O.C. Tanner 2027 Global Culture Report reveals how organisations can drive innovation

O.C. Tanner, the global leader in employee recognition and workplace culture solutions, released its 2027 Global Culture Report. The ninth annual report examines how organisations can strengthen performance and drive innovation amid rapid technological change, economic uncertainty, and employee scepticism about the future by intentionally amplifying the people and behaviours that already create value.

Based on data gathered from over 25,000 workers across 23 countries, the report finds that workplace culture acts as an amplifier. While struggling cultures intensify uncertainty and burnout, thriving cultures magnify trust, connection, innovation, purpose, and performance. The research outlines four areas that create these multiplier effects, including embedding organisational compassion into systems and processes, building cultures of growth, practising active trust, and unlocking employee innovation by recognising people for sharing ideas throughout the innovation process.

“Organisations are responding to relentless change by asking more of their people, often without strengthening the culture that makes those demands sustainable,” said Dr. Alexander Lovell, Vice President of the O.C. Tanner Institute. “We cannot keep extracting more from employees and expect their capacity to be limitless. Our research points to a better way. People want to contribute, grow, and do work that matters to them and to the organisation. When organisations build cultures rooted in compassion, growth, and trust, they amplify what their people are already capable of and create the conditions for greater innovation and performance.”

The research highlights opportunities for organisations to amplify both employee and business performance, with a specific focus on ensuring frontline employees, who often lack the same flexibility and autonomy as their corporate counterparts, are not left behind in these efforts.

Key Findings: Compassion, Growth, and Active Trust

• Embed compassion into how the organisation operates: Compassion turns into a performance driver when care is built into organisational systems and policies. When organisations have the three pillars of care – a foundation of care, capacity protection, and clear guidelines and boundaries – they see 11x higher odds of organisational growth and innovation. A practice of care is especially critical for frontline employees, and when organisations demonstrate compassion, this employee cohort reports 88% lower odds of burnout.

• Build cultures of growth, not just cultures of learning: Employees are increasingly viewing learning as transactional, and the report reveals that growth cultures create partnerships rather than a one-sided push for greater output. Growth cultures combine empathy, communication, community, support, opportunity, and balance, and when those six elements are present, organisations have 48x higher odds of demonstrating “cultural elasticity,” or the ability to build skills and remain agile when new challenges arise. Frontline workers in particular benefit when their organisations invest in growth and see a 20x increase in their sense of opportunity and a 25x increase in their sense of success.

• The definition of trust at work is evolving: The report finds that trust in the modern workplace goes beyond individual relationships and must be treated as an active pursuit through behaviours and workplace practices. When teams and leaders practice the six elements of active trust – transparency, reliability, accountability, judgement, safety, and care – the odds of company financial stability increase 12x, and employees are 14x more likely to say their organisations care about them. Frontline employees are less likely than their corporate counterparts to trust their leader, but when the six elements of active trust are present, their sense of belonging increases 19x and their odds of believing their leader supports them through periods of change increase 38x.

• Teams unlock innovation when they celebrate ideas, even when they don’t succeed: Innovation happens when employees have the autonomy to think creatively, the psychological safety to share ideas, and the organisational support to act on innovative ideas. When employees are not recognised for trying new things, their odds of thinking creatively drop 93%. Conversely, employees recognised throughout each stage of innovation – thinking, sharing and acting – are 21x more likely to be innovative.

The Role of Recognition in Navigating Change

“The 2027 Global Culture Report makes it clear: organisations don't have to choose between the wellbeing of their people and high performance, and the most successful workplaces deliberately create the conditions for both,” said Mindi Cox, Chief People and Marketing Officer at O.C. Tanner. “When employees feel trusted, supported in their growth, and recognised for their contributions, they're more likely to embrace change, innovate, and bring their best to work every day. Organisations that intentionally amplify those experiences, and recognise the people creating them, are better positioned to thrive.”

“European organisations have excelled on work-life balance and flexibility. But with economic uncertainty and AI-driven transformation, recognition is often falling by the wayside, and with it the trust employees need when their career paths feel unstable. Organisations that build cultures of growth will strengthen trust, innovation and engagement," said Robert Ordever, Managing Director Europe, O.C. Tanner.

To learn more about how organisations can amplify compassion, growth, trust, and innovation to strengthen workplace culture and business performance, and to download the full report, please visit the 2027 Global Culture Report.