Business
Amid disruption, C-suite leaders have the power to steady their workforces
In a world intent on dividing us into factions, political discourse threatens to disrupt workplace culture at a time when companies must unite around change and growth strategies in the AI era.
A recent Burson study* revealed that workplaces — much like the American public — hold complex, multi-layered opinions about the state of the world. Politics divide, but employees across party, income and education levels share views on how Washington policies affect their lives and the role corporate America should play.
Employees leaning on ideologically filtered news
The rise of media polarization and ideologically driven micro-targeted content creators is reshaping how employees see the world. Burson’s study found that 39% of American adults now get news primarily from online influencers. That jumps to 52% among employed Americans and 57% among those earning $100,000-plus, 31 points higher than the unemployed.
This means most employees receive news through highly filtered channels that shape how they interpret business conditions and fuel anxiety that can affect performance.
Burson first uncovered this disconnect ahead of the 2024 elections, when our research revealed an anxiety gap between the C-Suite and employees. Top executives felt prepared for post-election discourse, but employees cited stress over company readiness for potential violence or political conflict in the workplace. While 76% of employers and 84% of C-suite executives felt prepared, only 53% of employees agreed.
During those final weeks ahead of the election, we counseled clients to establish a tone from the top that decreases political discourse at work to ease tension and distraction.
That remains critical, and with this new body of research we begin to see the watch outs for ideological division as well as the potential areas for unity.
In his book Tribal: How the Cultural Instincts That Divide Us Can Help Bring Us Together, Columbia Business School Professor Michael Morris writes that despite media pushing people into tribes, human instinct is to connect through shared culture, history, co-dependency and service.
Employers can tap our natural human urge to connect through culture-building and clear organizational purpose — especially during rapid transformation like the AI revolution and other economic pressures.
Layered, complex economic outlook
Ideology, income and education drive workforce sentiment on whether America is on the right track. For executives rallying employees around strategy or transformation, understanding these perceptions is critical.
Sixty percent of employees earning $50,000–$99,000 believe the U.S. is headed in the wrong direction, while 56% of those earning over $100,000 think it’s headed in the right direction. Conservatives are far more likely to be optimistic (76%) than liberals (40%).
Employed Americans are 10% more likely than the general population to believe the Trump Administration’s policies will “make America richer.” Optimism rises among the most educated and affluent: 66% of fully employed college graduates and 68% of $100,000-plus earners share this view.
Underneath this optimism is deep concern about personal finances. Ninety-five percent of liberals and 90% of conservatives cite worries about rising costs and inflation.
Top-educated, top-earning talent is, ironically, the group most worried about tariffs: 79% of employed college graduates express significant concern about tariffs on everyday purchases — 16 points higher than unemployed Americans without a degree.
Points of alignment
Though ideology divides, there are clear areas of unity upon which to build corporate culture including a unified desire for companies to invest in local communities and drive local economic development.
Employees across the spectrum agree that corporate America rather than government should drive job growth, with 62% of conservatives and 60% of liberals aligned. That’s good news for high-growth companies seeking to rally employees around workforce expansion.
Related to a desire for job growth, 72% of liberal and 70% of conservative employees are also worried about businesses’ overreliance on AI.
Critically, employees do not want companies to take political stands, and they are the most likely group to boycott a company when they disagree, but they strongly support corporate citizenship. Eighty-four percent of employed Americans support companies investing in local communities — 10 points above the unemployed.
Across income and education levels, employees support reducing environmental impact (76%), with college-educated and $100,000-plus earners at 82% and 80%, respectively. Seventy-one percent of all American adults agree.
To drive solidarity, Professor Morris writes, organizations must find shared values and mission. If workplaces define community around shared values, they can rally employees and achieve outcomes that strengthen culture and the bottom line.
So, how can leaders build their own unifying culture in this climate?
- Understand your employee base: Segment by income, job families, generations and geography. Dive into demographics and ideological views to uncover the divides, particularly on the economy, that you will need to surmount to gather support for corporate strategy. Most important, uncover the areas of alignment so you can build on those to solidify corporate purpose.
- Strike the right tone and test the message: Know employees are pragmatic about business goals but worried about personal impact. Empathy is key. Predictive, AI-driven message testing tools can help build messages that resonate.
- Don’t ignore news influencers: A media strategy focused only on traditional news will leave out the primary news source for nearly 40% of American adults and 57% of top talent. Reach your audiences where they are and work to influence the news they receive through these highly filtered platforms.
- Double down on corporate citizenship: Rather than let outside divisions spill into the workplace, invest in shared purpose to strengthen unity. Maintain and grow your commitment to the communities where you do business.
- Build a shared story and values that underpin your mission: Develop symbolism, origin stories, heroes, values and underlying behaviors that establish a culture of care and purpose.
*Burson’s U.S. study is a nationally representative survey of n=2000 adults age 18+ conducted in June 2025 with a ± 3.1% margin of error.
The opinions expressed in Fortune.com commentary pieces are solely the views of their authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of Fortune.
