Employee engagement hit by economic downturn

Chief executives could find employee engagement and trust has been severely affected by the economic downturn.

Employees at organisations that have been particularly hard hit by a recession have extremely low levels of trust in their chief executives officers according to research by the Institute of Leadership and Management.

Trust in CEOs plummeted at companies where office closures and involuntary redundancies had taken place during the recession. Public sector cuts were found to have a more dramatic impact on ill-feeling among employees, compared to the private sector.

Local and national government CEOs had the lowest performing ILM trust index score, with just 57 points. Commenting on the findings, ILM chief executive Penny de Valk explained that many cuts are seen as the "direct result of poor management".

She added: "To boost trust it is important for senior managers to increase their visibility and communicate effectively with staff. "CEOs need to be consistent in their behaviour. Constantly announcing different initiatives, saying one thing and doing another other and sending out mixed messages all lead to reduced trust."

Research carried out by the ILM earlier this year revealed that two-thirds of public sector managers were concerned that budget cuts by central management would cripple frontline services in the UK.