CHROs, Here’s How to Get Buy-in for Your Company Culture

Despite years of focus on purpose-driven branding across organizations, employee disengagement continues to rise. Many organizations broadcast values and mission statements but keep meaningful decision-making out of reach for much of their workforce — and employees are taking note. 

The ripple effect is that employee skepticism replaces inspiration, and disengagement creeps into the work culture. Here’s how to give employees what they want to boost retention.

What Employees Really Want

Employees today want more than catchy purpose statements or recognition through empty praise. They desire genuine agency — influence over how, when, and why they work, as well as a hand in shaping policies and benefits. 

One of the most powerful ways to give employees agency is to invite them directly into the co-creation of workplace policies. I have found that involving teams in the development of flexible work arrangements, the shaping of benefits packages, and even the outlining of professional development opportunities builds trust and ownership.

Employees want to be co-authors of their own workplace story, not passive participants. Modern workers want the authentic recognition that comes from shared authority, not just top-down acknowledgments. I have observed that recognition is most effective when staff have a hand in choosing the rewards, creating peer-to-peer nomination programs, and celebrating wins that matter to them (not just what leadership thinks is meaningful).

Beyond Purpose: Empowering Employee Voice

Purpose is powerful, but as the nature of work continues to evolve, even the most stirring campaigns ring hollow if employees’ fingerprints aren’t visible in company decision-making and culture. HR leaders need to resist the urge to treat purpose as a communications exercise. 

Instead, the challenge is to co-create a vision and embed it into everyday experiences, ensuring all employees see themselves as crucial contributors to the organizational journey. For example, I have seen and participated in organizations’ listening sessions, employee forums, and cross-functional teams, all aimed at allowing employees to help shape new workflows, influence product development, and guide policy updates. Employees can contribute to decision-making experiences by joining pilot programs for benefits, serving on rotating leadership committees, and leading task forces dedicated to workplace improvements.

Transforming Culture Through Employee Voice 

The mission of HR moves beyond fostering a sense of belonging to empowering employees to help design the environment in which they belong. That means giving workers real influence over strategies, cultural priorities, and even policy frameworks. 

Practices that work particularly well give employees real input on:

• Flexible work policies, which touch their daily experiences.
• Recognition and career mobility, which allow employees to drive their own growth and celebrate what matters most. 

Today’s talent craves true partnership, with a meaningful voice at the table. 

Closing the Gap Between Words and Action

Purposeful marketing and language alone cannot drive authentic engagement. Real progress occurs when employees are truly heard and when their feedback directly shapes strategic priorities, not just survey results. In practice, transparent feedback loops can be sewn into company culture: regular updates on how staff input has changed a policy, open forums that spark new actions, and action teams staffed by volunteer employees tasked with improving workplace practices.

When organizations rotate project leadership, they can use crowdsourced digital suggestion tools and follow up visibly on suggestions; this approach measurably increases engagement and retention. Functional autonomy and an influential voice are more than just employee perks — they are foundational to loyalty, innovation, and discretionary effort.

The HR Mandate: Rethinking Influence

For HR leaders, this is a mandate to reimagine how influence flows. Consider moving from structured decision protocols to flexible, employee-powered models. Successful companies have implemented systems such as:

• Rotating project leads within teams, so each member has a turn driving outcomes.
• Suggestion platforms (“innovation hubs”) where all employees can submit and vote on ideas.
• Employee-led committees for policy refreshes, belonging strategies, or benefits reviews.

The goal is not a one-size-fits-all approach, but a dynamic, shared ownership and real “skin in the game” at every level.

True engagement is not engineered from the top; it blooms from partnership. When workers are trusted to help shape the systems in which they operate, the culture evolves from a compliance-driven exercise into a living, trusting partnership.

The key questions for any HR leader today are: 

• Are we inviting employees to help write the next chapter? 
• Are we building a belief system that belongs to everyone?

A Strategic Opportunity for HR Leaders

Purpose will remain the North Star for organizations. Yet, the most future-forward HR leaders are doubling down on pairing it with authentic, shared influence. By anchoring purpose in daily experiences and employee partnership, HR can power organizations where belonging is genuine, engagement is resilient, and every employee is a true co-architect of the vision. 

As the world of work transforms, let’s reimagine engagement not merely as alignment with a vision, but as daily, shared authorship of the company’s future.

What this means for you: HR leaders who remain focused on authentic partnership and agency, in addition to messaging, will be best positioned to attract, inspire, and retain high-performing teams. In your role, look for creative ways to weave employee influence directly into policy, culture, and strategy development. The organizations that let employee voice lead the way will set the pace for engagement and innovation in the evolving workplace.

Lucinda Smith is an executive coach and advisor, as well as a SHRM Executive Network Executive Advisor. Previously, she was a senior vice president at AGCO Corporation for 15 years.