These findings from the 2005 What's Working™ survey, conducted by Mercer Human Resource Consulting in the first quarter of this year, reflect the thinking of a representative sample of workers employed by more than 800 organizations across the US. The survey is part of an ongoing effort to capture contemporary perceptions of work and to develop scientific norms that Mercer's clients can use as they design, implement, and communicate their human resource strategies and programs.

While Mercer found two of every three workers say they feel a strong sense of commitment to their organizations, C-suite executives will take little comfort from other survey findings:

• When asked whether "senior management does a good job of confronting issues before they become major problems," only 39% of the workers said yes.
• Less than half (49%) of the workers said their organization as a whole is well managed.
• Only 49% of the workers agreed with the statement that "senior management communicates a clear vision of the future direction of my organization."
• Just over half (52%) agreed with the statement that "senior management of my organization does a good job of establishing clear objectives."

"Our survey found that US workers feel pride in their organizations, but they don't exhibit much trust in the people running their companies," says Rod Fralicx, PhD, Mercer's global employee research director and the manager of the What's Working survey. "A number of top executives have been at the center of high-visibility corporate scandals in recent years and you can tie those developments to some of the cynicism and lack of trust," he says.

Eyeballing the "line-of-sight" problem

There is little argument that e-mail, intranets, and video have made it easier for organizations to manage their top-down communication. Yet, according to Dr. Fralicx, the numbers reported in this year's What's Working survey indicate that despite the technology improvements, internal communication problems remain rampant.

 "It's the responsibility of top management to make sure everyone understands where the organization is going and why it's going there," Dr. Fralicx says. "It's a 'line-of-sight' problem with employees not getting enough clear information about the direction of their company. If they don't address it, employees' cynicism about the quality of their leaders will mount, and that will lead to a less committed and less engaged workforce." Fralicx notes that when only about half of US workers think their ultimate bosses do a good job explaining the rationale behind important decisions and an even smaller percentage trust them to communicate honestly, CEOs can no longer look the other way.

 That point appears to be confirmed by other Mercer survey findings. Of the surveyed employees who don't think senior management communicates a clear vision of the future direction of the organization, only 12% feel the organization is well managed and 63% believe it is not well managed. Of the employees who do not trust management to always communicate honestly, only 18% feel the organization is well managed and 56% believe it is not well managed.

 The results of Mercer's 2005 What's Working survey are based on data collected from a statistically valid sample of working adults from more than 800 organizations, representing a cross-section of industries. Respondents to the survey completed a 148-item questionnaire, including nearly 100 items that provide a comparison against Mercer's benchmark 2002 What's Working survey, and over 50 new items tapping further into today's organizational concerns.