"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."
Culture rot is the gradual, incremental decay of workplace culture marked by sinking morale, low productivity, gossip, quiet quitting, sloppy work, cynicism, and talent loss. The phenomenon stems from abandoned company values, unaccountable or poor leadership, unclear mission, and broken communication. Daily drift erodes processes and engagement, pushing employees into self-protection modes. The trend spans branding and creative fields and intersects with burnout and toxic workplaces. Global employee engagement stood at 21% in 2024, and low engagement cost the global economy an estimated $438 billion, illustrating widespread operational and economic consequences.
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