The Culture Gap: Why Leadership and Employees Experience the Workplace Differently

If you ask most leadership teams about their company culture, they’ll often describe it in glowing terms—engaging, transparent, and inclusive. But when you ask employees about their experience, the answers may not match up. This disconnect is what we call the culture gap—the space between how leadership perceives the workplace and how employees actually experience it.

The issue isn’t that leaders are out of touch on purpose. More often than not, it’s that traditional communication structures don’t allow for honest conversations about what employees are really feeling. When updates are filtered through layers of management, when feedback is only gathered through an annual survey, and when messaging is more polished than personal, it’s no surprise that employees feel disengaged. The workplace culture leaders believe they have doesn’t always align with reality.

The Disconnect Between Leadership and Employees

For many employees, communication from leadership feels distant. They may hear about company values and engagement initiatives, but those ideals don’t always translate into their day-to-day work. Leadership might celebrate an open-door policy, but if employees don’t feel comfortable walking through that door, trust begins to erode. Decisions get made at the top with little transparency, and by the time they reach employees, they feel impersonal and disconnected from the reality on the ground.

This kind of misalignment leads to a lack of trust. Employees begin to disengage, feeling like their voices don’t matter, and when they don’t see leadership acting on concerns, they stop sharing altogether. Over time, this gap widens, leading to a workplace where company culture is something leadership talks about, rather than something employees feel.

Bridging the Gap with Internal Podcasts

Internal podcasts offer a way to close this divide, turning workplace culture from a one-sided message into an ongoing conversation. Unlike corporate emails or formal announcements, podcasts allow leaders to communicate directly and authentically with employees. Instead of polished statements, they can speak candidly about company challenges, goals, and decisions, creating a more human and relatable connection with their teams.

But internal podcasts aren’t just about leadership talking—they’re about listening, too. Employees can share their own experiences, insights, and challenges, making them feel heard in a way that emails and surveys never could. Some companies even use internal podcasts as a feedback loop, allowing employees to submit questions or topics they’d like leadership to address. This two-way communication not only makes employees feel valued, but it also gives leadership real insight into what’s working and what’s not.

Real-World Success: Companies Using Podcasts to Close the Culture Gap

Some of the world’s most forward-thinking organizations have already embraced internal podcasts as a key part of their communication strategy. At General Electric, internal podcasts have become a tool for building trust between leadership and employees, creating open conversations that were previously missing. Salesforce uses podcasts to highlight employee success stories and company culture in action, helping to reinforce values in a more personal way. Meanwhile, Spotify has integrated internal podcasts into their strategy to ensure employees feel connected, no matter where they work.

These companies understand that culture isn’t built through mission statements or once-a-year surveys—it’s built through ongoing, authentic conversations.

Making Culture Something Employees Feel, Not Just Hear About

The best workplaces don’t just talk about culture; they make employees feel it in their everyday experience. When organizations invite employees into the conversation, rather than just broadcasting messages, they build a workplace where engagement is real, not just a metric on a report. Internal podcasts offer an opportunity to turn workplace culture into a shared story—one where every employee has a voice.

At The Community Studio, we help organizations create internal podcasts that bring company culture to life, ensuring employees don’t just hear about values and engagement—they experience them firsthand.

Because a culture that listens is a culture that thrives.

📢 Ready to close the culture gap? Let’s start the conversation. 🎙