Financial services leaders better regarded

If you’re working in the financial services industry then chances are you hold your boss in higher esteem than your counterparts working in other sectors.

That is the bottom line of new research released by global human resources consulting and outsourcing business AON Hewitt, which found that only 51 per cent of employees in Australia and New Zealand believe their leaders are effective.

This figure improves in the financial services sector where 54 per cent of employees believe their leaders are effective, but declines markedly in the resources sector where just 41 per cent of respondents said they trust their senior leaders and believe them to be effective in their roles.

Commenting on the survey results, AON Hewitt chief executive of human capital consulting for South East Asia and the Pacific, Tim Powell, described the outcome as disturbing even within the highest ranked industries.

“Hopefully this is the wake-up call companies need to assess and more importantly improve their leadership strategy,” he said.

Powell said that at a time when many people were being promoted on the basis of past achievements and technical competencies rather than managerial capabilities it was not surprising that the resources sector was struggling due to the highly technical nature of roles.

He said when those factors were combined with the current volatility in the industry and the fact that most teams were geographically dispersed, the challenges ahead became much clearer.