Employees cynical about company values

Sunday, November 13, 2005

Employees cynical about company values

Only a small minority of employees believe that their organization's values are consistent with what it actually rewards, according to a survey from Mercer Human Resources Consulting.

The consultancy interviewed 1,100 UK employees and found that only 35% of respondents thought rewards matched company values, while 58% thought their organization communicated its values clearly.

Fewer than half of respondents (45%) think management behaves in a way that's consistent with organizational values and 48% think there's sufficient contact between managers and employees. Fewer than four in 10 employees (36%) trust senior managers to communicate honestly, down slightly from 39% in 2002.

The survey also found lower levels of trust in the UK than in the US, where it recently carried out a similar survey. In the US, trust was slightly higher with 40% of employees believing that managers' communications were honest.

Dr Patrick Gilbert, head of organizational research and effectiveness at Mercer, said company values provide a touchstone for guiding and evaluating behavior: Values only become meaningful if managers adopt them and lead by example. If these values are ignored by those at the top of the organization, employees can become disaffected and cynical.

Source: Mercer Human Resource Consulting.

Blogged on 7:16 PM by Upay

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