Managers who don't engage and inspire their staff are failing to gain their trust - and the further removed they are the worse it becomes.

These are the findings of a poll carried out by the British Association of Communicators in Business (CiB), that quizzed 4,700 people.

The report found that 70% of respondents said they totally trusted their boss - a figure that drops to just 40% for the boss's boss. A further step removed and the figure falls to just 33%.

One respondent said: "The higher up the chain you go, the less they deal with people and the more we are just units of production. It doesn't matter what people say, we are all expendable as long as the shareholders can keep making a profit."

CiB national chairman, Suzanne Peck, commented: "Excellent communications are vital if we want to get the best out of people, yet too many managers fail to engage and inspire their staff, falling back on platitudes and meaningless business jargon.

"No employee is going to trust any manager who they don't know or who can't talk to them like a normal human being."