Lies, Damned Lies and a Message from the CEO

Maybe it was the malarkey that came from the C-suites of such troubled companies as Enron and Tyco that has turned American workers into skeptics, but a sizeable number of them doubt that their employers tell the whole truth, according to a new survey by Towers Perrin. Nearly a fifth say their companies don’t generally tell them the truth, and 51 percent believe their companies try to hard to “spin” the real story. The least trustworthy sources of corporate information are senior leaders, the workers say. Nearly half believe that the information they get from their direct supervisor is more credible than anything the CEO has to say. On the brighter side (if there is one), employees say they are more likely to believe information about pay (64 percent) and benefits (59 percent) than they are to buy the company line on such topics as company direction or business strategy.