A huge 71 per cent of Birmingham employees do not feel valued by their employer, and poor internal communication appears to be the cause, according to a new survey.
Commissioned by internal communications advisers Ptarmigan, the survey gives a damning insight into how workers in Birmingham, along with others in the Midlands, feel much less valued than their counterparts elsewhere in the country.
The results reveal almost 60 per cent of Birmingham's workforce does not receive regular information from their employer and, of the lucky ones, more than 45 per cent say it is not presented in the right way.
In addition, of those privileged enough to receive regular internal communications, a third feel these are irrelevant to their job, one in four reports they contain too much corporate speak and business jargon, and 20 per cent say they are confusing.
Clare Cockroft, joint head of Ptarmigan's internal communications division, said: "This survey paints a depressing picture of businesses in Birmingham leaving employees out in the cold rather than communicating with them in a regular, clear and engaging way.
"And even those companies who have recognised the importance of internal communications place too little resource to this function to allow it to work effectively, putting bosses on the wrong wavelength to staff.
"The results of this survey would suggest that of the 390,000 people in employment in Birmingham, almost 235,000 don't receive regular company information from their employer. This is a huge proportion of the workforce and as one of their most valuable assets, bosses in Birmingham need to re-evaluate their treatment of staff above and beyond basic pay and benefit schemes."
Employees in Birmingham appear actively looking to engage with businesses with more than half of those questioned stating they like to know what is going on in their company. Only 36 per cent feel communication in their place of work is two-way and their employer invites them to express their views.
Ms Cockroft said: "We believe businesses in Birmingham may be pre-occupied with concerns over productivity, competition and profits, but by failing to communicate with staff they're overlooking one of the greatest tricks in the book.
"Some employers hide behind a wall of silence, mistakenly believing they are protecting staff from the realities of business when uncertainly, rumour and suspicion can cause more damage. In particular, businesses struggling or going through rough patches need to engage staff in order to work together and emerge unscathed. Otherwise the sailors will abandon a ship perceived to be sinking.
"Internal communications is a highly specialist function which is too often thrown into the mix of responsibilities borne by over-stretched marketing and HR departments, without due time or consideration being given to its subtle differences." n Nearly three-quarters (73 per cent) of executives believe they can perform their boss' job better than their current manager, according to the latest Executive Quiz from Korn/Ferry International.
Moreover, nearly two-thirds (65 per cent) indicated that they aspire to attain their boss' job.
Nevertheless, when asked to rate their boss' performance, the largest percentage of executives (42 per cent) marked it as either "excellent" or "above average," while another 23 per cent cited it as "average". Fourteen per cent of executives ranked their boss' performance as "below average" and 11 per cent deemed it "poor".
Additionally, when asked if they trust their boss, almost two-thirds of executives (65 per cent) indicated that they did, while the other 35 per cent said they did not.
"These results suggest that many of today's executives are feeling 'underemployed' - or in other words, that their employers are not making full use of their backgrounds and abilities," said Bob Damon, president, North America for Korn/Ferry. "The secret for companies is to identify their high potentials and give them strategic developmental opportunities in order to keep them challenged and satisfied, and best leverage their drive and ambition.
