News: Performance Management
'Employees not motivated by leaders'
13 March 2008
Employees are often vague about leadership issues in their workplaces, a new survey has discovered.
An analysis of responses from the Sunday Times 100 Best Companies To Work For survey concluded that business leaders need to work harder to engage with a significant minority of "floating voters" if they want their staff to work more efficiently.
The newspaper regards floating voters to be employees who gave an average score of three to five on a seven-point scale on leadership questions included in the survey.
Out of the 162,000 employees who worked for companies completing the survey, 54,724 were found to be floating voters.
Dr Pete Bradon, head of research at Best Companies, said: "It's a huge number. These are generally people who turn up and do their job. They are not unhappy but they are not motivated either."
Meanwhile, recent research released by Investors in People revealed that less than a third of UK employees have complete trust in their managers.
In addition, 55 per cent of employees were found to believe that their manager only has their best interests at heart when it suits them.
