How ‘culture rot’ poisons companies from the inside out

Sinking morale. Low productivity. Lots of gossip. Quiet quitting. Sloppy work. Cynicism. Talent leaving.

These are all examples of “culture rot”: the slow, subtle unraveling of what made a good company good. “You can feel it before you can name it,” Tara Kermiet, a corporate burnout strategist, explained in a recent TikTok post. “It’s less about one big event, and more about the daily drift that no one claims responsibility for.” 

Instead of some big scandal or massive profit loss, culture rot is the gradual, subtle decay of a team’s culture. It’s fueled by bad, unaccountable leaders, and is characterized as a slow straying from original core company values. Your core mission may become unclear, communication breaks down, deadlines get missed. People get disengaged, processes fail and then “suddenly, everyone’s in self-protection mode,” Kermiet says.

The term “culture rot” has recently been trending in other areas, such as branding, design, and creativity. Now, the term has started popping up in ways that it relates to the workplace, being discussed in places like HR publications and lifestyle publications. Alongside other issues like burnout, quiet cracking, and toxic workplaces, culture rot could well be just a handful of the factors driving all sorts of negative consequences in the workplace. According to the latest Gallup State of the Global Workplace report, the global number of engaged employees was just 21% in 2024; Gallup also estimates that low employee engagement cost the world economy $438 billion last year. 

In the case of culture rot, one of the main causes is a slow abandonment of the company’s stated values. It’s all well and good establishing your company’s values early on, but without regularly revisiting and reinforcing them, it becomes mere grandstanding. (Sadly, one could argue that, these days, culture rot is inevitable; research shows that only 26% of U.S. employees strongly agree their company always delivers on its promises.)

Having a thriving company culture, and thus avoiding team-wrecking rot, is crucial for retention. After all, those who feel strongly connected to their workplace’s culture are 47% percent less likely to be on the lookout for other opportunities. They’re also more than five times as likely to recommend their company to others as a great place to work. Plus, company culture is closely tied to team productivity, with one Oxford University study finding that workers are 13% more productive when happy. 

There are ways to prevent culture rot. In her TikTok, Kermiet says leaders should be “sharing what healthy behavior looks like, and what won’t fly,” and that leaders look at their own habits: “Are you following through when you say you will?” She also recommends being visible and asking folks questions on a regular basis—culture rot happens slowly and daily, so carefully tending to your team’s culture bit by bit each day nips the rot in the bud.

“Culture takes cues from the leaders,” Kermiet says in her post. “Every action you take either reinforces trust or erodes it.”

If your churn rate is unusually high, and productivity levels low, your company culture has likely been rotting for some time. It’s time to cut away the infected areas and reestablish values, beliefs and behaviors from the inside out, before it’s too late. It’s worth it. After all, workers who feel strongly connected to their company’s culture are more than four times more likely to be engaged at work, according to Gallup.

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