Company culture is often described as something driven from the top. But real culture—the one employees live every day—is built, reinforced, and sometimes broken by the people who make up the organization. Leaders can cast a vision, but it takes employees to bring it to life—or let it fade.
As John Jones, Managing Director and North America Employee Experience Business Geography Leader at WTW, says, “Many organizations don’t have an articulated culture. Most often, employees reflect the actions and behaviors of those around them. That is where the real culture exists.”
Employees don’t just exist within a culture. They shape it every day.
How Employees Support Company Culture
For culture to stick, employees must actively engage with it. “Culture isn’t just a leadership initiative—it’s a shared responsibility,” says Jenni Catron, bestselling author of Culture Matters and founder of the 4Sight Group. “While leaders may cast the vision and define the values that set the expectation for culture, employees are the ones who bring that culture to life every single day.”
Employees support culture by modeling company values through daily behaviors and decisions. Dr. Ryne Sherman, Chief Science Officer at Hogan Assessments, explains, “Employees play a critical role by modeling the behaviors that align with company values, holding their peers accountable, and helping shape unwritten rules that govern daily interactions.”
But employees can’t support what they don’t understand. Catron emphasizes, “Employees’ support of company culture starts with understanding what the expectations for culture are. When values are clearly defined—with expected behaviors and even sticky statements that make them memorable—employees have a clear framework for how to live them out.”
When equipped with clarity about cultural expectations, employees can:
- Make decisions aligned with company values.
- Hold themselves and others accountable.
- Model desired behaviors.
- Speak up when actions misalign with the culture.
As Sherman adds, employees can also guide new hires. “Employees can informally guide new employees who look to them to understand how things are done in their organization,” he says. That guidance either strengthens or weakens the culture depending on what behaviors are passed down.
How Inaction Erodes Culture
Culture rarely falls apart in a dramatic collapse. It erodes through silence, tolerance, and disengagement.
“If employees disengage, tolerate misalignment, or operate without accountability, the culture begins to erode,” says Catron. “It’s rarely one catastrophic event—it’s often the slow fade of inaction: the missed opportunity to reinforce a value, the silence when someone steps outside of our shared standards, the excuse that ‘it’s not my job’ to speak up.”
Sherman agrees. “Culture is rarely changed by a single large event, but rather thousands of small actions or inactions. Ignoring bad behavior, gossip, complacency, or disengagement can send a message that values aren’t important,” he says.
Unchecked behavior—especially under pressure—can normalize dysfunction. Sherman points out that personality derailers often emerge in such situations. “For example, someone with high Bold tendencies may dominate others eschewing values of cooperation and collaboration, while someone with high Dutiful tendencies may avoid speaking up when something is wrong,” says Sherman.
Chelly Conley, Director of Global HR & Inclusion at KnowBe4, notes that even subtle disengagement shapes culture. “What people don’t realize is even that energy from employees is shaping the culture. Eye rolls included,” she says. Silence and passive behaviors speak loudly in an environment that depends on active participation.
Why Employees Should Care
Some employees may view culture as management’s responsibility. But culture affects every employee’s daily experience—whether they actively participate or not.
“The culture we create determines the experience we all live,” says Catron. “A thriving culture doesn’t just benefit the company—it creates an environment where employees can grow, contribute meaningfully, and find joy in their work.”
Sherman agrees: “Employees should care about culture because they are not just passive recipients of culture, they are part of it. By contributing to a positive culture, employees create a better workplace for themselves and their colleagues.”
Culture isn’t just about slogans or branding initiatives. It’s about how work feels day in and day out. Conley frames it bluntly: “Culture affects your daily experience more than any mission statement ever could. It determines whether you feel included or isolated, energized or drained, heard or overlooked.”
Nance L. Schick, Esq., an employment attorney and workplace mediator with the Law Studio of Nance L. Schick, emphasizes that employment is a partnership—and employees are always shaping the culture, whether they intend to or not. “Regardless of whether employees are actively supporting the employer’s desired culture, they are supporting a culture,” says Schick. “If they are experiencing a toxic culture, they might be contributing to it in some way.”
What’s In It for Employees
Supporting a healthy company culture isn’t just altruism. It directly benefits employees’ career trajectories, well-being, and daily satisfaction.
Sherman highlights several payoffs: “Employees who align with the company and promote company values are more often seen as leaders, even if they do not yet have a formal title. Supporting company culture builds trust, collaboration, and influence.”
Schick points out that improving workplace culture can reduce stress and open up better career opportunities. “Employees who take responsibility for contributing to a more peaceful and productive workplace often create one. That leads to fewer dreaded workdays, more career opportunities, less stress, better health, and better relationships at work and at home,” she says.
For Conley, the biggest reason to invest in culture is simple: “It directly impacts how you feel every single day at work.” She adds, “The options? A workday that feels energizing or one that frankly feels soul-sucking. Everyone deserves a culture that supports them, not one they have to emotionally recover from every time the weekend rolls around.”
Culture Is a Daily Choice
Culture isn’t a static artifact. It’s built—and rebuilt—through thousands of daily interactions. Every employee has a hand in shaping it, strengthening it, or letting it erode.
As Catron says, “Employees are the culture in action. Whether intentionally or not, every employee is shaping the environment by how they show up, interact, and engage.”
The question for every employee—and every team—is simple: “What kind of workplace do you want to create today?”
Lin Grensing-Pophal is a Contributing Editor at HR Daily Advisor.