It is considered good practice. Most of the heads of organizations do it. I do it in my own organization. In this study, we made a point of talking to people too, just to make sure that the interpretation we put into presenting these numbers was consistent with what they saw. My comments about the impact of the retirements and the demographics in these different groups are all reflective of what managers are seeing in their departments.
On February 24th, 2009. See this statement in context.