We asked a simple question: what is your culture worth in dollars?
Cornerstone ran the numbers across Australia and New Zealand. Great Place To Work brought 30 years of data on what separates the Best Workplaces from the rest. And talent leaders from Hilton and Marriott, two of the most awarded workplaces in the world, told us what they actually did to earn their people’s trust.
Here’s what the panel covered.
Culture, measured properly
The Cornerstone study goes beyond the usual engagement score. It measures six pillars: skills visibility, learning activation, mobility, leadership, change management, and AI and workforce readiness. It surveys both HR leaders and employees, so you can see where they disagree, and it ties each gap to an economic figure, with separate studies for Australia and New Zealand and a calculator you can run for your own organisation.
The perception gap
HR leaders rate their own culture and capability high. Employees rate it well below that. When the people doing the work see something different from the people running the programs, that gap is the first thing worth understanding, and it shows up across all six pillars.
It’s a keeping problem, not a hiring problem
This is the line the panel kept returning to. Most of the economic value of culture sits in retention and absenteeism, not recruitment. Anand Bakshi from Cornerstone makes the point that a CFO only sees the hiring cost on the P&L, but the real cost of losing a high performer is far greater once you factor in training, lost productivity, and the time it takes a replacement to reach full competency. He walks through how to reframe that conversation so it lands.
Why engagement won’t save you on its own
Engagement is a lagging indicator. It’s the sum of everything you did before it: mobility, learning, culture. If you want the score to move, you work the things that feed it, not the score itself.
Gen X, not Gen Z, is being left behind
The regression analysis turned up a surprise. Gen X came out weakest across all six pillars, with two clear pain points: they can’t see where they go next, and they don’t feel ready for AI. As Anand puts it, they’re “stuck and unprepared.” And they’re the middle managers and senior contributors who translate strategy into results and mentor the Gen Z coming up behind them. His advice: stop treating the workforce as a single block and run cohort-level analyses.
What Hilton and Marriott actually did
Riki Tanaka discussed Hilton’s approach to certification, stating that it didn’t change the company’s identity; rather, it validated who they already were. The real work involved investing in growth beyond annual training alone. This included immersion weeks at various properties, mentorship programs, and opportunities for internal advancement. Their message to staff is, “You are your own chief learning officer,” and they provide the tools and autonomy to support this. Tanaka believes that establishing high trust is essential to justify holding high standards.
Fiona Pereira on Marriott: Rather than implementing typical cost-cutting measures during the low season, Marriott developed a winter strategy to address the underlying commercial issues contributing to workforce challenges. This approach improved employee retention, and other countries are now adopting similar strategies. Additionally, Marriott evaluates its leaders based on three key qualities: curiosity, courage, and connectivity. This ensures that a people-first culture does not become complacent.
The nine behaviours that build trust
Great Place To Work distils leadership into nine behaviours: listening, speaking, thanking, developing, caring, sharing, celebrating, inspiring, hiring, welcoming. They’re practices you can teach, not personality traits. Riki’s pick was developing. Fiona’s was listening, with one caveat that runs through the whole session: listening only counts if you close the loop and show people what changed.
Making the case for budget
Practical advice for anyone trying to convince a sceptical CEO or CFO: Translate HR activities into terms that resonate with your executive. Incorporate culture into the overall vision so it aligns with revenue and growth, rather than relegating it to a separate HR concern. Start small by running a pilot program, measuring the baseline, demonstrating the return on investment, and then scaling up.
One habit to start, one to stop
The panel closed on what you can do this week. Start having real career conversations without waiting for the annual review. Stop assuming people know they’re valued. And, from Fiona: “Stop assuming silence means everything’s fine. Silence is what really erodes trust.”
