CIOs ‘Invisible’ to a Majority of Employees

New research reveals just 14% of UK employees know who the Chief Information Officer is in their firm

New research out today has revealed the Chief Information Officer (CIO) to be one of the least recognised board members, with just 14% of UK employees able to identify the CIO in their organisation.

The research with 1,000 UK employees, by technology firm eShare, revealed the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) was most visible to UK employees, with 36% able to name the CEO at their company. The least visible was the chairperson, with only 8% able to identify that role in their organisation, with 14% able to identify the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and 13% the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO). 39% of respondents were unable to name a single member of the board at the company they work for.

“The CIO is traditionally a lower profile role, but it is still surprising to see such a lack of visibility,” said Alister Esam, CEO, eShare. “Information and the smart analysis of that information are such key parts of the modern corporate toolkit, there is a strong case for a higher profile CIO to help support organisations’ use of information. Overall, a strong corporate culture depends on the visibility of the leadership team and a strong employee understanding of what that company stands for and is aiming to achieve – it would appear many companies are not achieving this.”

18% of respondents say their board is barely visible, with a further 17% saying the board is not visible at all. Around seven in 10 respondents say the board at their company could do more to be visible to employees. 31% of respondents said that they do not understand what their company’s vision and values are, suggesting that UK organisations need to work much harder at bridging the gap between leadership teams and employees. Around half of those surveyed were in the dark about board decisions, feeling those decisions were not clearly communicated to the rest of the company.

“The pressure on boards to behave better and do business in a transparent fashion is greater than ever, and the best place to start is through smarter engagement with internal stakeholders,” continued Alister Esam. “Most businesses are better governed than they ever have been, but need to demonstrate this more effectively. Good governance in 2017 means knowing what you are and why you exist, being well-run from top to bottom and having internal values and behaviours that are perpetuated externally across the world. This applies to the CIO as much as it does the rest of the board.”