NEARLY half of employees in Scotland are unable to name a single board member of the companies they work for, with more than half declaring they are kept in the dark about board decisions.

And, with a lack of diversity in leadership roles commonly cited as a concern, 60 per cent believe that worker representation in the boardroom would be a good thing.

The findings, contained in a survey for technology firm eShare, have led to suggestions that businesses in Scotland should be more transparent and communicate with staff more effectively.

EShare chief executive Alister Esam said: “Two keys elements of good governance and a strong corporate culture are the visibility of the leadership team and a strong employee understanding of what that company stands for and is aiming to achieve. But many boards in Scottish companies are not delivering on this, and they must do more to demonstrate transparency, to engage better with their employees and communicate their vision more effectively.”

The survey, conducted by TLF Research, was based on the responses from private and publicly-listed companies with at least 500 staff. It found that 71 per cent of respondents feel that the board at the firm they work for could be more visible. Nearly one-fifth (19 per cent) said their board is barely visible, while 22 per cent said they believe their board is not visible at all.

Within boards, chief executives were the most visible directors, the survey found. However only 33 per cent of respondents were able to name their overall boss. The least visible director was found to be the company chair, with only seven per cent able to name the person who occupies that position.

More than one-third of employees, meanwhile, said they do not understand what their company’s vision and values are, leading to calls for employers to do more to address the gap between directors and workers.

Mr Esam said: “The addition of an employee to the board would certainly add a different perspective and is on the face of it a positive move. However, it is actually fraught with issues, from the possibility of immediate disclosure of company plans to employees, to the selection process of the employee representative, and there are more effective ways of improving senior level diversity.”

Employees raised the importance of having greater diversity on boards. While 70 per cent of Scottish employees said there is a woman on the board at their company – higher than the 63 per cent for the UK as a whole – 40 per cent said there is no-one under 40, while around one-third in Scotland said there is no ethnic diversity on their boards. At UK level, 58 per cent of employees said there is no-one under 40 on their boards, while 55 per cent highlighted a lack of ethnic diversity.

Mr Esam added: “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.

“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.”