Business Leaders Are Zeroing In on Culture
Business Leaders Are Zeroing In on Culture
In a recent Inc. poll, leaders chimed in about their workplace priorities for the year — and company culture is taking the cake.
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New Year’s resolutions are rolling out (hello, overcrowded gyms) — and leaders have some big resolutions for their businesses, too.
In an informal LinkedIn poll, Inc. gathered insights from more than 2,000 respondents about what they most want to improve in their workplaces in 2025. Company culture was the clear winner, at 52 percent of respondents.
It may not be surprising that leaders think their company culture needs a revival: Last year, according to a report from Gallup, employee engagement fell to an 11-year low, following a years-long decline in role clarity, job satisfaction, and connection to company mission and purpose.
Even among the fastest-growing companies, culture is on the fritz. Last year, burnout was listed as the most common workforce challenge in Inc.’s annual CEO Survey, in addition to other issues like “employee churn” and “rebuilding social capital” after the pandemic.
That said, it seems leaders are already taking steps to prioritize better workplace culture. One indicator: A workplace culture conference started by two Wisconsinites has seen attendance balloon since launching in 2018, which the co-founders see as evidence of an increasing emphasis on organizational culture.
But one commenter on LinkedIn argued that, perhaps even more than improving, maintaining culture can be a worthy challenge: “I feel like it’s easy when you need to improve — you can see changes and you can feel the improvement. What is difficult is to maintain so that things don’t get to a point where the culture, the benefits … decline.”
Of course, culture isn’t business leaders’ only priority this year: Thirty percent of respondents to Inc.’s poll said they were most focused on improving employee benefits in 2025. Here, employers have faced some daunting obstacles, particularly given the rising costs of health insurance — the most expensive benefit that employers provide.
But experts say there are affordable ways to boost benefits. For instance, Chantel Sheaks, vice president of retirement policy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, previously told Inc. that emergency savings funds were one low-cost way to provide employees with a valuable safety net.
Meanwhile, respondents are less focused on AI integration this year: Just 14 percent listed it as their top priority for 2025.
Now, that doesn’t mean workers aren’t using this technology at work — in fact, at one point last year, generative AI usage among global knowledge workers nearly doubled in just six months. But leaders are still lagging in including AI in their corporate strategies, according to another report.
Customer service culture will always be first and foremost in the customers mind, it’s what keeps them coming back.We are here to help you monitor, measure and grow your customer service culture.Give us a call, we’ll be glad to partner with you to grow the one culture that keeps customer coming back.
BY SARAH LYNCHAND CARL PHILLIPS
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