Benchmarking your organisational culture could be the smartest move you make this year
Culture doesn’t appear on a balance sheet, but it’s one of the strongest predictors of performance. Q5’s latest Culture Benchmarking Report reveals how organisations can measure, compare, and strengthen culture to unlock engagement, fairness, and trust, and why many leaders overestimate how healthy their culture really is. Download the full report at the bottom of this page.
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Culture shapes everything in an organisation: how people make decisions, take risks, give feedback and lead. It influences how teams collaborate, how innovation happens, and how people respond in the moments that matter. Yet despite its power, culture often remains invisible, unmeasured, unchallenged, and underestimated.
That’s a risk no organisation can afford anymore.
In an era defined by hybrid work, fast change and evolving employee expectations, culture has become one of the most decisive levers of performance. But unlike financials, it doesn’t appear neatly in a spreadsheet, which means many leaders still treat it as intangible. The result is a widening gap between how leaders think their culture feels, and how it’s actually experienced on the ground.
Making the invisible visible
That’s exactly what we set out to address with our Culture Diagnostic Tool and Culture Benchmarking Report. Drawing on insights from over 1,000 people across sectors, seniority levels and organisation sizes, the study reveals one of the clearest pictures yet of how culture truly operates in 2025.
The findings show that while collaboration is strong, with most organisations scoring well above average, fairness and psychological safety continue to lag behind. These are the foundations of trust, inclusion and performance. Without them, even the most collaborative teams can’t sustain long-term success.
The data paints a consistent picture: culture isn’t broken, but it’s not yet being used as a superpower for performance either.
The perception gap leaders can’t ignore
One of the most revealing insights is the culture perception gap. Leaders routinely rate their culture as significantly healthier than their people do, sometimes by as much as 40 to 50 percent.
This isn’t just a difference in opinion; it’s a strategic risk. When culture is experienced unevenly, so are trust, engagement and productivity. Without an honest, data-driven view of culture, organisations can miss underlying issues until they appear in retention figures, performance dips or reputational damage.
Benchmarking culture provides that clarity. It turns anecdotal “we think” into measurable “we know.”
Why benchmarking works
Measuring and benchmarking culture doesn’t just highlight weaknesses; it identifies strengths and opportunities for growth. It helps leaders:
- Move beyond guesswork and make informed, confident decisions
- Spot gaps between perception and reality across levels, functions or sectors
- Track progress over time, proving whether culture interventions are working
- Build a case for change with clear, comparable data
In short, it turns culture into a performance tool, not a mystery. Check out another article we recently published on how to benchmark against competitors.
The competitive advantage hiding in plain sight
The organisations that will thrive over the next decade aren’t necessarily those with the biggest budgets or boldest strategies but those that measure, understand and actively shape their culture.
A strong, fair, psychologically safe culture fuels collaboration, creativity and resilience. It builds environments where people feel heard, take smart risks and innovate together. That’s not a nice-to-have; it’s a strategic necessity.
As our report shows, culture is everywhere in your organisation, but without measurement, it stays invisible. The question for leaders is no longer “Do we have a good culture?” but “Can we prove it, and is it consistent across every level?”
Download the full Q5 Culture Benchmarking Report to explore the data behind the findings, discover where your sector stands, and learn how to turn your culture into a lasting competitive advantage.
Ready to turn culture into a competitive advantage? Talk to one of our experts.
Associate Partner, Head of Culture
Culture & Client Offering Lead
Culture Expert
We are all about organisational health, which separates good organisations from the great. Whether our clients are at the top of their game (and want to remain there) or are in ‘turnaround’ mode, we all need to work on our organisational health.
Whatever the situation, be it a strategic conundrum, a market opportunity, or an operational gripe, we combine the art and science of organisational health to help our clients improve and excel.
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