Core beliefs and culture
Chairman’s survey findings
Exceptional organizations think about their business asa two-sided ledger: strategy and culture.
· 94% of executives and 88% of employees believe a distinct
workplace culture is important to business success.
· When considering which factors substantially contribute to acompany’s success, a significantly higher percentage of executives
identified “a clearly defined business strategy” (76%) rather than“clearly defined and communicated core values and beliefs” (62%).
· In contrast, relatively equal percentages of employees cite thesefactors as contributors: “a clearly defined business strategy” (57%)
and “clearly defined and communicated values and beliefs” (55%).

Exceptional organizations create and sustain a culture that engages and motivates theiremployees.
· 83% of executives and 84% of employees rank having engaged and motivated employees as the top factor that
substantially contributes to a company’s success.
· There is a correlation between employees who say they are “happy at work” and feel “valued by [their] company”
and those who say their organization has a clearly articulated and lived culture.

Focus on culture*“I am happy at work.”“I feel valued by my company.”

My company has a distinct culture.

84%

86%

I can clearly explain my company's culture
to my friends and family.

82%

86%

My boss speaks to me often about ourcompany's culture.

57%

63%

Senior leadership regularly communicates
my company's core values and beliefs.

75%

81%

Senior leadership acts in accordance withthe company's core values and beliefs.

80%

85%

*Data reflects the results from the employee survey only.

Executives may be using social media as a crutch to build culture and seem accessible —but good leadership can’t be dialed-in. Norms for building an exceptional culture andorganization have not changed.
· 45% of executives say social media has a positive impact on workplace culture while only 27% employees agree.
· 41% of executives compared with only 21% of employees believe that social networking helps to build and maintainworkplace culture.
· As it relates to management visibility, 38% of executives think social media allows for increased transparency while
only 17% of employees agree.

There is a disconnect between organizations simply talking about their culture and thosethat are embedding their beliefs into their operations.
· Executives have an inflated sense of their workplace culture when compared to employees based on significant
differentials in their responses to questions about how culture is expressed in their organization.

Exceptional organizations have core beliefs that are unique, simple, leader-led, repetitive,and embedded in the culture.
··There is a correlation between clearly articulated and lived culture and strong business performance.
Only 19% of executives and 15% of employees believe strongly that their culture is widely upheld within theirown organizations.

*Data reflects responses from the employee survey only

To be an exceptional organization, companies
must focus on the intangible elements ofculture-building.
· When considering what factors impact workplace culture,
executives rank tangible elements such as financialperformance (65%) and competitive compensation (62%)
among the highest, whereas those factors were amongthe lowest for employees· In contrast, employees rank intangible elements such as
regular and candid communications (50%), employee
recognition (49%), and access tomanagement/leadership (47%) highest.

For more information about the survey and its findings, please contact Dana Fields Muldrow at (212) 492-3875.
About the survey: Harris Interactive surveyed 1,005 U.S. adults (aged 18+, employed full-time in a company with 100+ employees)
and 303 corporate executives on a number of questions related to culture in the workplace.
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