Do Your Employees Know the CEO?

A recent survey conducted by CareerBuilder.ca finds a majority of Canadian employees, 61 percent, has met their CEO. But although the person in the corner office may be recognizable, others in the C-suite aren’t as easily identified.

Only 34 percent of workers can name all the C-level officers at their organization, while an additional 20 percent can name a few.

Why is it important that employees have contact with the organization’s leadership?

“The CEO and, in some cases, other senior leaders are the face of the company both internally and externally. Meaning, they need to find a level of accessibility that allows them to connect with employees, while on the other hand, dedicate the necessary time for building relationships with outside stakeholders,” says Rosemary Haefner, global vice president of human resources at CareerBuilder. “Employees realize their top leaders can’t know everyone on a first name basis, but they do expect their leaders to be a public symbol that embodies the organization’s values.”

We couldn’t have said it better ourselves.

The message, then, is HR should encourage and facilitate interaction among C-level officers and employees—and do so whenever possible.