Employee attitudes toward a hard-core hiring program

Assessed attitudes of 214 employees at all organizational levels in a large utility company toward a program involving hiring the hard-core unemployed both before program initiation and after 3 mo. of experience with the program. Ss were administered the Consequences Model Questionnaire. The hypothesized ambivalence of management personnel was verified, as was the differential impact of the program on employees at various levels. In general, the initially positive responses toward the program gave way to a position of balanced neutrality, a state in which assets were counterbalanced by liabilities. Results are interpreted in terms of the impact of the initial position of top management on program operation.