European Firms Fail to Win Employee Trust

No HR Justice? Nearly 60 percent of employees in Europe’s leading companies don’t believe their organizations are trustworthy, according to a report by coaching specialist Krauthammer Inc. Only 30 percent believe their companies meet the burden of “HR justice,” which is defined as offering fair pay and providing for career growth and development. Also getting low marks, at 34 percent, was the perception of “benevolence”: whether organizations do a good job of expressing concern about employees’ welfare. About the same proportion (35 percent) believe senior executives do an effective job at leadership. About one-quarter say organizational rules are rarely followed. Organizations also do a poor job of communicating with employees and setting clear expectations. The research was conducted on behalf of the Research on Cross Cultural Organizational Trustworthiness, a consortium involving seven European universities.