Princeton (PRWEB) Feb. 17, 2011 — The Employee Engagement Report 2011, which explores workplace attitudes among employees on four continents and is based on survey responses of nearly 11,000 employed professionals, also revealed that trust in executives has a stronger correlation to employee engagement than trust in immediate managers. Half of employees who trust senior leaders are engaged compared to 40% of those who trust their direct boss and 33% of the North American workforce overall.

"Our latest research is consistent with our pre-recession findings. Trust in leadership is an important factor in achieving high levels of engagement," said BlessingWhite CEO Christopher Rice. "Individuals can enjoy their work and have a strong sense of accomplishment, but if they don't trust their boss or their boss's boss, they'll begin to question how they fit in with the company and have less pride in the organization overall."

It's harder to build trust with people who you rarely see or have never met, Rice explains. "Most immediate supervisors and managers can demonstrate trustworthiness in their daily actions and become known beyond their titles. Executives don't have that luxury. The workforce scrutinizes what they do see and hear — and will draw the most unexpected, unfortunate conclusions if leaders do not communicate carefully. In our leadership development and high-performance culture consulting, we find this same trouble spot across organization size and industries: Even in well-run companies, half the workforce typically does not trust the senior team."