Could Culture Be the Most Important Benefit You Provide Your Workers?

Amid the strains of a slow job market, artificial intelligence (AI) fears and economic uncertainty, U.S. workers are noting their employer’s workplace culture as a top priority, according to a recent survey report by consulting firm EY.

In the report, 94% of surveyed workers reported workplace culture impacts their decision to stay at an employer (up 2 percentage points since 2022). The survey also revealed a surprising amount of common ground across generations — all of which reported that “how people treat each other” is the most important aspect of culture (more important than leadership and management style, work environment, or feeling the organization prioritizes their career growth).

“Leaders are navigating a convergence of forces — AI disruption, geopolitical uncertainty, economic pressure — that are putting enormous strain on their organizations,” said Sarah Lewis-Kulin, the vice president of global recognition and research at Great Place To Work. “In moments like this, culture is a company’s competitive advantage or Achilles heel.”

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• How Workplace Culture Can Improve Engagement and Retention

What Drives Culture?

In high-performing workplaces, trust is the number one driver of culture, said Candice Pokk, a senior consultant of organizational effectiveness at HR and benefits consulting firm Segal.

“Those are the ones where leaders are highly transparent, consistent and follow through on what they say,” she explained. “High trust also encompasses psychological safety, where employees feel that they can speak up with new ideas or concerns, free of fear and repercussions.”

According to Lewis-Kulin, culture is what leads workers to accelerate or resist workplace changes, such as AI adoption and organization restructuring, because these actions require risk-taking and faith in leadership to be successful.

“If strategy tells you where to go, culture is what determines how quickly and successfully you get there,” she said. “High‑trust cultures see greater discretionary effort, stronger retention and more resilience during disruption. Meanwhile, low‑trust cultures pay an immediate tax by way of stalled execution and employees pulling back exactly when organizations need them leaning in.”

Lewis-Kulin noted this differential is particularly striking during times of crisis. Research conducted by Great Place To Work found that, during the Great Recession, organizations with trust-based cultures saw a 14.4% gain in stock value while the S&P 500 declined 35.5%. Post-recession, they also recovered faster, yielding a gain roughly four times that of the S&P 500.

Additional research also shows various generations in the workforce value the same things when it comes to workplace culture.

“In our work across 180 countries, we’ve found that what people need to thrive is remarkably consistent across generations: leaders they can trust, who treat people fairly and with respect, build a sense of pride in people’s work and association with the company, and foster a genuine sense of connection among coworkers,” Lewis-Kulin said. “These are human drivers, not generational ones.”

Pokk agreed, stating, “Everyone is looking to work in a place that feels safe, where employees are well-equipped to do their jobs, feel respected and welcomed, and have a sense of purpose and meaning in their work.”

There can be slight variations due to different stages of life among generations. For example, younger generations, such as millennials and those in Generation Z, increasingly value time off and wellness, Pokk said. They also value friendships and look for opportunities to collaborate and connect with their peers, as they are still building networks and relationships.

Overall, culture comes down to day-to-day leadership behavior, said Lewis-Kulin. Questions for organizations to consider include:

• To what degree do managers really listen to their people?
• How clearly do they communicate?
• How do they handle conflict?
• What do they consider when making decisions?
• How respectfully do they treat their people as professionals and as people with lives outside work?

Culture as a Benefit

According to Lewis-Kulin, culture-driven benefits design starts with deep clarity about what the organization’s business strategy is and how its culture needs to support it. “What has to be true of their people, and how do they need to work together to succeed?” she said.

For example, workplaces may compete on the skill, ingenuity and work ethic of their people, but success likely depends upon creating a culture of ambitious and even competitive learners who are highly professionally motivated, Lewis-Kulin said.

Since many of these workers may have a lot of student loan debt or are raising families, she said benefits could be optimized to support those workers, such as tuition reimbursement programs or concierge services.

“The best total rewards teams treat every benefit as a signal,” Lewis-Kulin said. “Does it reinforce trust, clarity, fairness and inclusion? Does it match the culture the company says it wants? When the answer is yes, benefits stop being perks and start becoming proof.”

Editor’s Note: Additional Content

For more information and resources related to this article, see the pages below, which offer quick access to all WorldatWork content on these topics:

• Employee Benefits
• Employee Experience
• Total Rewards