TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwire) -- 12/28/12 -- BMO Bank of Montreal today released a new holiday survey which asked Canadian employees to list their 2013 work-and-business-related New Year's resolutions. Roughly a quarter of employees polled said they intend to be more productive in 2013, and recommend their boss should resolve to listen more closely to employee suggestions.

"This time of the year is a great opportunity to reflect upon the year's performance, both as an individual and as a member of a team. These insights and assessments can serve as a good foundation for turning well intended resolutions for the year ahead into measurable and achievable goals for the New Year," said Steve Murphy, Senior Vice President, Commercial Banking, BMO Bank of Montreal. "One thing we know, from speaking with Canadian business owners, is the importance they place on transparent communication with their employees and the role this plays in setting performance goals that can help employees excel and the business grow."

While one in four business owners plan to increase the size of their workforce in 2013, only six per cent of Canadian employees would like to their bosses to do so. The majority of Canadian employees suggest their boss should resolve to listen more closely to their employees.

Top Three New Year's Resolution Recommendations for Bosses                  
                                                                            
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                                   National  ATL   QC   ON  MB/SK   AB   BC 
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Listen to employees more closely         23%  24%  24%  23%    16%  25%  20%
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Communicate performance                                                     
 expectations/instructions more                                             
 clearly                                 10%   7%   7%  12%    11%  15%   8%
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Upgrade office                                                              
 equipment/technology/software            8%  12%  10%   7%     6%   5%   8%
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Top Three New Year's Resolutions for Canadian Employees                     
                                                                            
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                                   National  ATL   QC   ON  MB/SK   AB   BC 
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Productivity and organizing                                                 
 workload                                24%  29%  22%  21%    24%  32%  25%
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Learn new workplace skill                23%  25%  23%  19%    27%  30%  29%
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Network/collaborate                      22%  22%  19%  23%    25%  25%  20%
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The BMO Survey, conducted by Pollara, also asked Canadians what resolutions they intend to make for themselves in 2013. In addition to 24 per cent of Canadians who said they intend to be more productive in 2013, almost 22 per cent said they had made and achieved the same resolution last year.

The survey results cited in this release are from online interviews with a random sample of 1,000 Canadians 18 years of age and older, carried out between November 23rd and November 27th, 2012. A probability sample of this size would yield results accurate to +/- 3.1 per cent, 19 times out of 20.

About BMO Financial Group

Established in 1817 as Bank of Montreal, BMO Financial Group is a highly diversified North American financial services organization. With total assets of $525 billion as at October 31, 2012, and more than 46,000 employees, BMO Financial Group provides a broad range of retail banking, wealth management and investment banking products and solutions.