Industry Insight: C-level execs have negative reputations

Percentage of executives in America's biggest companies who believe that the reputation of CEOs today is largely negative, according to a survey conducted by leading global public relations firm Weber Shandwick with KRC Research: 66

Despite CEOs' low approval ratings, percentage of executives who report being interested in becoming CEO one day: 49

Percentage of executives who overwhelmingly believe that the road to CEO redemption requires publicly taking responsibility when their firms are in crisis: 90

Leadership honesty

Percentage of workers who don't think their boss is honest, according to a survey by the Adecco Group: 53

Percentage of employees who even go so far as to say that they believe their boss is dishonest about their job security: 25

Percentage who would lay off/fire their boss if given the option: 28

High-level hiring

Percentage of recruiters who are forecasting an increase in hiring activity at the executive level, according to the ExecuNet Recruiter Confidence Index: 56

Percentage of recruiters who say assignments are coming from organizations seeking to leverage the current economic climate by "trading up" with new hires for existing positions: 46

Managerial support

Percentage of administrative professionals who support one to two managers, according to a survey from the International Association of Administrative Professionals: 45

Percentage who support three to four managers: 28

Percentage who support five to 10 managers: 18

Percentage who support 11 or more: 5

Unhappy at the top

Ranks of limited advancement opportunities (11.2 percent), compensation (11 percent) and lack of challenge/personal growth (9.5 percent) on the list of top reasons cited by executives for being unhappy at work, according to a survey of employed executives with an average annual salary of $206,000 by ExecuNet: 1, 2, 3

Boss relationships

Percentage of workers who still think their relationship with their boss is important for their job satisfaction, according to a survey by the Adecco Group: 89

Percentage who think their boss is just as accessible as they were pre-recession: 87

Percentage of workers who respect their boss more since the recession began: 14

Qualified leadership

Percentage of workers who say they do not have qualified managers, according to Randstad-USA's annual World of Work report: 51

Percentage of workers who want nothing to do with climbing the corporate ladder to management: 49

Hard at work

Percentage of senior executives and managers who work 41 to 60 hours a week, according to a worldwide survey conducted by NFI Research: 77

Percentage of businesspeople who work 10 hours or more a day: 40

Percentage of business leaders who work 11 hours or more a day: 11

Procurement priorities

Percentage of executives who believe procurement issues are a high priority in their companies, according to a survey of global procurement and C-level executives by KPMG LLP: 74

Percentage who say that the procurement function in their companies focuses too much on cost reduction instead of value creation: 49

Employee perceptions

Percentage of employees who agreed that "my boss looks out for me and my career goals," according to research from Adecco USA in its inaugural Annual Employer Report Card: 65

Percentage who agreed that "my boss deserves his/her level of compensation": 77

Percentage who said "I believe that my boss is smarter than me": 64

E-mail filters

Percentage of executives who give their administrative assistants license to ghostwrite e-mail responses under their name without requiring approval, according to a survey by the International Association of Administrative Professionals and The ePolicy Institute: 28

Percentage who are authorized to use executives' electronic signatures: 55

Percentage of administrative professionals who know that an electronic signature is as legally binding as a handwritten signature: 72

On the sales front

Percentage of sales professionals who say they are happy with the way they are managed, according to a survey by SalesDog.com: 70

Percentage who say they feel adequately recognized for their achievements: 64

Percentage who say their management's sales expectations or quotas are realistic: 75

Top-down stress

When managers become stressed, percentage less likely their employees are to feel valued, when compared to employees working for unstressed managers, according to a survey from Sirota Intelligence: 7[[In-content Ad]]John MacIntyre is a Nova Scotia-based author and former city magazine editor. His "Figuratively Speaking" column, launched in 1989, is published in more than 40 newspapers and magazines.