Many Workers Distrust Employer Communications

By Staff Writer

January 07, 2004 at 07:00 PM

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NU Online News Service, Jan. 7, 2004, 1:17 p.m. EST – Only 51% of U.S. workers believe their employers generally tell them the truth, according to survey results released by the Stamford, Conn., office of Towers Perrin L.L.P.[@@]

When researchers from Harris Interactive Inc., Rochester, N.Y., conducted a Web-based survey of 1,000 U.S. workers for Towers Perrin in mid-2003, they found that 51% believe their employers try too hard to spin the truth.

Another 19% of workers believe that their employers generally fail to tell employees the truth, the researchers report.

In other survey results:

- 48% of employees say they receive more credible information from their direct supervisors than they get from their companies' chief executives.

- 64% of employees say they are more likely to believe information about their pay than they are to believe information about company direction and business strategies.

- Only 44% of employees who are over age 49 and only 44% of employees who earn less than $50,000 per year believe that their employers' communications are honest.

"These results reveal a worrisome employer-employee dynamic that should be a wake-up call to any senior executive or leader who will need to communicate with employees in 2004," Mark Schumann, a Towers Perrin human resources communication consultant, says in a statement about the survey results.

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