Brief Overview

  • Research released Tuesday by employee experience platform Culture Amp shows that 96% of C-suite executives expect AI to boost productivity, but 77% of employees report that AI tools have increased their workload.
  • The research notes that key indicators of employee experience are trending downward, forcing teams to do more with fewer resources. Culture Amp says many leaders view investing in employee engagement as a "luxury."
  • Culture Amp adds that making trade-offs between employee engagement and employee performance may "leave significant shareholder value on the table." The report says business leaders often invest in employee engagement during growth periods but shift to hard performance metrics during economic downturns.

Deep Insights

The study tracked 1,800 organizations globally over two years and found that two-fifths (40%) of companies were in a state of "peak performance," meaning these organizations achieved both high engagement and high performance confidence.

Culture Amp then tracked stock price movements for some of these companies and found that "peak performance" companies saw their stock prices rise 25% within one year and 36% cumulatively over two years. The report says companies that focus on both workplace culture and organizational performance enjoy a 47% advantage in stock price movement.

"Global leaders face pressure to demonstrate return on human investment, and many therefore view culture and performance as an either/or decision," Culture Amp CEO Caroline Rawlinson said in a statement. "This research provides concrete evidence that this is a false dichotomy. Culture and high performance are closely linked because culture underpins all people-related elements of business performance."

Among teams forced to do "more with less," Culture Amp found that many leaders view investing in employee engagement as a luxury.

However, Rawlinson says culture is "the fundamental operating system that determines how decisions are made, which behaviors are reinforced, and ultimately how people perform." She adds that this research provides a strong argument for retaining and investing in culture. "It is through culture that organizations create the conditions for teams to consistently deliver their best work and achieve measurable financial returns," Rawlinson said.

According to data released by Gallup in January, U.S. employee engagement has declined significantly since its 2020 peak. Gallup research found that employee engagement fell from 36% in 2020 to 31% in 2024 and remained unchanged in 2025, meaning approximately 8 million fewer employees are actively engaged at work over five years.

Meanwhile, Adecco's workplace survey in January found that tangible job security has surpassed personal fulfillment as the top factor in employee retention. In the survey, employees said they need stable income, job certainty, and "strong" employer support for agility, resilience, and engagement.