Nearly half of workers quit because of bad company culture: report

Employers hoping to attract the best talent should be looking internally and improving their workplace culture, based on findings from a recent Dayforce report.

That’s because 7 in 10 workers say they would or have turned down a job opportunity because of a poor culture fit, according to the report.

And nearly half (48%) said they have quit a job because of a bad company culture

“For organizations, cultivating a strong culture is a constant balancing act between productivity and agility and creating a space where people can do their best work,” says Amy Cappellanti-Wolf, chief people officer, Dayforce. “Our research shows that organizations that invest in culture – specifically, aligning their benefits, initiatives, and technology with the needs of their people – will have an advantage when attracting and retaining top talent and building a high-performing workforce.”

The study included 9,489 respondents aged 18+ who work at companies with at least 100 employees across Australia, Canada, Germany, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Currently, over 1 in 3 employees around the world are eyeing new jobs despite finding meaning at work, according to a previous report from the ManpowerGroup.

Leaders’, workers’ views on culture

Despite the importance of culture in recruitment, only 50% of managers and 42% for frontline workers say they are proud of where they work, finds Dayforce’s survey of 9,489 workers from around the world.

Those numbers are far below the 69% among executives who make the same claim.

_{Source: Dayforce}

Also, 75% of executives believe they model the company’s values, but this belief is shared by only 45% of workers. 

“We see this skewed experience of culture play out in many aspects of our data, creating an environment that has the potential to stifle business continuity, productivity, and performance,” says Dayforce in its 15th annual Pulse of Talent report titled Calibrating culture in the age of agility. “Organizations will need to make smarter culture investments to reduce these threats, as their current actions aren’t known or appreciated by a lot of workers. And that means they’re not getting a good return on their culture investments.”

Talking about whether their company benefits 72% of executives and 66% of HR leaders agree that they are good or very good at meeting their needs. The numbers, however, are lower among managers (49%) and workers (42%).

Similarly, more than 8 out of 10 executives felt they could see a career path at their organization that aligned with their goals, compared to only 4 out of 10 workers. 

“If companies’ efforts to improve culture aren’t being felt across the employee experience at all job levels, it significantly decreases any business benefit. And if current investments aren’t impacting culture as positively as leaders think, companies can become skeptical about investing,” says Dayforce.

More than three in four employees have admitted that they are actively job hunting while at work, according to a previous report.