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Culture Amp cuts again, shedding 70 jobs. Culture Amp hacks out 70 more jobs amid broader changes to the business under its new CEO. Culture Amp is shedding another 9% of its workforce, with the loss of another 70 roles, as new CEO Caroline Rawlinson looks to reduce costs and stem ongoing losses at the Melbourne software unicorn. The new round of redundancies comes seven months after it shed 60 jobs in November last year alongside the launch of its AI product, the personalised coaching tool AI Coach. Since then, key investor Blackbird cut Culture Amp's valuation by 23.5%, and the business posted losses totalling A$91.5 million (US$60m) across the 2024 and 2025 financial years, including a $37m loss in FY25. Revenue growth has also slowed in the last three years, down from 32% in FY23 to 19% in FY24, and then 10.8% in FY25. In January, founder Didier Elzinger stepped down as CEO, a role he'd held since the scaleup was launched in 2009, replaced by Rawlinson. He now chairs the board. The chief revenue officer also left of her own accord in May, after just 18 months in the role. Get the best of Startup Daily straight to your inbox. * indicates required Middle management cuts. Capital Brief revealed the latest headcount reduction, with sources saying the cuts were focused on middle management. The organisational changes across multiple teams were made "to align investment with our refreshed strategic priorities" Rawlinson said in a statement to Startup Daily. "Culture Amp is making changes to its organisational structure and ways of working to accelerate execution and achievement of our ambitious goals," the CEO said. "As a result, we are reducing the size of the team by about 70 roles (or ~9%). All employees in impacted positions have been notified and will be supported through this transition. "These are difficult but necessary decisions to deliver on our long term ambitions."

Students help shape a new Tradition for honoring Ball State employees. Not every student project ends up in the hands of hundreds of employees. But this year, a set of small stickers is helping tell a bigger story about connection at Ball State University. Designed by graphic design students in Studio 165+, a student-run design course led by Shantanu Suman, associate professor of art, stickers were created to acknowledge and celebrate employees' years of service. Each sticker design features a familiar campus landmark tied to a service milestone. This Spring, they were introduced as part of Ball State's annual Years of Service recognition, giving faculty and staff a branded item that reflects place and purpose. This year, Ball State expanded its recognition to include employees celebrating one- and five-year anniversaries, a new addition to the traditional milestones of 10 years and onward. Honorees across all of these anniversaries received stickers, extending the program's reach to early-career employees for the first time. Retirees also received a sticker highlighting their milestone and celebrating the lasting impact of their careers at Ball State. "I was impressed by the stickers and the work students put into them," said Michelle Miller, administrative assistant to the dean of the Graduate School, who was honored for 10 years of service to the University. "I think they did a really great job, and I can't wait to find a way to display mine." Designing Recognition and Meaning Looking for ways to reimagine how employees are recognized, the Division for People and Culture collaborated with the College of Fine Arts' School of Art to develop branded stickers as part of the University's initiative to expand recognition for years of service and retirement. The effort also reflected a broader focus on creating a more connected employee experience across campus. That mindset guided this year's ceremony, where faculty, professional, service, and staff personnel were honored together in a single celebration - an intentional change, said Jennifer Keever, employee experience manager in the Office of Engagement, Wellbeing and Culture, within the Division for People and Culture. "We are one University, working toward the same goals and serving the greater mission of advancing student success," Ms. Keever said. The recognition team saw an opportunity to bring that mission to life by engaging students in creating items that reflect Ball State's legacy and culture. Through Studio 165+, students were tasked with creating a series of stickers inspired by campus landmarks - visual symbols that connect employees to the place where they work each day. Among the landmarks featured are the Frog Baby statue, which graces the pond near Bracken Library, Shafer Bell Tower, and Beneficence. The Alderdice Gates were selected to represent first-year employees, symbolizing the start of their journey at the University. From Classroom Project to Lasting Campus Tradition Samantha Jewitt, a junior graphic design major who worked on the project, said she appreciated the collaborative nature of design work. "It's definitely a team effort," Ms. Jewitt said. "Everyone contributed, whether it was in the ideation phase or the final design. We were constantly building off each other's ideas." Students began by exploring visual concepts and researching how to represent each landmark cohesively while considering branding constraints. Inspired by coin designs and printmaking techniques, they developed a unified look that allows each sticker to stand on its own and be part of a collection. The development process also introduced practical challenges. As designs moved into production, some details had to be simplified to ensure they printed clearly - an adjustment that mirrors the realities of professional design work. To prepare the final design files for submission, students worked with Ball State's Printing Services, which printed the stickers. "It was so impactful to see everything come to life," Ms. Jewitt said. "It's one thing to see it on a computer screen, but it's completely different when it's printed and actually being used." Ms. Jewitt, who worked on the Frog Baby design, said that the project took on an added significance through a familiar part of her routine. "I would pass by Frog Baby every day on my way to class," she continued. "I love Frog Baby, but creating something that represents it and seeing it come to life was a lot of fun." Professor Suman shared that the project stood out to him for its creative outcomes and the depth of learning it offered students. "Every year of commitment matters, but recognizing milestone years with a tangible token of appreciation makes the effort even more meaningful," he said. He noted that incorporating official University landmarks added an extra layer of significance - something that is not always easy to achieve in design work tied to institutional branding. "It became a valuable learning experience," Professor Suman said. "We explored the meaning behind these campus landmarks and connected them to years-of-service milestones. That dialogue helped transform the project into something more intentional and rooted in place." The project's impact is expected to extend well beyond this year's ceremony. "I was recently told that these stickers will be used for at least a decade, if not longer," said Professor Suman. "That longevity makes this work even more meaningful. For all of us in Studio 165+, it is a genuine point of pride to contribute to something that will be remembered by the faculty and staff of Ball State. In a small but lasting way, we've helped create an artifact that becomes part of the University's story and the stories of the people who make it what it is."

The 47% premium: how culture predicts market value in the AI era - findings from Culture Amp. Mar 24, 2026, 10:00 ET New Culture Amp research tracking 1,800 companies reveals a discrete measurable state of Peak Performance associated with a 36% share price increase over two years. Launched today and redefining the connection between engagement and performance, Culture Amp's new Performance Culture Quadrant equips leaders with science-backed steps to build high-performing cultures that deliver consistent business results. MELBOURNE, Australia and NEW YORK and LONDON, March 24, 2026 /PRNewswire/ - Culture Amp, the world's leading employee experience platform, today reveals the next evolution in engagement and performance measurement. Built on more than 15 years of People Science research and expertise, the Performance Culture Quadrant (PCQ) connects engagement with performance confidence, offering a fundamental change to the way organizations can design and deliver high performance cultures. The ROI on culture, quantified For decades, business leaders have treated engagement and performance as competing priorities, investing in employee engagement during growth periods, then pivoting to hard performance metrics during downturns. New research from Culture Amp suggests this perceived tradeoff is leaving significant shareholder value on the table. A broad study tracked 1,800 organizations globally over two years and found that about two in five companies were in a cultural state identified as 'Peak Performance': high engagement and high performance confidence (2023-2024). Share price movement was then tracked across a subset of listed companies and found that those in Peak Performance saw a 25% increase in share price in just one year, and a 36% increase total at the two-year mark. Compared to companies in other culture states, organizations achieving Peak Performance through a dual focus on both workplace culture and organizational performance delivered a 47% share price change advantage. "As leaders globally face mounting pressure to demonstrate ROI on people investments, many have responded by treating culture and performance as an either-or decision," said Caroline Rawlinson, CEO at Culture Amp. "This research provides hard evidence that this is a false dichotomy. Culture and high performance are intimately linked as culture underpins all elements of business performance where humans are involved." Based on levels of Workplace Engagement (the relationship employees have with their work and organization) and Performance Confidence (employees' confidence in organizational success), the four distinct culture states identified in the research include: * Peak Performance (high engagement, high performance confidence), * Engaged Skepticism (high engagement, low performance confidence), * Strained (low engagement, high performance confidence), and * Disconnected (low engagement, low performance confidence). "Peak Performance isn't a cultural unicorn, nor the result of a few heroic high performing employees. Rather, it's a distinct, measurable state you can systematically work toward," says Amy Lavoie, VP, People Science at Culture Amp. "Forty-four percent of the Culture Amp customers included in the study have achieved Peak Performance, which means it is an achievable cultural state." Culture is the Operating System fuelling sustainable high performance The research arrives as organizations face competing pressures: adopt AI, upskill workforces, strengthen performance, all under tightening budgets. 96% of C-suite leaders expect AI to boost output, yet 77% of employees report that AI tools have increased their workload as key indicators of employee experience continue to trend downward (Upwork 2024; Culture Amp 2025). So when teams are pushed to do more with less, many leaders assume investing in employee engagement is a luxury. "Culture is the fundamental operating system that governs how decisions are made, which behaviors are reinforced, and ultimately how people perform," explains Rawlinson. "This research demonstrates that preserving and investing in culture is the strategic unlock that enables sustainable high performance. It's how organizations build the conditions under which teams can consistently deliver their best work, and capture measurable financial returns. Culture Amp provides the CultureOS(TM) for organizations wanting a tangible way to prioritise culture, performance and engagement consistently together." "People leaders have been advocating for culture investment for years, often without the financial data to justify it in board conversations," adds Lavoie. "This research changes that dynamic. We can now point to a quantifiable premium that engagement-performance integration delivers." Integrating engagement and performance: Introducing Culture Amp's Performance Culture Quadrant Available within the Culture Amp platform from today, the Performance Culture Quadrant (PCQ) materially advances organizations' ability to design and deliver high performance cultures. Building on the foundations of 15+ years of People Science research and utilizing AI, the science-backed diagnostic provides a data-driven visualization of a company's unique culture type, allowing leaders to definitively answer the question, "Do we have a high-performing culture?" "The PCQ shifted the conversation from 'how do we fix engagement' to 'how do we get to a Peak Performance Culture.' That shift has been powerful, creating stronger focus and engagement among leaders" said Sam Valentine, Head of Employee Performance and Experience at Miro. To progress from diagnosis to impact, Culture Amp's powerful AI Coach helps organizations interpret their results and pinpoint specific growth areas, such as strengthening strategic clarity or building stronger team accountability. It then delivers personalized action plans to help organizations fine-tune their CultureOS to unlock sustainable high performance and drive results - without risking employee engagement or attrition. "The Performance Culture Quadrant has dramatically accelerated how quickly we're able to work through these topics and have the right conversations," confirms Valentine. The Performance Culture Quadrant helps organizations: * Connect culture to business success: Transform employee sentiment into predictors of hard business drivers like retention, productivity, and operational efficiency. * Diagnose their performance culture: Finally answer the question, "Do we have a high performing culture?" and understand their unique culture type: Peak Performance, Engaged Skepticism, Strained, or Disconnected. * Build a roadmap to Peak Performance with targeted recommendations for action: Culture Amp's AI Coach turns culture diagnosis into action by guiding organizations on a unique path to peak performance, focusing on high-impact growth areas specific to their culture type. * Tailor roadmaps for specific departments and teams: Culture Amp's demographic capability guides every leader to move their specific part of the organization to Peak Performance. Availability The Performance Culture Quadrant and Diagnostic survey tool are now available to all Engage customers, with guided insights and recommendations provided within the platform by Culture Amp's AI Coach. About Culture Amp Culture Amp helps organizations assess the readiness of their culture to achieve high performance and act with confidence in an AI-driven world. Powered by 15 years of People Science research and drawing on more than 1.5 billion data points, Culture Amp acts as an always-on intelligence layer, called the CultureOS(TM), that connects engagement, performance, employee experience and culture data into a single unified platform. Today, 25 million employees across 6,800+ organizations, including Canva, On, Asana, Dolby, McDonald's, and Nasdaq, depend on Culture Amp to drive culture-led performance as work and technology rapidly evolve. About the Research The study analyzed data from Culture Amp's workplace dataset of over 1.5 billion employee responses, examining 1,800 companies who met required proxy items for the study. Researchers compared Culture Amp engagement and performance metrics against a subset of companies with publicly available share price data over 2023-2025. The Performance Culture diagnostic survey draws on a comprehensive review of ~50 years of academic research including meta-analyses, academic papers, and professional best practices examining the relationship between workplace culture, individual performance, and organizational outcomes. Developing the full diagnostic survey also involved drawing upon established psychological and organizational behavior theories - such as Goal-Setting Theory, Self-Determination Theory, and Psychological Safety Theory - which deeply informed the development of the product and survey dimensions. SOURCE Culture Amp