Murky corporate goals can undermine recovery - Executive Briefing: Strategic Intelligence - Brief Article

HR Magazine, Nov, 2002 by Steve Bates

Worker confusion about their firms' strategies is undermining productivity and could delay economic recovery, according to a recent study by Washington, D.C.based consulting firm Watson Wyatt.

Only 49 percent of U.S. workers surveyed this year say they understand the steps that their firms are taking to reach their business goals, down from 69 percent of workers surveyed two years ago.

In addition, employees are uncertain about the connection between their job performance and their compensation, with only 35 percent seeing a clear link.

"Confusion about corporate goals and uncertainty about the link between pay and performance will complicate economic recovery for many companies," says Ilene Gochman, Watson Wyatt's national practice leader for organizational effectiveness.

"Companies that instill trust, manage business changes effectively and communicate openly with employees have much higher shareholder return rates than companies that don't," says Gochman. "No company can afford to ignore what their employees are thinking."

She adds that the disconnect between job performance and pay "is extremely unfortunate because we know that there is a tremendous positive impact to the bottom line when employees see strong connections between company goals and their jobs."

Steve Bates is senior writer for HR Magazine.