PROVO, Utah, Feb. 05, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — New research from Motivosity, conducted in partnership with HR.com, finds that organizations with strong workplace cultures are significantly more likely to outperform their peers.
According to The 2026 State of Workplace Culture and Connection Report, organizations with strong cultures are nearly 2x as likely to report significant revenue growth compared to organizations with weaker cultures. The study examines how connection, recognition, leadership trust, and data visibility affect retention and business performance.
Based on responses from employees, managers, and executives across industries and around the world, the research shows that culture remains one of the strongest reasons people stay. 83% of employees say they remain at an organization primarily because of its culture and the people they work with. At the same time, many organizations weaken that advantage through inconsistent recognition, limited cross-team connection, and poor visibility into engagement data.
“Culture is built through everyday moments of connection; not giving your people more stuff or a fully-stocked breakroom,” says Scott Johnson, CEO and Founder of Motivosity. “This report confirms what we’ve long believed at Motivosity: when employees feel seen, valued, and connected, trust grows, engagement improves, and performance follows. The organizations thriving in 2026 aren’t doing more; they’re making culture a core part of their business strategy and prioritizing connection, employee engagement, and recognition as a way to reinforce the right behaviors consistently.”
Key Findings From the Report
- Connection is improving, but uneven. Nearly half of employees (48%) say their sense of connection at work has improved over the past year. While most feel connected to their immediate teams, only 58% say their organizations foster relationships across teams, leaving many companies siloed.
- Recognition gaps are eroding trust. More than a third of employees say they rarely or never receive meaningful recognition from their direct manager. Nearly half report only moderate to low trust in leadership, pointing to recognition and visibility as key trust drivers.
- Leaders lack visibility into engagement health. While 66% of organizations use engagement surveys, 59% of managers and executives do not know their organization’s employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS), and 54% do not know their voluntary turnover rate.
- Culture leaders consistently outperform. Compared to culture laggards, organizations with strong cultures are nearly 16x more likely to provide frequent manager recognition, over 8x more likely to earn high trust in leadership, and nearly 2x more likely to report significant revenue growth.
A Call to Action for Leaders
The findings point to a clear path forward. Organizations that are strengthening culture are making recognition frequent and visible, increasing leadership participation in culture efforts, improving communication and transparency, investing in cross-team relationships, and using real-time engagement insights to guide action.
As organizations continue to navigate workforce change, The 2026 State of Workplace Culture and Connection Report makes one thing clear: culture is no longer a soft concept or a side initiative only held by HR. It’s a critical component to meaningful business outcomes.
Access the full report: The 2026 State of Workplace Culture and Connection
About Motivosity
Motivosity is the leading Recognition and Rewards solution built for companies that understand people-first cultures drive business growth. Unlike other recognition and rewards tools, Motivosity is the only solution focused on improving employee engagement to see better performance, retention, and bottom-line results. Our platform enables frequent recognition, automates programs, simplifies communication, connects teams, and delivers meaningful, flexible rewards—all while consolidating tools and minimizing the administrative lift for HR teams. Companies that choose Motivosity don’t just recognize and reward employees, they build cultures people stay for and businesses that perform at the highest level.
Contact Details:
Name: Erik Yorgason
Title: Director of Creative & Brand
Email: erik.yorgason@motivosity.com
