Mercer: Many Execs Suffer Worker Confidence Crisis

July 21, 2005 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Executives in many American companies are apparently suffering declining workforce support with only four in 10 workers believing their bosses will always communicate honestly.

A Mercer Human Resource Consulting news release said a mere 38% of those responding to its recent survey said their leaders “do a good job of explaining important business decisions.”

While Mercer found two of every three workers said they feel a strong sense of commitment to their organizations, C-suite executives will take little comfort from other survey findings:

  • only 39% of the workers said their top executives do a good job of confronting challenges before they become a major problem.
  • less than half (49%) of the workers said their organization is well managed.
  • only 49% of the workers agreed with the statement that “senior management communicates a clear vision of the future direction of my organization.”
  • just over half (52%) agreed with the statement that “senior management of my organization does a good job of establishing clear objectives.”

“Our survey found that US workers feel pride in their organizations, but they don’t exhibit much trust in the people running their companies,” says Rod Fralicx, Mercer’s global employee research director, in the news release. “A number of top executives have been at the center of high-visibility corporate scandals in recent years and you can tie those developments to some of the cynicism and lack of trust.”

According to Fralicx, the numbers reported in this year’s survey indicate that, despite technology improvements, internal communication problems remain rampant.

Of the surveyed employees who don’t think senior management communicates a clear vision of the future direction of the organization, only 12% feel the organization is well managed and 63% believe it is not well managed. Of the employees who do not trust management to always communicate honestly, only 18% feel the organization is well managed and 56% believe it is not well managed.

The results of Mercer’s 2005 What’s Working survey are based on data collected from 800 organizations, representing a cross-section of industries.

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