-sectoral decline was reported as 49 of the 100 organisations studied this year experienced significant declines in Reputation, while only four organisations improved their score. 

Even organisations with Strong reputations (scoring between 70-79 out of 100) were vulnerable as discontent drove down the emotional bond the public have with organisations. The number of organisations with a Strong reputation fell from 49 in 2022 to 28 in 2023, while three organisations in the top 100 received an overall Excellent score (80+), 56 were in the Average/Moderate tier (scoring 60-69) while 13 organisations had a Weak score (40-59).

Of the 23 factors that drive an organisation’s reputation, the largest decline in this year’s study was in the public’s perceptions that organisations Demonstrate concern for the health and well-being of their employees – a significant decline of five points.  This reflects concerns and a subsequent reputational backlash over staff layoffs and downsizing, relocations, and employer wishes that staff return to the office following the pandemic.

The second greatest decline was in perceptions that organisations are First to market with new products & services, which fell by 4.9 points, as the public perceived organisations to be slow to roll out solutions to real pressures like inflation, interest rate hikes and climate change.  Perceptions of Good value declined by 4.8 points, showing the effects of inflation and price. 

Comparing Indigenous Irish and multinational organisations

The study also highlights significant differences between Indigenous organisations and multinational companies. Taking Reputation Pulse scores, which demonstrate the emotional bond the public has with a company, into consideration, both indigenous (66.1) and multinational (66.5) organisations are on a par in 2023. However, multinationals have significantly higher scores in Innovation (6.7 percentage points higher), Performance (5.2 higher), Leadership (4.1 higher) and Products & Services (4.1 higher). This is an important marker for indigenous firms to consider, particularly in what is currently a hugely competitive employee market as employees will choose to work for those organisations with the strongest emotional and rational reputations. While multinationals have the advantage of far greater resources and global branding, Irish firms can learn from how multinational communicate and project their reputation and brand.

 Speaking on their success in securing first place, David Malone, CEO of the Irish League of Credit Unions said, “The results of the 2023 RepTrak study are a significant achievement for the credit union sector, and once again a recognition of the role that we play in communities across Ireland. We are delighted with the results, which positions us as a leader among some of the most prominent organisations and household names in Ireland.

 “The RepTrak survey emphasises attributes such as trust and respect, which are core to the ethos of credit unions which are locally owned, and, or managed. With over 3,000 Credit Union employees and 2,300 volunteers, we are proud to be at the heart of communities nationwide working towards a more inclusive society, where no one is left behind.

“As we look to the future and the development of our offering to communities, this achievement is an important barometer of the sectors success to date and future opportunity for credit unions and those that we serve across Ireland.”

 

About the Ireland RepTrak® 2023 study

The Ireland RepTrak^® 2023 study surveyed a representative sample of 5,574 members of the public aged 18+ throughout the Republic of Ireland between 2^nd January and 28^th February 2023, measuring their perceptions of 100 of the largest, most familiar, and most important organisations in Ireland, across sixteen sectors.  Companies are ranked on a Reputation score from 0-100 and are grouped as Excellent (80+), Strong (70-79), Average (60-69), Weak (40-59) or Poor (Below 40). 

 

In this study, we rank organisations by their RepTrak^® Reputation score, which is the basis of the ranking and measures the strength of the emotional bond between an organisation and the public, based on the results of four statements that test the level of esteem, admiration, trust, and good feeling. 

 

The Ireland RepTrak® study carries out a reputation driver analysis to understand what components of reputation are really driving reputation and what the public expects from the country’s leading organisations. These drivers include Performance, Products & Services, Innovation, Workplace, Conduct, Citizenship and Leadership.

 

Ireland RepTrak® Rankings by Sector

The sixteen sectors studied in 2023 were ranked as follows:

 

Strong Reputation Tier

1. Automotive (Reputation Score 72.1  - down 4.6 points)
2. Retail Food (71.7 – down 4.2)
3. Healthcare (71.4 – down 4.7)
4. Food & Beverage (70.3 – down 2.4)

 

Average Reputation Tier

5. Financial – Banks (68.3 – up 0.8 points)
6. Semi State Commercial (68.1 – down 4.7)
7. Financial Insurance (67.3 – down 4.2)
8. Public Service Bodies (65.5 – down 5.5)
9. Communications - Technology (65.2 – down 0.9)
10. Retail General (65.0 – down 2.5)
11. Professional Services (64.9 – down 2.5)
12. Airlines & Aerospace (63.2 – down 3.2)
13. Energy – Retail (62.1 – down 6.5)
14. Sporting Bodies (61.0 – down 4.2)
15. Infrastructure (60.5 – down 7.5)

 

Weak Reputation Tier

16. Communications - Media (59.5 - down 3.3 points)