Culture: High stakes or full of fakes?

It was the kind of early morning where a fog lingers in the dewy backdrop of a hopeful sunrise. Where you drive in to work and feel as though you may be the last person alive on the planet as everyone else in the universe peacefully sleeps.

I stepped into the lobby of my longtime employer where our recruiting team was preparing to welcome nearly 100 new employees. For us in recruitment, these days arrived like clockwork every month, and we lived for them. They were the culmination of months of conversations and relationship-building, the long awaited wedding day after an engagement that stretched on too long.

Outside, the fog was heavy and gray, but inside the air carried a light citrus note— carefully chosen, cautiously optimistic. A deliberate brand activation for the senses: clever, effective. Like how you might expect a company with a yellow logo to smell like lemons, determined to radiate sunshiny positivity.

The walls throughout the building were painted in the exact shades of the brand palette, carefully chosen to complement the mission and values etched in bold Helvetica along every corridor. Everything was in place, and we recruiters—the wedding planners—were ready. Not a corner of the building lacked the buzz of excitement for the journey ahead.

Even on days that weren’t our monthly “wedding day,” the culture was palpable. Sometimes it hummed quietly in the background, woven into everyday interactions. Other times you could practically reach out and touch it. There were moments I thought: Am I in a cult? And do we really need conference rooms named after brand phrases?

Once, I watched our CEO wave a $100 bill, offering it to the first recruiter who could recite the mission statement from memory. As a young and eager recruiter, I was more terrified of forgetting a word than I was tempted by the cash. Only in hindsight did I appreciate the brilliance of the tactic. It wasn’t about the $100. It was about making sure we embodied the mission so fully that it lived in our heads and rolled off our tongues without effort. Like a 5th grader standing to dutifully recite the Pledge of Allegiance during morning announcements.

We were walking, talking brand ambassadors before the term “influencer” was cool. And it worked. Every candidate felt deeply connected to the mission from the very first interaction. By the time they walked through the doors on day one, the goal was simple: to make them feel like a child entering Magic Kingdom for the first time, already knowing every word to every princess song by heart, wide eyed and armed with their autograph books.

A lot of time has passed since those days, and I’ve moved on with a deeper appreciation for the power of culture. I’ve met with and interviewed countless companies—C-level executives, directors, VPs, and individual contributors. Large corporations. Mid-sized firms on the cusp of scaling. Startups brimming with chaotic hope. Private equity-backed entities and consulting shops.

No matter the size or stage, they all talk about culture as if they’ve been reading from the same handbook reciting footnotes in lockstep. Integrity. Collaboration. Transparency. Ect. Some add catchy taglines. Others obsess over mission statements, brand palettes, and fonts. Many spin a compelling story anchored by a few influencing ambassadors. And yet, for all the familiar tunes, most of it feels more rehearsed than lived.

The truth can be brittle. The same company that staged citrus scented lobby weddings for new hires turned ruthless the moment someone left. No goodbye. No handshake. A cold shove into the parking lot, even when resignation was voluntary, respectful and with notice. For me, it was a shock to my system then, and it still lingers, like scar tissue that aches when someone brags about their “people-first culture.” The people who stayed saw it too. Watching departures handled with cruelty, questioning if the culture they’d stewarded had ever been real at all.

So when the treatment doesn’t match the story- when people feel dismissed, excluded, or discarded- it severs the very connection culture is supposed to create. They roll out the red carpet for orientation, only to yank it back at the exit. That hypocrisy isn’t lost on anyone, especially not the people still sitting at their desks.

And disconnection, for many reasons, isn’t just a hunch. The data tells the same story over the years. HR.com found back in 2015 that 61% of employees don’t even know their company’s mission statement, and 57% aren’t motivated by it. Newer studies suggest disengagement is even worse today, with only about half of employees saying they feel thriving at work (Gallup 2025). And according to ADP Research Institute (2025), trust is the single most critical driver of commitment. Employees who trust their leaders are 41x more likely to feel engaged and motivated (HR Executive, 2025).

Companies keep tossing out buzzwords like confetti, but the substance rarely matches. It’s a merry-go-round where new hires jump on while others slip off—or are pushed off—just as quickly. Leaders keep pouring effort into the illusion, like building a theme park full of castles and glitter but disappoint the moment customers realize the lemonade stand is serving watered-down juice in a styrofoam cup.

They could repair the sham far more quickly, and cost effectively, if they simply paid attention to what happens to their brand after the door shuts.

A very experienced HR leader once told me: “Remember your boomerang employee. They’re like Hotel California—‘you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.’” At the time, I assumed he just liked the Eagles. I understand it differently now, and Time’s New Rules of Quitting (2022) put it bluntly: how you treat someone on the way out is what they’ll remember most (Time.com).

Entrance, Exits, & Everything in Between

This isn’t to say the entrance doesn’t matter. Starting a new job can be hard (even intimidating), and culture is what stabilizes that early experience, especially in remote environments or complex roles.

But culture isn’t defined at the start alone. It shows up in how people are brought in, how they’re treated day to day and when they leave.

I’ve seen both ends of the spectrum. Companies with imperfect onboarding but thoughtful, dignified exits left a lasting positive impression. Others invested heavily in the welcome, only to handle departures poorly and undermining everything that came before.

Because employees are constantly moving through the lifecycle, culture only holds if it’s consistent across all stages. Not just at entry or exit, but in the everyday moments in between.

If you want to make culture real, and make people stay longer, you have to measure and manage the full lifecycle, not just onboarding or turnover.

1. Internal Mobility or Promotion Rate. A high rate of internal promotion or transfers signals to the organization that the company values loyalty, expertise, and dedication.

2. Referrals. How many new hires came from this source? People recommend places they believe in, not just places that pay referral bonuses. 30% is a great target for this coveted source of hire!

3. Engagement, pulse, and exit surveys. The NPS that matters most: would someone recommend you on their way out the door?

4. 30/60/90 day new hire surveys. First impressions are sticky. Do new hires see values in action, or just on posters? Do they know what is expected of them?

5. Candidate experience. According to Talent Board, two-thirds of candidates share negative experiences publicly. Two-thirds! That’s not a recruiting problem. It’s a cultural one.

   
   

Now use the data

Culture isn’t a theme park stunt. It survives the ride only if you measure it, define it, live it, and repeat it every single day, from the first to the last. Culture isn’t wallpaper or scent. It’s in the small things: phrases everyone uses, behaviors rewarded, consistency from leadership, how feedback is handled, and how people are treated beyond the honeymoon stage when life gets messy. It’s facing the hard truth for meaningful improvement.

1. Measure it. Look at early retention, referrals, candidate and employee surveys. The data tells you where the cracks are.

2. Define it. Move beyond buzzwords. Translate values into behaviors that can be seen, measured, and rewarded. What are the common behaviors all the highest performers share, and does that match your values on paper? What actions warranted internal promotions?

3. Live it. Treat new hires, tenured employees, and departing employees with the same dignity. Every moment is culture in action. Build trust with transparency and action. This can look as simple as announcing new hires across functions, celebrating work anniversaries, prioritizing internal hiring, and sharing when employees are transitioning from the organization. Recognizing when the latter occurs does not mean the company is “bad”. Transparency breeds trust.

4. Repeat it. Culture isn’t a campaign. It’s daily, relentless reinforcement from leadership and peers alike.

Final thoughts

I used to think culture lived at the extremes: either cult-like or nonexistent. Just words on walls HR people used to throw around to look smart. Maybe it’s always a bit of both. But overlook its importance, and you’re riding a rollercoaster in the dark without a seatbelt.

Culture isn’t lemon scented lobbies or glossy mission statements. It’s what shows up when people are hired, when they’re tested, and especially when they leave. Data can measure parts of it, but trust, consistency, and dignity define it. Companies that invest only in the “wedding day” moments while neglecting exits will always be exposed when the music fades and the last piece of cake is gone.

Culture is people and their actions who give business its purpose, and its profit. And when people feel truly connected, they’ll strap in and ride with you through the slow, suspenseful climbs and the wildest stomach dropping descents.