WorldTalk
WORLDTALK
Workers’ Trust In Corporate Leaders Increased Modestly says Towers Watson Research
According to Towers Watson’s research, workers’ trust and confidence in corporate leaders has increased modestly over the past four years, but the number of workers who think top management provides effective leadership overall has slipped slightly.
• While a majority of employees give leaders high marks for promoting a positive image and understanding what drives success, barely half say leaders inspire employees, understand how their actions impact them or are open to new ideas
• Effectiveness of leadership seems even more important than effective direct managers, therefore leadership skills improvement should be a key focus area for the Middle East employers.
Key Highlights
• In the Middle East, the traditional view of the manager in charge of employees’ careers is more common, with a tendency of 28% for managers to guide employee’s careers, compared to the global tendency of 11%
• Less than half (48%) of employees surveyed in the UAE said they have trust and confidence in their senior leaders
• In the UAE, 38% of the employees think that their organization seeks opinions or suggestions from them and 34%think they act on employee’s suggestions
• Only 32% agree that their company’s management involves employees in decisions that affect them.
• Barely half of the respondents think that their immediate managers listen carefully to their point of view and 36% think that career development discussions in the past year have further developed
• The view on senior leadership in the UAE points out the fact that only 42% of employees think that senior leaders develop future leaders and only 39% think that the seniors are sincerely interested in their well-being
Executive Commentary
“The results of our study highlight the generation gap and their different expectations. The main attraction driver for the young generation is growth and career opportunities. It is a defining characteristic of generation Y: they were brought up with Internet and everything working at high-speed with the information available one click away. They are highly productive and will question the ways of their superiors if the messages are not consistent. Good leaders will challenge and motivate them to retain critical talent. Succession plans based on potential, development programs and training are key-tools in retaining and developing high potential and emerging employees,” said Jim Matthewman, director and lead consultant on HR Strategy, OD and Workforce Planning, at Towers Watson
10 | TRAINING MAGAZINE EUROPE MARCH 2015