The 2025 Work Remastered study from company culture specialist United Culture, has found that in a climate of economic and social uncertainty, job security remains the key factor people look for in the workplace. However reputation and values still play a significant role in attracting and keeping talent with eight in ten office workers saying their employer’s reputation was an important factor in their decision to take a job.
The survey took in 1,500 employed adults across the UK, US and Western Europe and found values are a priority for UK office workers, where half (50 per cent) feel it’s important that organisational values around transparency and honesty, fair treatment and inclusivity, and recognition of their contribution align to their personal beliefs.
However, there are clear cultural differences across markets, and the UK figures over-index against the overall average of 41 per cent. Alignment with personal values is markedly lower in other countries – for instance those in France are far less concerned about inclusivity at 23 per cent or recognition (26 per cent).
Victoria Lewis-Stephens, managing director at United Culture, says: “Aligning with employees’ own values is something that businesses should bear in mind. What’s more important though, is that an organisation sets out its values clearly and that these are reflected in the workplace experience. After all, only 10 per cent of our respondents admit their work defines who they are; it’s a means to an end for a fifth, and a further 21 per cent suggest work enables them to do the things they love.”
However, business leaders still need to work harder to ensure those values are apparent to their teams. Only 31 per cent of UK office workers felt their organisation’s values are truly reflected in the workplace, compared to nearly half (48 per cent) in the US and a global average of 39 per cent.
When asked what changes their organisation could make to improve the working experience, 22 per cent identified leadership behaviours, with a further 20 per cent looking for better communication and transparency.
When asked, specifically, how leaders could build trust most effectively, almost half of respondents favoured honesty and meaningful acknowledgement over sugar-coating and empty reassurances, with 45 per cent looking for open and transparent communication, even in difficult situations.
“Reputation and values are a currency employees trade on when the world around them feels uncertain,” Lewis-Stephens, concluded. “People are no longer satisfied with platitudes, they expect their immediate leaders – at the very least – to be honest in a political climate in which terms like ‘post-truth’ are being bandied around.
“Transparency has tangible business advantages, a quarter (26 per cent) of those polled suggest they do their best work when their leaders communicate openly, honestly, and frequently.”
