Geographical bearings, or the lack thereof, have been much to the fore this week. First, David Cameron, generally faring pretty well in his bout with Letterman, temporarily mislaid the location of the Magna Carta’s signing. Then, slightly more seriously, Apple’s much trumpeted iPhone 5 hit the shops. Again, general reaction was broadly positive, with the notable exception of its woefully malfunctioning maps app. This succeeded in losing Bloomberg’s NYC headquarters, creating a hitherto unknown French quarter in San Francisco and ridding us all of Manchester United Football Club (perhaps they simply relocated it to its spiritual home in Surrey).
And geography has appeared significant in the field of commerce of late. Reversing a decades-long trend, this week’s Paris Motor Show, where Jaguars, Land Rovers and McLarens were to the fore, coincided with the announcement that growth levels for the UK automobile industry are now averaging a turbo charged 9%. KPMG predict that by 2016, the country will produce 2.25m vehicles, surpassing the record set back in 1972. The business services firm goes on to talk about a significant ‘employment dividend’ resulting from this initiative. Again from the other side of the Channel, the UK is likely to see collateral benefits too from France’s decision to impose a 75% income tax rate on top earners. This week saw L’Oreal’s chairman and CEO, Jean-Paul Agon make the point that he would find it ‘almost impossible to hire top talent’ should the proposed policy become statute.
Whilst UK political leaders, particularly those cyclists among them, are unlikely to be afforded much in the way of schadenfreude at the expense of their French counterparts, boardroom leaders were shown in perhaps even more negative light this week, via a piece of research from Towers Watson. The professional services firm reports in its Global Workforce Study that just over an alarmingly modest half of all UK employees trust the information they receive from the senior team. And an even thinner 44% feel that those in senior management have the capability to improve business performance. This is a clear suggestion that the UK – probably not alone – is suffering a crisis of confidence in senior management. Much of this is likely to be a result of economic conditions reducing employee turnover – the same workers then are listening to the same senior management probably saying very similar things about a wearingly familiar business climate over too long a period.
If familiarity is clearly breeding management contempt, there is also a sense of this being a relentless business climate – 58% of Towers Watson’s survey felt they were working harder than ever before with fewer resources. And should today’s greenish shoots lead to a sustainable recovery, then employee retention is likely to suffer exponentially – a third of those surveyed suggested that they intended leaving their employer as a direct and damning result of lacking trust in senior management.
Despite David Cameron not knowing where Runnymede is and Apple being incapable of locating Old Trafford, the direction of travel of UK senior management should be considerably clearer. Much will depend on the fortunes of the economy, however, rather than relying on an eventual upturn, business leaders need to regain the trust, credibility and enthusiasm of their people. Without this, then those same leaders will be looking at a distinctly slimmer, less engaged, less trusting workforce just as the economy – the automotive sector appears a useful indicator – begins to quietly turn.
Getting to the heart of your employee mindset 