UK Business Values Survey 2022

Key findings

Our results identified a total of 42 distinct values in UK companies, with businesses listing 4 values on average. We found that –

1. Collaboration is the number one value in UK businesses, with the previous poll leader, integrity, at number two. Lessons of large-scale collaboration during the COVID pandemic remain relevant as does the sustained importance of intentional ethical practice.

2. Empathy, passion and courage are prominent values that did not feature significantly in earlier reports. They highlight the increasing importance of personal and emotional aspects of organisational life.

3. In spite of research supporting their importance, curiosity, humility, hope, and gratitude are scarcely used values in business.

4. When it comes to the selection of values, 82% of companies that describe their process refer to a top-down approach. Only 18% indicate a more collaborative process.

5. Companies consistently express high aspirations when it comes to embedding their values but the language describing how this is done in practice is vague.