The New Driver of Retention & Performance

Some conversations are about salary.

This one is about everything underneath it - performance, retention, trust and risk. 

At the launch of the 2025 Salary Survey with Chartered Accountants Ireland and Barden, we discussed what really matters now in the world of work. Salary remains a core factor, but it no longer tells the whole story. There is a new driver behind talent strategy, productivity and long-term value. It is not on the balance sheet, but it is already impacting it. 

That driver is culture. 

In today’s workplace, salary may get talent through the door, but it no longer keeps them there. What’s really driving retention, performance and trust is not compensation alone, it’s culture. Culture shapes how people experience work, how they perform, and whether they stay. It influences trust, motivation and the day-to-day decisions that impact business outcomes. Yet many organisations still treat it as an intangible or a side issue. The reality is different. Culture has become the critical lever for performance and the new baseline expectation from employees, investors, Leaders and Boards. 

Regulators and Culture as a Risk

Regulators are no longer treating culture as a soft issue. Both the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Ireland’s 2024 Corporate Governance Code have placed culture at the centre of good governance. The FCA has been explicit: culture is a core marker of governance, organisational strength and risk.

It now expects Boards to move beyond slogans and begin treating culture as management information - visible, measurable and monitored. Yet in many firms, culture remains reactive, not predictive. Board packs still lack cultural data, and too often trends are spotted only after damage is done. As the FCA warns, the biggest risks are not product failures or market shock, but what’s happening inside the firm. Non-financial misconduct is now a regulatory priority, with serious consequences. You can’t govern what you don’t see. Culture must be treated as structural and central to a firm’s integrity and sustainability. 

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The Culture Gap 

The salary is right - but something else is wrong. People are leaving anyway. Or worse, they are staying disengaged. This is known as ‘presenteeism’ and it’s emerging as one of the quietest but most damaging threats to company performance (lower productivity, rising absenteeism, lack of innovation). As flexibility and trust erodes, presenteeism becomes a signal of culture gone unchecked. 

Today’s workforce is sending a consistent signal. Engagement is dropping. Loyalty is weakening. Risk is rising. 

The latest research on what workers really want shows: 

• One in five employees feel under-appreciated 

  
  

• Two-thirds are considering changing jobs in the next 12 months 

  
  

• Lack of flexibility leading driver of disengagement 

  
  

• Forced office return disproportionately impacts women → higher quit rates, wider pay gap 

  
  

• 74% report that discrimination exists in their workplace 

  
  

• Just one in ten workers in the UK feel engaged - the lowest globally 

There is a growing gap between what employees value and what employers deliver. Recognition, flexibility and autonomy have moved from benefits to expectations. 

Hybrid and remote work are no longer perks they are baseline expectations. Employees now value flexibility as much as an eight percent pay rise. For many, the daily commute is a deal-breaker. When it is removed, performance improves. When it is forced, trust erodes. 

The data also shows that forced office returns are disproportionately impacting women, leading to higher quit rates and a wider pay gap. Culture is no longer just about how people feel. It is about how organisations perform and who stays long enough to help them do it. 

There is a growing mismatch between leadership intent and employee experience. What looks like performance issues may in fact be culture issues. Culture is no longer abstract, it is measurable, and like any risk, it should be monitored and managed. 

When organisations understand their culture - through credible data and employee insight - they gain a strategic edge. They can see early warning signs, close the trust gap and improve retention. They stop reacting to symptoms and start responding to signals. 

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Final Thoughts: Culture Is the KPI That Moves the Rest

Boards and CFOs often ask what’s driving performance. The answer may be simpler than it seems. 

Culture 

• It determines whether your talent stays or leaves. 

• It shapes productivity, innovation and resilience. 

• It influences reputation, risk and readiness for change. 

Culture is no longer a side conversation. It is the core driver of long-term value. The question is no longer whether culture matters - but whether you are measuring it. Because if you are not, you are not managing the real risk. 

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About inclusio

inclusio is the only platform that delivers a full closed-loop system to transform culture into measurable performance: Measure → Predict → Intervene → Measure again.

Built on validated science and real-world data, inclusio gives CEOs and boards the performance intelligence to know whether culture is driving success - or quietly undermining it. 

More than a survey tool, inclusio is a culture and performance engine. Our Culture Audit provides a deep diagnostic across psychological safety, trust, leadership and team dynamics. Predictive insights highlight the true drivers of productivity, risk and readiness for change. Evidence-based interventions and behavioural nudges then embed long-term change tracked through predictive analytic dashboards. Is your culture is driving performance - or killing it? 

inclusio gives you the data to know the difference. 

Authors: Sandra Healy, CEO inclusio, September 2025

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