Knowledge of your company's corporate strategy is highly important if you want to get on in life, European employees believe, yet one in five either do not know what it is or do not think their company has one, a new survey has suggested.
The study, from recruiter StepStone, has found that more than two-thirds of those polled believed they could not do their jobs properly if they did not know the strategic direction of their employer.
The poll of more than 9,000 people from across western and northern Europe found that only a small minority (10 per cent) believed that they do not need to know their company's corporate strategy for their role.
But – worryingly – more than one fifth said they did not think that their company had a corporate strategy.
These results highlighted how important it was for a corporate strategy to be clearly communicated to all staff, said Stepstone.
Colin Tenwick, chief executive of StepStone, said: "Companies should direct their attention towards communicating their business objectives to all employees through the most appropriate channels of internal communication.
"Corporate strategy information is not only important for ensuring that the company is properly represented externally but also for fostering a sense of community and teamwork amongst employees," he added.
Comparing country by country results showed that workers in Sweden and Norway were happy with how their corporate strategy was communicated, as more than 79 per cent in both nations reported knowledge of their employers' business objectives.
Knowledge of corporate strategy was least prevalent in Italy, with just 62 per cent of workers acknowledging they knew and understood it.
This survey was conducted via StepStone's online career websites in Germany, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and France.