Culture in Utilities: What the Numbers Really Say
A Deltabase Insight into the Cultural Strengths and Weaknesses Shaping the Industry’s Workforce
Utility companies keep economies running — powering homes, cities, industries, and infrastructure. But when it comes to workplace culture, many are facing silent pressure points that could soon undermine their ability to transform, attract talent, or adapt to the next wave of change.
At Deltabase, our Culture Intelligence platform analyses millions of real-employee data points to map the lived experience of work inside the world’s largest organisations. This article explores a snapshot of that data — focusing on five leading players in the utility and energy space: Centrica, Shell, BP, E.ON, and Saudi Aramco.
While just a subset of the wider market, these companies are broadly representative of culture trends in the global utilities sector. Their aggregated results reflect what many in the industry are likely experiencing — strengths in collaboration, pay, and development, but deep-rooted challenges around purpose, agility, and organisational progress.
The Bright Spots: Collaboration, Learning, and Compensation
Across our five-company dataset, employees reported strongly positive experiences in collaborative culture, learning and development, and pay. These aren’t isolated positives — they’re recurring patterns found across different geographies, structures, and operating models.
Collaboration scores are consistently high, with employee sentiment averaging +35.9% above baseline. Shell leads at +50.9%, with all others in positive territory.
Learning & development was another strong point, with commentary across the group averaging +44.7%, suggesting sustained investment in skill-building and internal mobility.
Pay & rewards earned the highest relative positivity, with employees reporting experiences +47.8% above baseline on average. In a cost-of-living–sensitive industry, this gives utility firms a vital retention lever.
Taken together, these themes show that many utilities are getting the fundamentals of compensation and collaboration right — creating a solid base for cultural progress.
| Company | Collaborative | Learning & Development | Pay & Rewards |
|---|---|---|---|
| Centrica plc | 33.3% | 21.9% | 40.7% |
| Shell plc | 50.9% | 60.5% | 44.7% |
| BP p.l.c. | 29.0% | 57.8% | 54.7% |
| Saudi Aramco | 38.5% | 50.7% | 57.2% |
| E.ON SE | 27.8% | 32.8% | 41.9% |
| Peer set average | 35.9% | 44.7% | 47.8% |
The Cultural Gaps: Purpose and Bureaucracy Dragging Performance
Despite these strengths, the data also highlights deep challenges that cut across all five firms — and likely reflect systemic cultural issues in the sector.
The most urgent is purpose. Across the companies in our snapshot, sentiment on purpose scored -56.1% below baseline on average, with especially sharp drops at Centrica (-71.4%) and Shell (-64.8%). Employees describe a disconnect between corporate mission statements and the actual experience of their day-to-day work.
At a time when purpose-driven leadership is strongly linked to employee engagement, innovation, and retention, this gap could hinder transformation goals — particularly in areas like green energy transition and regulatory alignment.
Compounding this is the problem of bureaucracy and low agility. Across the five-company group, sentiment on agility and bureaucracy averaged -72.5% below baseline — the weakest performing theme in the dataset. The perception of red tape, internal politics, and siloed decision-making is widespread, and it’s clearly affecting how employees view their organisation’s ability to change and evolve.
| Company | Purpose | Agility & Bureaucracy | Empowered |
|---|---|---|---|
| Centrica plc | -71.4% | -70.0% | -20.0% |
| Shell plc | -64.8% | -76.2% | -13.9% |
| BP p.l.c. | -52.3% | -75.1% | -34.0% |
| Saudi Aramco | -38.3% | -80.6% | -58.7% |
| E.ON SE | -53.6% | -60.8% | -29.8% |
| Peer set average | -56.1% | -72.5% | -31.3% |
A Disconnect Between Talk and Action
Another pattern emerging from the data is what we call the “progress gap” — where companies communicate modern, forward-looking values but fail to embed those values into culture and practice.
The “Progressiveness” category scored -57.7% below baseline on average. Employees frequently referenced inclusive initiatives, innovation labs, or ESG efforts — but described these as surface-level, tokenistic, or slow-moving. In some cases, the bureaucracy issue feeds directly into this, as even well-intentioned transformation efforts become bogged down in process and hierarchy.
Culture Is Becoming a Strategic Imperative
The companies profiled here represent different sizes, ownership models, and markets — yet the patterns are remarkably consistent. That consistency reflects what we’re seeing across the utilities sector more broadly: strong performance on pay and people basics, but growing cracks in purpose, agility, and cultural change.
In 2025, this is more than an HR concern. Culture is now a board-level risk factor — influencing everything from AI adoption and green transition to brand reputation and regulator scrutiny.
If you’re a leader in the sector, ask yourself:
Can your people see the purpose behind your strategy?
Do they feel empowered to act on it?
Can your culture adapt as fast as your market demands?
How Deltabase Helps
The companies profiled here represent different sizes, ownership models, and markets — yet the patterns are remarkably consistent. That consistency reflects what we’re seeing across the utilities sector more broadly: strong performance on pay and people basics, but growing cracks in purpose, agility, and cultural change.
In 2025, this is more than an HR concern. Culture is now a board-level risk factor — influencing everything from AI adoption and green transition to brand reputation and regulator scrutiny.
If you’re a leader in the sector, ask yourself:
Can your people see the purpose behind your strategy?
Do they feel empowered to act on it?
Can your culture adapt as fast as your market demands?
Want to See Your Culture in Context?
If you’re responsible for people, culture, or transformation inside a utility firm — we’d love to show you what’s going on in your company and how it compares to your peers.
👉 Book a Culture Intelligence demo
👉 Explore our full platform
Leroy Hall
http://deltabase.ioLeroy Hall is a strategy and culture specialist at Deltabase, where he helps organizations unlock insights into leadership, workforce, and cultural dynamics through data-driven intelligence.
