One in Three Employees Never Asked for Advice
Being asked to
contribute a suggestion is a sign of regard by ones employer, said CO2
Partners President Gary Cohen. Organizations are always striving for higher
employee engagement, but evidence indicates they unnecessarily create
fundamental mistakes. People needed to be respected and listened to.
How often
does your boss ask for your advice on solving a problem at work?
Seldom/Never 32.6%
Often/Occasionally 62.6%
Don't
know 3.9%
If our survey
question had asked about solving an important problem, it would probably have
been a majority of U.S.
employees that expressed such alienation, Cohen said. Despite a trend
toward greater teamwork and maximizing individual contribution, its disturbing
that the input of so many people is still ignored. After all, employees
are a key sources of valuable information needed to enhance organization
performance.
Among the other
findings:
- Women are somewhat less likely than men, 34.7%
v. 30.8%, to be asked for input by an employer.
- The less education an employee has, the less
likely he or she will be asked to contribute an idea. Forty percent
of those with just high school or less reported seldom or never being
asked for advice, compared to just 20.9% of college graduates.
- Likewise, 45.7% of employees earning less than
$25,000 annually reported never or seldom being consulted, compared
with just 24.7% of those earning more than $75,000.
- There were no significant differences among age
groups.
The survey
findings reflect top-down bias, said Cohen. How foolish to think just
more educated or higher-ranking employees are worthy of being consulted. Its less-educated workers that are actually making the
stuff or are on the front line dealing with customers. Theyre the
ones Id want to talk to first.
But Cohen
cautioned employers against asking questions for its own sake. Going
through the motions isnt going to convince employees and would cause even
greater alienation. A sincere effort to ask the right questions of
everyone and to consider their ideas can be a powerful tool for improving both
individual and organizational performance.
Based in the
Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area, CO2 Partners provides leadership development
and executive coaching to organizations and individuals throughout the U.S.
Gary Cohen is author of Just Ask, to be published in 2007.
The survey of
599 employed Americans was conducted August 25-29, 2006 by International
Communications Research, Media,
PA.
Contact:
Gary Cohen, President, CO2 Partners, 888-735-2710 or Phil Ryan, Ryan Public
Relations, 845-339-7858.
