Attrition may be at its lowest point since 2022, but engagement is lagging.
Yes, employees are staying longer, but they are not necessarily happier.
That paradox was the focus of The Culture Imperative: Measuring What Matters for Talent and Performance, a joint webinar hosted by RW3 CultureWizard and Revelio Labs featuring Jorge Vargas (CRO, RW3), Josh Sturtavant (CTO, RW3), and Lisa Simon (Chief Economist, Revelio Labs). Together, they explored the link between culture, retention, and measurable business outcomes, and and how data helps leaders close the gap between what’s said and what’s experienced.
The Labor Market Paradox: Stability Without Satisfaction
Revelio Labs’ data reveals a workforce paradox: attrition is at an all-time low, yet employee sentiment is at an all-time low too.
People are staying, but they’re not thriving.
With limited job mobility, culture becomes the differentiator.
When employees feel aligned with company values and trust leadership, they stay and perform. When they feel stuck or unheard, disengagement sets in fast.
“Culture matters most when mobility is limited,” explained Lisa Simon. “Trust and alignment with values are what make people want to stay—not just need to stay.”
Culture Is the Strongest Predictor of Employee Satisfaction
Revelio’s analytics found that culture and values explain the largest variation in employee satisfaction, ahead of compensation and advancement opportunities.
RW3 CultureWizard’s 2025 Corporate Culture Insights research echoes that pattern.
- Employees in weak cultures (defined as stated values that don't align with daily behaviors) are 2x more likely to say they plan to leave within a year.
- Those in strong cultures report higher motivation, collaboration, and clarity about how their work connects to business goals.
The takeaway: Alignment between words and actions is the ultimate retention strategy.
What Leaders Can Learn from the Data
While culture lives everywhere in an organization, leadership often determines whether it sticks.
RW3 CultureWizard’s data shows that employees who trust their leaders to act with consistency and transparency report significantly higher engagement. Even small, visible actions like acknowledging feedback, clarifying expectations, or modeling stated values, strengthen organizational trust and drive measurable retention gains.
Measuring What Matters: From Behaviors to Business Outcomes
Both RW3 and Revelio emphasized that effective culture measurement goes beyond traditional engagement surveys. Their shared approach connects three levels:
- Business Outcomes – retention, innovation, and performance
- Cultural Values – collaboration, inclusion, respect, adaptability
- Daily Behaviors – communication, trust-building, accountability
By combining Revelio’s workforce analytics with RW3 CultureWizard’s proprietary culture assessments, organizations can monitor cultural alignment in real time and take data-driven action.
This creates a continuous measurement cycle:
Insights → Targeted Interventions → Impact Assessment → Reinforcement
When culture is measured consistently, it becomes a living system that evolves with the organization.
Boeing: A Case Study in Cultural Drift
The discussion spotlighted Boeing’s post-merger cultural evolution as a cautionary example.
After the McDonnell Douglas merger, a shift from “engineering excellence” to “cost efficiency” changed the company’s DNA. Revelio data shows that as quality assurance hiring and sentiment declined, as did trust and performance.
The takeaway: when culture drifts from its core values, business outcomes follow.
Turning Insight into Action
RW3 CultureWizard’s Corporate Culture AcceleratorTM helps organizations move from analysis to action:
- Assess – Benchmark the current culture with validated diagnostics.
- Align – Connect cultural values with business strategy and leadership goals.
- Deliver – Integrate culture through onboarding, leadership development, and communication.
- Measure – Track behavioral and sentiment data to quantify change.
- Reinforce – Sustain progress through coaching, microlearning, and recognition.
When culture is continuously reinforced, it becomes a measurable driver of retention, innovation, and performance.
Why It Matters Now
In a constrained labor market, culture is performance infrastructure.
Retention and engagement both depend on trust, alignment, and a measurable approach to behavior change.
Organizations that treat culture as a core business metric are the ones turning stability into success.
Watch the Full Discussion
Get the data, real-world examples, and practical tools shared by RW3 and Revelio Labs. Download the webinar recording → The Culture Imperative: Measuring What Matters for Talent and Performance.
