The phrase “People-centric culture” gets tossed around a lot. But what does it actually look like?
Is it in a mission statement? Is it written on posters hanging from the office walls?
The truth is that it lies in every aspect of a company that has a team who truly feel heard, seen and supported.
This article breaks it down and gives you 11 practical ways to build the kind of culture people want to be part of, for your future.
What exactly is a “people-centric culture”?
At its core, a people-centric culture is one where employees feel valued. This value lies in more than feeling like a worker. It makes them feel like a human who is connected to the company’s vision, where trust runs deep, and decisions are made with the people in mind.
The business case for this culture is just as strong as the human one. According to Gallup, companies with highly engaged, people-focused teams see 21% higher profitability and 59% lower turnover.
Another McKinsey study found that organizations with strong people-first cultures are 3.2 times more likely to outperform peers on key business outcomes.
Ultimately, a people-centric culture isn’t just a nice-to-have. It’s a smart, sustainable foundation for teams that want to flourish in the long term.
Steps to develop a people-centric culture
So here’s our roadmap to developing a culture in your company that truly puts the people first.
1. Lay the foundations with “Leadership that listens”
No strong house was ever built without first planning a solid foundation. One of the most important aspects of a people-centric culture is feeling like your voice is heard, no matter how small you think you are. We implore you to start with a foundation of active, present, intentional listening that creates real trust.
When you have people at the top who are ready to hear the voices of others, they are opening the door to people-centric decision making and deep team loyalty. This isn’t just theory, either. Research from Harvard Business School shows us that employees who feel heard are over 4 times more likely to feel empowered to do their best work.
It doesn’t involve micromanaging every emotion or chasing down praise. It involves focusing on psychological safety, so people feel comfortable. Soon, they’ll feel free to voice new ideas or concerns without fear of backlash. You might introduce this in your skip-level meetings or work it into some culture-building activities.
Your staff won’t expect perfection, but they do expect your presence. Listening is a core tenet of a people-centric culture, so use it as your foundation to develop your teams from the ground up.
2. Turn onboarding into “belonging”
If you take a moment to really think about your onboarding process, you’ll realize that it’s your new employees’ first real taste of the team culture in your company. So naturally, if you want to develop a people-centric culture, this can be the stem that branches out into many departments in the company.
Make sure your onboarding process shows new hires that they’re stepping into something meaningful. Connect them with people, not just platforms. Introduce them to colleagues outside of their immediate team, and share the “why” behind what your company does. Be playful and let them in on the in-jokes or origin stories that give your culture its heartbeat.
The goal is simple: help them feel seen, included, and confident enough to show up as themselves from day one.
You could call it culture-forward onboarding. We just call it human, which is the core essence of people-centric culture.
When a new hire finishes their first week and thinks, “I already feel like I belong here,” you’ve hit the sweet spot. That feeling becomes the foundation of stronger collaboration and the kind of loyalty that no manual can create.
3. Add belonging to your DEI(B)
DEI initiatives matter. But too often, companies stop short at diversity and inclusion without fully nurturing the “B” that makes it all stick: belonging.
Belonging means knowing your seat is secure, your ideas matter, and you don’t have to shrink yourself to fit in. That sense of comfort and psychological safety is what turns surface-level DEI into something deeper, lived, and sustainable.
The best DEI(B) strategies are people-driven. That could mean setting up mentorships across backgrounds, co-creating team norms with underrepresented voices, or simply checking whether your everyday systems are actually built to support everyone.
If your team can say, “I feel like I can be myself here,” then you're definitely building a culture that is driven by the people, for the people.
It’s a feeling, and not a policy, and a sense of belonging means your team operates with pride.
4. Develop a continuous feedback system
People-centric work culture will never thrive in silence. Quite the opposite. It flourishes with open dialogue, which is why one-off annual reviews just won’t cut it anymore.
Instead, think of feedback as a loop, not a one-time form. It should be ongoing, natural, and deeply embedded into the way your teams function. It doesn’t just add more meetings to people’s calendars, it builds habits where feedback flows both ways and everyday challenges are met with confidence.
There are plenty of team feedback methods to choose from, but the best ones make feedback feel safe and easily actionable. That might mean lightweight weekly check-ins, team retro rituals, or simply creating more moments where people feel comfortable saying, “Can I share a thought?”
The key is to keep it regular, keep it real, and make sure it doesn’t always come from the top down. When feedback becomes a two-way street, your people can start developing a sense of autonomy that becomes a goldmine in difficult times.
A continuous feedback system becomes the water for the flower of people-centric culture, so maximize it in every area of the office.
5. Work on autonomy that doesn’t become misaligned
Building on the feeling of autonomy that grows through continuous feedback, you can use it as one of the most powerful drivers for any people-centric culture.
However, autonomy can easily be misjudged: Give too little, and people feel micromanaged. Give too much, and things drift into confusion or disconnect. For that reason, you’ve got to stay balanced.
The sweet spot is autonomy that is rooted in shared understanding. When your people know the mission, values, and priorities of their work, they can steer with confidence, without constant oversight.
You could spend time truly sharing the “why” behind each sprint, or simply encouraging open dialogue when directions aren’t clear.
When each member knows where they’re heading (and why it matters), they’ll start to navigate their route in ways you never imagined, and in these areas, creativity lives. You’ll also be going a long way to reduce employee burnout when your staff have greater control over how they work.
Empower people to take the wheel, while making sure everyone is on the same page and the same map of your company’s journey.
6. Let flexibility show, not just tell
Saying you’re a flexible workplace and actually being one are two very different things. People-centric culture requires you to go beyond buzzwords and show your team what real flexibility looks like.
Think about your current setup and how you could optimize it with remote-first policies, asynchronous work norms, or simply trusting people to adjust their schedules when life happens. A deep sense of flexibility shows your team that you trust them, value their time, and understand that work is part of life, not a replacement for it.
But remember: flexibility has to be modeled, not just approved. If leadership praises flexibility but is always online at midnight, the message might get a bit muddy. Make flexibility visible by encouraging boundary-setting, respecting offline hours, and talking openly about what balance looks like.
When flexibility becomes part of your culture, people won’t just use it, they’ll respect it. That’s how culture lasts, and it’s also a great way to keep a lower turnover rate for years to come.
7. Identify your high-potential leaders and invest
In a people-centric culture, growth isn’t only reserved for the loudest voice in the room. It should be accessible to the quiet strategists, the humble high-achievers, and the team players who make everything work behind the scenes.
Spotting your brightest stars demands that you pay close attention. Who steps up when things get messy? Who’s already mentoring others, even without the title? Who brings solutions, not just problems?
Once you’ve identified these rising stars, invest in them. That might look like mentorships, stretch projects, leadership coaching, or simply more room to run with their ideas. Waiting until someone asks for growth often means waiting too long.
In a people-centric culture, leadership is nurtured from within. When you show your future leaders that you see them and believe in them, they’ll rise, and bring others up with them.
8. Empower managers as “culture carriers”
Managers are the daily touchpoint of your company’s culture. If you want a truly people-centric workplace, your managers can’t be left out of the equation. In fact, they are the equation.
These are the people shaping 1:1s, guiding feedback, and setting the tone when things get tough. If your managers aren’t aligned with your values, no amount of lofty mission statements can stick.
That’s why your people managers need just as much support and investment as your senior leaders (maybe even more). Equip them with real training on emotional intelligence, team dynamics, and the tools to manage organizational culture change. Give them space to reflect, not just react.
And most importantly, let them lead with trust, not fear.
A good manager becomes a confident culture carrier. They model what people-first looks like in the day-to-day, making it real for the people they lead.
9. Incorporate reflection, and act on it
If your company asks for feedback but never follows up, you’re not building a people-centric culture; you’re building a recipe for unheard frustration.
Reflection should not be used as a once-a-year exercise. It’s a crucial part of keeping your culture healthy and evolving. That means carving out space to pause, process, and adjust. You can’t expect them to always just charge ahead.
Consider developing a quarterly retrospective, an open team discussion after a challenging project, or even a pulse survey with a twist: the twist being that leadership actually responds to it and makes it actionable.
This works because reflection alone isn’t enough. The key is execution. Show your teams that what they say shapes what comes next. That’s when trust deepens and engagement soars.
People will forgive imperfect decisions. But they won’t forget being ignored.
So reflect out loud. Adjust in public. And prove, over time, that your culture listens and learns.
10. Make the most of moments that connect people
A genuine people-centric culture does not live in policies and regulations. It lives in moments. That means you need to actively seek these moments out, and even create them yourself.
You’ve got to take your people-centric culture off the page and into real life. There’s no better way to make that happen than with a Surf Office retreat.
Here’s what we offer:
- Stress-free transfers? We got you! ✅
- Quality-assured accommodations? Check! ✅
- Engaging team-building activities? Our specialty ✅
- Restaurant reservations? That's on us! ✅
- Expert retreat planning assistance? Of course, we have this covered! ✅
- On-site support, tailored to your needs? Absolutely ✅
Not only this, but we also have access to 200+ locations around Europe, APAC, the US, Latin America, and now Africa, meaning the sky is your limit when it comes to choosing the right location for you and your team.
Let your next retreat be the place where your culture comes alive. Spaces fill up quickly, so get in touch with us today!
