Staffers Still Trust Corporate Execs

Seven out of 10 employees and slightly more HR professionals (72%) said their company’s leaders are extremely or moderately trustworthy. Only 11% of employees and 5% of HR professionals felt that their organization’s leadership is not at all trustworthy, with the remainder – 20% of employees and 23% of HR – rating their leaders as “mildly trustworthy,” according to the Employee Trust and Organizational Loyalty poll findings released by the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) and CareerJournal.com.

The trustworthiness of the corporate leadership translates into employee loyalty, an important factor in keeping a stable workforce. Nearly eight out of 10 (77%) HR professionals and 71% of employees said they are either extremely or moderately loyal to their organization. Only 6% of employees said they are not at all loyal to their organization.

“Unless they feel a sense of loyalty, highly talented employees are going to be the first people out the door once the economy turns around,” says Tony Lee, editor in chief, CareerJournal.com. “The best places to work create loyalty among employees. As hiring demand continues to improve, it’s even more important for top company executives to maintain employee loyalty by demonstrating that they can be trusted to lead their companies through this period of new growth.”

Companies still have room to grow, particularly in their corporate ethics. Less than half (45%) of HR professionals and 27% of employees strongly agreed that their organization’s leadership is ethical. Additionally, companies need to work on the dissemination of information on the company’s ethics and values, corporate mission, financial standing, and workplace policies – 26% of employees and 13% of HR professionals disagreed or strongly disagreed that their organization provides employees enough information on workplace policies.

A total of 370 HR professionals and 407 employees responded to the poll.