According to a global study from the Kenexa Research Institute, 47% of UK employees don't rate their senior leadership team very highly.
Developed from a survey of 21,920 employees in 18 countries, the study shows that an organisation's senior leadership team has a significant impact on its employees' overall opinions of the company and engagement levels, which have been linked to both earnings per share and total shareholder return.
Employees in India (69%), Brazil (59%) and the US (54%) report the highest ratings of leadership effectiveness followed by those in China (53%) and Canada (52%). Workers in Japan (33%) report the lowest ratings.
The average number of employees worldwide who rate their leadership team as effective is 51%.
Jack Wiley, executive director, Kenexa Research Institute, said: "UK employees view their senior leadership team as effective if it quickly responds to marketplace opportunities and competitive threats, keeps employees well-informed about organisational issues, makes decisions that demonstrate that quality and improvement are top priorities and motivates people to work hard and to put in extra effort when needed."
Employees with positive opinions of their leadership team state a much higher intention to stay with the organisation compared with those who are dissatisfied. They are also much more likely to have confidence in the organisation's prospects and more likely to feel they have a promising future career within the organisation.
"These findings reinforce the importance of senior management's communication with employees. Those teams that demonstrate a strong emphasis on gaining employees' confidence through their decisions and actions, keep employees well-informed regarding company direction and have the ability to deal with the organisation's challenges are the ones that will build more highly engaged workforces and outperform their competitors," added Wiley.
