21 November 2008
Employees have little faith in CEOs and even less in senior managers
Those closer to the CEO trust management more than employees nearer the frontline.
Recent survey results show that UK CEOs and senior managers are losing the battle for trust from employees.
The 5,114 employees who responded to the survey, commissioned by executive recruitment and development consultancy Endaba, listed the the top 3 reasons for this as:
- CEOs and senior managers don't care about employees (chosen by almost 50%).
- CEOs and senior managers don't mean what they say (chosen by around 40%).
- CEOs and senior managers don't value the contribution employees make (chosen by around 40%).
90% of respondents believe that trust is impossible, or at best, difficult to rebuild once it's lost.
Senior managers less trustworthy than the CEO
More than a quarter don't think their CEO is honest and truthful or that they deliver on promises. But a third of respondents say the above is also true for senior managers – actually placing them below CEOs when it comes to trust from employees.
Perhaps what's even more worrying, is that almost 90% of respondents believe that trust is impossible, or at best, difficult to rebuild once it's lost.
The Hub asked leadership communication expert and director of Flametree Communication, Darren Briggs (pictured, left) to comment on the implications of this, and how, if at all, trust can be regained.
"Trust can be eroded in many ways, but it's typically as a result of the words not matching the deeds. In other words, they say one thing and their behavior represents something completely different," says Briggs.
"Leaders have to earn the trust of their people - it doesn't just come with the job description. Trust requires leadership that's focused on building a strong relationship with their employees and that requires time and energy to engage in meaningful dialogue and be seen to proactively listen and respond to employee concerns and issues," he says.
Those closer to the CEO are more trusting of management than employees nearer the frontline.
Hierarchical and gender differences
The research found that that those closer to the CEO are more trusting of management than employees nearer the frontline – a trend that's noted in many organizations. Only 27% of the senior managers questioned don't trust their CEO, compared to 39% of other managers and 44% of employees working in non-management roles.
The survey also highlighted some differences in male and female perceptions of what makes a person trustworthy.
Female respondents place greater emphasis on a person's ability to maintain confidentiality, authenticity and dependability than male respondents. See table 1, below, for a full breakdown of the qualities listed in the survey.
Table 1. Survey responses to the question: What makes an individual trustworthy?
Characteristic |
Average % |
Male |
Female |
Honesty |
83.43 |
78.15 |
86.24 |
Dependability |
61.72 |
55.59 |
64.99 |
Delivers on a promise |
55.04 |
49.65 |
57.92 |
Is genuine/authentic |
51.30 |
40.21 |
57.26 |
Can keep a secret/confidence |
49.89 |
38.11 |
56.22 |
Integrity |
49.46 |
46.50 |
51.04 |
Consistency |
48.42 |
43.09 |
51.27 |
Strong moral values |
43.34: |
39.07 |
45.71 |
Openness |
42.70 |
39.25 |
44.53 |
High ethical standards: |
35.90 |
33.92 |
36.95 |
Do they even care about us?
The worst case scenario is where employees believe their leaders are indifferent about whether they're trusted by staff or not – 57% of respondents thought this was the case in their organizations.
Briggs thinks this is an even more worrying situation for leaders to find themselves in. "In my experience leaders at all levels want to be trusted by their people. The challenge here is for leaders to demonstrate that trust is important to them, without having to actually saying that this is the case," he says.
Media influence on employee trust
The research was carried out during August and September 2008, a period during which news of the financial crisis seemed to be reaching a climax, as the collapse of large investment banks like Lehman Brothers and images of employees clearing their desks were dominating the media.
The Hub reported earlier this week on the effect of media sensationalism around redundancies on BT's employees, some of whom say they found out about the proposed cuts in the media before hearing about them from their employer.
With the media keeping such a close eye on large organizations, it can be tricky for communicators to time messages and get leadership communication just right. Hearing news about an organization from the media first could also contribute to mistrust in leadership.
A tip for leaders
Referring back to Briggs' comments about leaders needing to demonstrate that trust is important to them, one way leaders can do this is by being more visible and increasing their face-to-face contact with staff. This could help build the relationship between leaders and employees, and slowly regain their trust.
Here's a piece of advice from Aniko Czinege, principal, Workwise Communication, a Hub contributor andauthor of the Melcrum report: Communicating during economic downturn, on how leaders can increase their visibility.
"Beef up informal and face-to-face communication. Move away from pushing information purely through channels such as an intranet and newsletters. Encourage leaders to increase ad hoc staff communication — for example, site walk-abouts and regular informal update meetings."
Have your say
Which characteristics do you believe make an individual, or indeed a leader, trustworthy? How can leaders demonstrate that they care? How can internal communicators address the issue of media sensationalism and the effect, if any, it has on trust in leaders? Share your thoughts with us below.
Recommended resources:
How to shape how your employees perceive leaders
TOOL: Issues affecting trust at work graph
Major job cuts – a challenge for internal communication
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