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After an inaugural survey revealed how much its people "wanted to have a say", an employer has won an award for its culture and achieved significant lifts in key engagement metrics.

In 2022, when GM of people and culture Mona Maidment joined Hort Innovation – a not-for-profit, grower-owned research and development organisation – it had recently appointed a new CEO whose top priority was to build a "thriving" culture.

Its first engagement survey, conducted in July that year, yielded a score of 55%, but in the latest results available (from 2024), engagement had risen to 77%, she tells HR Daily.

In those two years the organisation has also reduced attrition from 38% to 11%, and it was a winner at Hyer's 2025 Breakthrough Culture Awards.

Maidment attributes these achievements to taking a consultative, company-wide approach to changing culture...