Interest in corporate culture has fallen significantly since 2004, according to Google Trends data cited in a Psychology Today article. The term’s relative search score dropped from 100 in April 2004 to 13 in April 2020, and reached 10 between September 3 and October 31, 2026.
The article links the decline partly to companies’ growing focus on operational efficiency and the use of artificial intelligence. In many organizations, improving productivity through interactions between employees and AI appears to have taken priority over employee well-being and the longer-term development of workplace culture.
The Gund Company is presented as an example of a different approach. The third-generation manufacturing company, led by CEO Steve Gund, has reported average annual growth of 18% over a decade without layoffs during that period. The company has about 1,300 employees and is approaching $400 million in annual sales.
According to the article, the company prioritizes employee well-being over short-term profit. Its practices include cautious hiring, direct communication between employees and the CEO, annual individual development plans separate from compensation decisions, and the public posting of company financial information.
Employees can also share ideas and concerns through red cards displayed around the workplace. The company’s financial reporting includes business performance, customer service and quality, as well as employee safety, peer recognition and support during personal crises.
The article argues that this model may be difficult to reproduce in companies with different ownership structures. The Gund Company is privately owned and has an employee stock ownership program in which workers own 30% of the equity. By contrast, publicly traded companies and private equity portfolio companies often face strong pressure to deliver quarterly and annual gains in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization.
Under those conditions, the article contends, corporate culture can be pushed behind short-term financial targets. It acknowledges that there are exceptions, including Costco, but describes them as uncommon.
The author suggests that traditional corporate culture may also be giving way to a broader concept: perceived institutional trust. While corporate culture generally concerns how full-time employees treat one another and customers, institutional trust encompasses relationships among customers, full-time employees, interim workers and artificial intelligence systems.
As analytical thinking and technical expertise become more widely available through AI, the article argues that being seen as trustworthy could become a more important way for companies to distinguish themselves. However, organizations focused mainly on short-term EBITDA improvements may struggle to take the longer-term steps needed to build that trust.
Sources: Psychology Today.