Workplace Culture Research

Workplace Culture in 2025 and What it Signals for 2026

The modern workplace is undergoing a profound transformation, driven by the rapid adoption of AI, evolving employee expectations amidst job uncertainty, and a dynamic economic landscape. This report synthesizes data from predictive indicators with broader industry trends to analyze the current state of workplace culture, highlighting areas of decline, promising counterpoints, and actionable strategies for 2026 and beyond.

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What's in the report?
  • Political Polarization & Empathy Recession
  • Innovation Roadblock: Erosion of Psychological Safety
  • Improved Accountability: Back to Basics
  • Leadership Overload and Skill Gap
2026-workplace-culture-report-cover
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We saw a 10% drop in favorable sentiment from employees responding to the statement:
"I've seen conflict arise between co-workers because of different social and political views."
Insights from Our Workplace Culture Reports Have Been Featured In

Addressing Workplace Challenges & Building Resilience

We’ve identified four key themes shaping the workplace in 2025, revealing critical areas for improvement and opportunities for growth.

Belonging

Political Polarization & Empathy Recession

  • 3%
Inclusion

Innovation Roadblock: Erosion of Psychological Safety

  • 4%
Ethics

Improved Accountability: Back to Basics

  • 5%
Belonging

Leadership Overload and Skill Gap

  • 4%

Supporting Evidence

Emtrain embeds employee sentiment questionnaires into all of our culture and compliance training courses. Each question maps to a workplace social indicator..

Here are two (of many) employee sentiment questions that informed the 2026 Workplace Culture Report:

People on my team use their power to create opportunities for others.”
There was a 8.7% drop in favorable sentiment between 2024 & 2025
"My co-workers seek to include people different from themselves."
There was a 4.3% drop in favorable sentiment between 2024 & 2025

Ready to dig deeper?

Dive into the research and keep your finger on the pulse of the latest workplace culture trends, and the social dynamics influencing them.

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