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Employees Lack Confidence In Business Leaders To Survive The Recession Reveals ELP

10/08/2009

By Lea Pachta

- Just 33% of employees trust their CEO to guide their company out of the economic downturn in one piece
- Up to 53% of CEOs lack the necessary skills for business survival
- Only 44% of respondents believe their organisation has made redundancies to cut costs

Only one third (33%) of employees in the UK are confident that their CEO will lead their organisation out of the recession unscathed, according to a new survey from the European Leadership Programme (ELP). Further, if the business were to run into financial difficulties, only 53 per cent of employees think that their CEO has the skills to proactively manage the situation.

ELP's survey revealed that although the majority of CEOs (85%) have redefined their business plan to survive the economic downturn, almost half of employees are not confident the right changes have been made (45%).

Nearly three quarters (72%) of respondents indicated that the main change that they have seen within their organisations in response to the economic downturn, has been general cost cutting. In addition, CEOs have looked to implement an aggressive new business drive (57%), make redundancies (44%) and reduced social budgets (41%). A shorter working week has only been introduced in 4 per cent of businesses as a cost saving solution.

Finance management was rated as the key skill for business survival by one third of all respondents (32%). Yet, one quarter (25%) believe that their CEO needs more support in this area. On the flip side, HR was rated the least important skill for a CEO to ensure business survival (27%) yet 42 per cent of respondents thought that there is not enough HR support in senior management within their organisation.

Ashley Ward, serial CEO and founder of ELP said "In times of economic crisis, there is... continued on page two >

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