Gartner HR Research Finds Foundational Pillars of High-Performing Business Culture Have Been Eroding Since 2022

Key measures of high-performing organizations, including net promoter score (NPS) and enterprise and network performance, have been on the decline since 2022, according to Gartner, Inc., a business and technology insights company. 

A Gartner survey of 18,000 global workers found that between 3Q22 and 2Q25, the percentage of employees likely to recommend their organizations as a great place to work fell from 35% to 26.5%, while the number of passive employees rose from 33.9% to 41.4%.

This downward trend in NPS score is mirrored by declines in employee perceptions of both enterprise and network performance. Nearly 20% (19.8%) of employees think their enterprise contribution – an employee's effectiveness at accomplishing individual tasks, their ability to contribute to the performance of others and their use of others' contributions to improve their own performance – is effective. This is down from 23.1% in 3Q22.

Just 12% of employees think their network performance, a combination of contributing to the performance of others and using others' contributions to improve individual performance, is effective. This is a nearly five percent decrease from 16.6% in 3Q22.

“The sharp decline in NPS is a clear warning sign that the critical facets of a high-performing culture are eroding,” said George Penn, Managing Vice President in the Gartner HR Practice. “Underlying these declines is a lack of effective collaboration within employee networks that is impacting performance – a surprising development given the return-to-office push and the growth of new technology.”

The Gartner survey also revealed employee engagement has decreased significantly as well – the number of highly engaged employees dropped to 25.5% in 2Q25, down from 33.2% in 3Q22. 

Leading indicators also point to further risk for business outcomes. Organizational culture and the key attributes that comprise it – mindset, knowledge and behavior – have all decreased. In 2Q25, employees understood their culture less, believe in it less and were acting on it less, signaling future business risk:

• Mindset: 26.7% of employees believe in their culture, down from 32.0% in 3Q22.
• Knowledge: 26.4% of employees understand their culture, down from 32.2% in 3Q22.
• Behavior: 26.4% of employees are acting on behalf of their culture, down from 30.4% in 3Q22.
• Organization culture: 26.5% of employees have a positive view of their culture, down from 31.5% in 3Q22.

The Gartner survey also found that just 16.6% of employees believe their work environment is innovative, down from 23.3% in 3Q22, and only 20.7% of employees see their organization as agile, down from 27.8% in 3Q22.

“A decline in culture and engagement comes at a time of rapid technological advancement fueled by AI and new ways of working,” said Penn. “Paradoxically, rather than feeling empowered by innovation, employees are viewing their organizations as less innovative and agile.”

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