Survey: Leaders fail to communicate with employees

Survey says 71 percent of workers want more communication about the financial crisis

I have a friend at a tech company outside of Boston whose CEO sent the following e-mail to his 100+ employees in early October:

“I wanted to take a few moments to comment on the current economic crisis relative to our business. Again, there is good news here because we are seeing very little impact at the moment. We do not carry any debt for inventories or working capital so the freezing up of the credit markets does not affect us. We have seen no noticeable uptick in collections issues (i.e., our clients are paying their bills), and so far we have had a very strong 2009 renewal season (i.e., our clients continue to buy from us). Obviously, if this downturn turns into a recession which turns into a depression I worry about the long-term impact it will have on our clients and their budgets, but again one of the great things about our business is that typically measurable media, like ours, that works is one of the last things to go when budgets are being cut. So, all in all, [the CFO] and I feel we are well insulated from these broader economic woes but will of course keep a close eye on things.”