New report shows unengaged employees want to feel politically aligned with their boss.

Less than half of UK employees at large organisations trust business leaders to operate in their best interests and most (62%) want their boss to take a clear stance on societal issues, according to a report.

Feeling aligned politically led to much higher employee engagement, with 83% trusting senior leaders and 69% feeling “positively connected” to their work, according to the report by the Institute of Internal Communication (IoIC). Yet remote working continues to be contentious; two-thirds of employees with mandated in-office days distrust their employer’s reasoning.

With the rise of AI, the report shows that one-third of employees would not trust messaging from senior leaders that was developed with AI. "As we navigate through constant change and the rise of AI, it has never been more critical to maintain trust through authentic and transparent communication,” says Jennifer Sproul, chief executive of the IoIC.

Remote working continues to cause a rift at organisations globally. Earlier this year, US bank Wells Fargo said it had fired more than a dozen staff after an internal investigation found employees were simulating keyboard activity to create the impression of “active work”. Louise Breed, chief executive at Ipsos Karian and Box employee engagement agency, believes trust shouldn’t be considered abstract: “Having low levels of organisational trust will have a negative impact on not only employees, but on customers and profits.”