Organizational work arrangements are more likely to have improved over the past two years, whereas corporate culture is slightly more likely to have worsened
We asked participants to evaluate progress in two key areas: corporate culture and organizational work arrangements. We found that 32% of respondents say work arrangements have improved a lot over the last two years, but just 12% say the same about corporate culture. In fact, more than a third (36%) say corporate culture has worsened at least a little, compared to just 20% who say the same about work arrangements.
Overall, a majority 60% say work arrangements have improved compared to just 34% who say corporate culture has.
This indicates, of course, that there is not a one-to-one correlation between work arrangements and corporate culture. It is not enough for organizations to allow remote or hybrid work arrangements; the culture must also adjust. This means reinforcing organizational values and ensuring all employees feel included regardless of their working arrangements.
This is not to say that there’s no relationship between culture and work arrangements. The research indicates that organizations with improved cultures are more likely to use a variety of flexible work arrangements (see sidebar). However, the data also suggests that culture often fails to keep pace with fast changes in work arrangements. Over the coming year, many organizations will need to work on improving their corporate cultures to better reflect and complement their changed work arrangements. We believe that ultimately these two areas should be in sync with one another to promote long-term success.
Differences by size of organization
The larger the organization, the more likely it is to have improved organizational work arrangements. In fact, large organizations are twice as likely as small organizations to say organizational work processes improved a lot over the last two years (43% vs. 22%). Mid-sized companies fall in the middle with 29% saying this is the case.
