Top bosses inspire respect at workplace, but it's the junior bosses who enjoy the confidence of employees, although nearly a third who participated in a survey feel they can do their bosses job better.
Nearly three in four employees are satisfied with the performance of their immediate bosses, but they are divided in the middle while rating C-level executives (chief executive officers, chief operational officers etc.) of their companies.
At the same time, nearly one-third of the employees believe that they could do their bosses' job better, says the survey conducted within the US by research firm Harris Interactive for the country's leading job portal CareerBuilder.com.
Experts feel that the trend should be somewhat similar in India and other countries also.
Forty-five per cent of workers said they do not feel secure in the C-level leadership of their organisations and more than half said they do not feel motivated within their organisations and expressed a desire for more personal attention and development.
"Workers tend to have less visibility with senior management, which may negatively affect their ratings. When workers rated their senior executives, they were split 50/50, as 50 per cent of workers rated their CEO, CFO and COO's performance as good or great, while the other 50 per cent rated their performance as fair or bad," CareerBuilder.com said.
"While C-level leaders are definitely a source of inspiration and respect, employees are largely affected by the leadership styles of their immediate boss," the world's leading integrated employment consulting solutions provider Right Management's India Country Head Anita Belani said.
"How one is managed on a day-to-day basis is a big factor in how employees view their employer and the whole employment deal," she added.
Belani noted, however, that it is extremely important for the companies to make its top level executives trustworthy among employees.
"It is the responsibility of the company to ensure a person is ready to manage and lead before putting them in roles such as these. . . . Another aspect is to define the critical leadership competencies for the organisation and conduct assessments of employees that are going into management roles so that gaps in capabilities can be assessed and appropriate training and exposure can be given," she said.
The company-wide communication and motivation came into play when workers identified opportunities for improvement among C-level executives, CareerBuilder.com survey found.
About 55 per cent of workers said that senior management does not make an effort to have working relationships with employees on every level, and 58 per cent said senior management does not motivate them.
The survey found that 73 per cent of workers categorised their boss as trustworthy, 70 per cent said their boss is respected in the organisation and 65 per cent reported their boss communicates effectively.