'Not Bothered' attitude in the workplace

Corporate scandals are eroding trust in senior leaders and will have a damaging impact on employee engagement, warns CIPD. Quarterly Employee Outlook survey reveals a nation of employees who are simply 'not bothered' about their work

Only 36% of workers trust their senior leaders and more than half (58%) of workers display signs of having adopted a 'not bothered' attitude to their work. That's according to the CIPD’s latest quarterly Employee Outlook survey of more than 2,000 employees across the UK, which asks employees a number of questions to gauge their level of engagement in the work place and attitudes to working life.

The survey found that employees who display 'neutral' engagement are about half as likely to go the extra mile with regard to workload and hours than those who are engaged and nearly three times more likely to be looking for a new job. It also found a strong correlation between employee engagement and knowledge of the organisation's core purpose.

Peter Cheese, Chief Executive at the CIPD, comments: "Given the number of examples reported in the media in recent months of unethical behaviours and corrosive cultures overseen by senior leaders, it is perhaps unsurprising to see trust in the workplace eroding.

Gareth Osborne said: “This survey reflects a gut reaction to current media hype. If CIPD are suggesting that either Bob Diamond of Barclays or Nick Buckles of G4S have operated unethically then I think they are not supporting business. In both cases the individual organisations would have been under enormous pressure from government intermediaries to deliver (or give the impression of delivering) and both have been ‘hung-out-to-dry’.

“I would also like to distance PAs from the ‘not bothered’ culture. PAs spend most of their life going the extra mile and their bosses would be even more vulnerable to attack without them helping protect their brand and reputation.”

APA