Ms Lagarde performed notably worse than her predecessors in the role, with Mario Draghi, the former Italian prime minister, rated “poor” or “very poor” by fewer than one in 10 staff in the survey, carried out by Ipso.
He was ranked “good,” “very good” or “outstanding” by 75.5pc of staff. One worker wrote: “Mario Draghi was there for the ECB while the ECB seems to be there for Christine Lagarde.”
An ECB spokesman said the survey was flawed, suggesting it covered areas not solely the responsibility of Ms Lagarde and could be filled in multiple times by the same person.
He said: “The President and the board are fully focused on their mandate and have implemented policies to respond to unprecedented events in recent years such as the pandemic and wars.”
More than half of survey participants also said they were concerned that the ECB will not be able to return inflation quickly to its 2pc target.
The consumer prices index across the eurozone rose to 2.9pc in December.
Ms Lagarde said last week that rates had likely reached their peak but that it was too soon to “shout victory” on inflation, pointing to economic uncertainties and the possible impact of rising wages on price pressures.
She also pushed back against market bets of rate cuts as early as April, joining other ECB officials in signalling that borrowing costs would “likely” only start coming down in the summer – and if the latest economic data supported such a move.
