Most companies still treat resignations like surprises they never planned for, but people don’t just quit out of the blue. There’s usually a slow build-up that others only notice in hindsight.
Look deeper, and you’ll see the people who used to jump into meetings with energy are now arriving late, turning off their cameras, and staying silent. You might even notice someone with great ideas goes quiet after a peer shoots them down. These are real signs companies can act on, but few actually do. That’s a growing problem right now.
Recent studies reflect what many managers have long observed. A large share of the workforce, close to four in ten, is thinking about moving on this year. Most aren’t chasing a higher salary. Their day-to-day workplace experience wears them down; many say they would leave immediately if they found a healthier culture elsewhere.
It’s a clear signal that culture plays a major role in whether people stay. It influences everything from well-being to how teams work together, and it shapes retention and logically results far more than most organisations expect.
The Empathy Issue: What’s Happening to Workplace Culture?
- Many teams feel different now, and not always for the better. People arrive at meetings already tired. Someone asks a question, and the room goes flat. Another person tries to share a worry and ends up apologising instead.
- Many managers say their teams feel tense. Jokes land awkwardly. A simple message gets taken the wrong way. Even praise can make someone uneasy. Much of this stems from people feeling stretched. Rising costs, job worries, constant change.
- Hybrid routines add another layer. Working through screens removes the small cues people rely on. A glance, a sigh, a quick check-in. Without those tiny signals, confusion sticks around. Some people pull back without realising it, while others come across sharper than they intend.
- This is often when people start thinking about leaving. Not because they dislike the job, but because the atmosphere has changed and they no longer recognise the place that used to make them feel safe.
The Business Case for Culture
Despite years of articles and reports discussing the value of “culture,” many businesses still treat it as an optional branding point. It’s a concept that gets ignored until you lose someone you didn’t expect to lose, and projects start to stall.
Once it becomes clear that culture is driving people away, leaders’ view of the problem changes. The expense isn’t only tied to ads or agency fees. When someone trusted leaves, the team shifts.
Colleagues start wondering about their own future. Meetings feel slightly off. The usual rhythm disappears for a while. Even with a strong new hire, it takes time for the group to feel settled again.
Culture directly influences whether teams remain stable or continue to lose people. A growing number of workers say the workplace environment matters as much as the salary package. 56% even say culture is more important to them than pay.
This aligns with what many recruiters see. People no longer accept jobs unquestioningly. Most check around first.
Culture is not a soft topic. It’s one of the clearest signals of whether a team will hold together or keep losing people at the worst possible times.
Many people still mix culture up with surface-level perks. It isn’t the snacks or the gadgets in the office. It’s the emotional climate people step into every morning. The sense of being valued or overlooked. The clarity of communication. The way a team responds when something goes wrong. The most reliable aspects of culture tend to fall into a few key areas that guide how people work together.
Psychological Safety
You can feel this pretty quickly. People don’t look tense when they talk. Someone can admit they forgot something without the air changing. Junior employees don’t feel weird about asking managers questions.
Psychological safety usually shows in habits rather than announcements. People ask questions that aren’t fully formed. Someone proposes an idea with a hint of uncertainty in their voice. Others help shape it rather than shut it down. It’s the kind of atmosphere where learning is normal, not embarrassing.
Leadership That Feels Human
Culture often shifts depending on how leaders handle tough moments. Employees pay attention to that. The quiet pauses, the willingness to hear someone out, the honesty that comes from admitting a rushed choice.
Leaders who show this kind of steadiness usually help the team relax. You can tell when a manager has put real effort into their people skills. Meetings feel less defensive. Conversations are more open. People speak candidly without worrying about backlash. None of this requires dramatic gestures. It comes from consistent behaviour that makes others feel safe.
Wellbeing That’s Treated as Genuine
In stronger company cultures, you can tell well-being is a priority. Workloads aren’t set to the point of breaking people. Someone steps in when a colleague looks like they’ve hit their limit. Leaders adjust expectations when the team is clearly stretched. People take holidays without panicking.
When well-being is genuine, employees don’t feel as if they’re constantly proving they can cope. They can focus on solid work rather than pretending they’re fine. That stability holds teams together much longer than perks or slogans ever will.
Practical Steps to Build a Culture That Retains Talent
Improving culture often starts in places leaders don’t expect. It’s rarely a major program or announcement. It’s usually something smaller, like a manager realising the team flinches when they speak quickly. Most culture shifts begin with moments like that, the kind that make people stop and rethink how they’ve been showing up.
Start With Leadership
People watch leaders more closely than they think. Not their speeches, but the tiny things. Whether they interrupt. Whether they look up when someone speaks. Whether they own their mistakes or talk their way around them. When managers begin changing these habits, even slightly, the team notices, and it softens the room.
Most managers weren’t taught how to lead humans. They learned on the job, often by trial and error. Training helps, yes, but what helps as much is a leader who’s willing to say, “I didn’t handle that well,” and actually mean it. That one sentence can reset a whole team’s tone.
Create Feedback Loops People Trust
Plenty of companies send out surveys. People fill them out quickly, assuming nothing will change. A culture shifts when feedback turns into visible adjustments, even small ones. Shorter meetings. A clearer process for approvals. Fixing a long-standing frustration instead of talking about it again.
Anonymous channels can be useful when trust is low, though they only work if leadership circles back to the team with, “Here’s what we heard, and here’s what we’re trying.” Without that, they become another black box that people learn to ignore.
Invest in Growth That Feels Real
Most employees don’t need a grand development program. They want opportunities that actually materialise. A chance to shadow someone. A project that stretches them a bit. A leader who remembers what they said they wanted to learn.
Career path clarity helps, although even simple actions count. Having someone who usually sits quietly present is powerful. Publicly cheering an internal promotion so others can picture themselves there, too, inspires everyone.
Hire People Who Lift the Culture
Recruiting for “fit” often backfires. Teams end up hiring the same personalities and blind spots on repeat. Hiring for culture-add is different. It looks for someone who will shift the energy in a good way. Someone thoughtful, or steady, or patient, or curious. Traits that influence the tone of a group as much as technical skill.
The way candidates talk about conflict or communication usually gives a clearer picture of how they’ll behave on the team than technical questions ever will. After they join, the first few weeks shape their whole experience. Transparent expectations, thoughtful welcomes, and direct discussions about how the group works reduce uncertainty and help new hires feel grounded quickly.
Culture: What Makes a Workplace Worth Staying In
People often assume turnover happens because someone found a better offer. Sometimes that’s true, more often, it’s something smaller. The atmosphere changed, the team felt different, or they were sick of the knot in their stomach they got before meetings.
Workplaces that retain employees tend to share a common quality. They feel safe. You can raise a concern without bracing for impact. You can have a rough week without hiding it. There’s a sense that people mean well, even when things get messy. That sense of safety gives teams the room they need to do good work.
Culture isn’t a project. It’s the sum of hundreds of small choices that shape how people treat each other on ordinary days. When those choices lean toward kindness, clarity, and fairness, retention becomes less of a battle. People stay because the environment doesn’t take more from them than it gives back.
