SHRM Finds 5 Global Drivers of Positive Workplace Culture

A new SHRM report, The State of Global Workplace Culture in 2024, identified several commonalities among positive workplace cultures around the world.

Researchers recruited 17,234 employed adults from 19 countries between February and March 2024 for the study using a third-party online panel. The study, released Dec. 5, found the following five key drivers of positive workplace cultures, which remain critical regardless of an organization’s location:

1. Honest and unbiased management: Employees expect their organization’s leaders and management to be honest, even at the risk of hurting business. Bad behavior shouldn’t be tolerated at any level of the organization, and management should live by the standards it sets.

2. Civil behavior: Disrespect and lack of recognition for accomplishments are indicators of negative workplace cultures. It’s critical to avoid the toxicity that arises from inconsiderate comments made by managers and other employees. These can include microaggressions, such as misidentifying colleagues as being more junior than their actual role in an organization. 

3. Meaningful work and opportunities: Employees who find a sense of direction or see a future for themselves within an organization are likely to accept and support their work culture. Even the most positive work culture will suffer when employees do not feel their work is meaningful. Therefore, employees who feel their work makes an impact and see opportunities to reach their career or life goals are more committed to the company.

4. Open communication: Fostering an environment where employees can share their experiences and authentic selves through candid and honest conversations (with one another and with managers) can create a shared trust that is critical to a positive culture.

5. Empathy: A workplace that fosters empathy among its employees contributes to a positive culture. Empathy, the ability to feel or understand another person’s experiences from that person’s frame of reference, can help an employee know they can safely express themselves in an open and honest manner. When employees are treated with empathy at work, they are more likely to feel valued and to strengthen their connections with one another.

Countries with Strong Positive Workplaces

While all five elements are key drivers across countries, some countries excel more in certain areas, according to the study: 

• Honest and unbiased management is strongest in Asian countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, and Japan.
• Civil behavior is stronger in European and North American countries such as Mexico, Germany, and Canada.
• Developing markets such as India, Indonesia, Egypt, and Brazil are more likely to rate meaningful work and opportunities higher.
• Open communication tends to be stronger in some European countries (Austria, France, and Germany), alongside India and Australia.
• Empathy tends to have stronger assessments in the same countries where management gets more positive ratings: China, Indonesia, and Malaysia (with Brazil making an appearance in the top five).

Reasons Employees Stay

The report highlights significant differences in the reasons employees stay with their current organization in unfavorable cultures versus those in positive cultures. 

Overall, job security was the top reason for employees choosing to stay at any job. But among employees at an organization with a positive culture, flexibility, fair treatment, a good organizational culture, and good managers were also key to retention for employees—surpassing competitive pay. Workers in positive organizational cultures were almost four times more likely to stay with their current employer.

Employees at organizations with unfavorable cultures cited fewer reasons for staying. In fact, loyalty tended to arise from fear: The second most common reason for staying was fear of making a risky decision during a possible recession. 

“Companies that prioritize culture see tangible returns—retaining top talent, improving performance, and building a resilient foundation for long-term success,” said SHRM Chief Data & Analytics Officer Alex Alonso, Ph.D., SHRM-SCP. “We know the essential building blocks for a thriving workplace culture—now is the time to bring them together to create a culture that empowers our people and drives sustainable success. The foundation is set; now we must construct something meaningful and lasting.”