When Company Values Lose Their Value! They’re easy to spot, those neat, noble words. Tucked into onboarding decks, printed on a poster in reception, or bolded on the careers page. Integrity. Respect. Innovation. Excellence. Teamwork etc… They’re clean, safe, uncontroversial. But are they forgettable?
Maybe, because values like these aren’t culture. They’re consensus. When values are crafted by committee and designed to offend no one, they inspire no one. What we really need are values that anchor behaviour.
The real question isn’t “Do we have values?” It’s “Do we actually live by them?” And more provocatively: would anyone notice if we didn’t? This blog doesn’t aim to attack corporate values. It’s here to challenge the way they’re created, communicated and applied. So ask yourself:
If your company values disappeared tomorrow, what would really change?
If the answer is ‘not much,’ maybe it’s time to revalue your values.
The Forgettable Five
Walk into a hundred different companies and you’ll hear the same words repeated like gospel: Integrity. Respect. Innovation. Excellence. Teamwork. They may well be true, but when values are words and not actions, they’re not lived.
When everyone uses the same five words, no one knows what they actually mean. And more importantly no one knows what they look like in action. Most values come from a boardroom request. Delegated and developed by well-meaning middle managers, signed off by leadership and then quietly filed under “done.”
But if the senior team can’t name the values, or worse, don’t live them, what message does that send?
Ask an employee to name their company values, and you’ll usually get a pause, a shrug, or worse…a sarcastic laugh. That’s not a branding issue. That’s a cultural one. Because values that don’t resonate won’t be remembered. And values that aren’t remembered? Can’t be lived.
Corporate Wallpaper
Values should be lived. But too often, they’re just laminated and hung in a foyer. You see it in the small print of boardroom slides, the footer of the website, the decals on the wall that everyone walks past and no one quotes. They become part of the office furniture, seen, but not felt.
The issue isn’t that values exist. It’s that they’ve been reduced to branding, not behaviour. Take “honesty.” It’s a staple in many value lists. But what happens when a sales person knowingly bends the truth to land a deal and no one calls it out? Or “customer first” a classic in retail. But if a customer has to fight for a refund, how true is that value really? These aren’t minor contradictions. They’re fractures. And the people watching? They notice, always.
Because in real workplaces, values aren’t tested when things are calm, they’re tested in conflict. And if they only work when it’s convenient, they’re not values. They’re marketing.
So, here’s the real test, do your values show up in how:
- People are hired
- Recognised
- Promoted
- Exited?
Or are they just a nice idea the comms team rolled out in Q4?
Living the List
When values work, you don’t need to point to a poster, you just point to a person. Real values are visible in decisions, conversations, recognition, and leadership. They’re part of how people are hired. How they’re welcomed. How they’re coached. And yes, how they leave. Because when values are alive, they shape how things happen, not just what gets done. Some organisations get this right and not just in theory.
The Co-operative Group, one of the UK’s largest consumer co-operatives, has long woven its values
into the fabric of its business. Democracy, equality, social responsibility, these aren’t just statements. They shape everything from sourcing decisions to community investment, and even how leadership is held
accountable.
Some don’t. Volkswagen’s “clean diesel” campaign was a masterclass in values-based marketing, until it wasn’t. The company positioned itself as an environmental innovator, touting sustainability and integrity. But behind the scenes, it had installed defeat devices in over 11 million vehicles to cheat emissions tests. This wasn’t a rogue engineering mishap. It was a systemic failure driven by a top-down culture obsessed with dominance and speed. The result? A global scandal that cost the company over $30 billion in fines and settlements, and shattered its reputation. Volkswagen’s values didn’t fail, they were never truly there.
When values are just words, they’re not a shield. They’re a trapdoor. Values don’t have to be loud to be lived. They just have to be real. You see it in the language. In the rituals. In who gets listened to and who doesn’t. And it’s not about being perfect. It’s about being consistent.
Because when values are lived, people feel safer to speak up, lead authentically and trust the system they’re part of. Ask yourself this:
Can your team name a moment, just one, where they saw your values in action?
If they can’t, the issue isn’t awareness. It’s ownership.
The Real Test
Anyone can have values when things are easy. The real test is what happens when the stakes are high, the pressure’s on, and the choices get messy. Do your values survive conflict? Do they hold up during redundancies? Mergers? Misconduct? Crisis? Or are they quietly shelved the moment they become inconvenient?
That’s when people find out what their company really values, not what’s written, but what’s tolerated.
It’s easy to champion “respect” when everyone’s getting along. It’s harder when a high performer starts steamrolling colleagues. Do you act or do you explain it away? It’s easy to preach “transparency” during team meetings. But will leadership still be open when profits drop or rumours swirl?
Culture isn’t defined by posters. It’s defined by what happens under pressure. And when values only live during good times, people stop believing in them altogether. Values can collapse under the pressure of a merger or a legal case. The challenge is simple.
Are your values strong enough to cost you something?
Because if the answer is no… they’re not values. They’re PR.
Rewriting the Role of Values
Values don’t need rewriting. They need reclaiming. This isn’t about choosing edgier words or having a flashier poster in reception. It’s about redefining what values are for. Values aren’t marketing. They’re not there to impress investors or sweeten the tone of an email footer.
They’re behavioural anchors. They tell people what matters. How to act., lead, disagree, to make the hard calls. And most importantly, how to stay aligned when things go wrong.
If your values aren’t used in interviews, feedback, performance reviews, conflict resolution or team recognition, they’re just noise. Cultural background music. But when they’re embedded with purpose, they become powerful. Not soft. Not fluffy. Serious. Strategic. Human.
Company values should shape how people feel at work. Not just about the company but about themselves. Because when values are truly lived, people don’t just remember them. They reflect them. So, here’s the final question:
Are your values guiding your culture or just decorating it?
The Living List
Let’s be clear, this isn’t a takedown of company values. It’s a challenge to treat them as more than corporate furniture.
At Major Recruitment, we have values too. Four words: Passionate. Genuine. Progressive. Resilient, and they matter. But we also know that writing them down isn’t the end of the job, it’s the start of one. Because if the world of work is evolving, shouldn’t our values evolve with it?
We regularly challenge ourselves to ask what these words really mean today. How we hire with them. Lead with them. Recognise them. Hold ourselves to them. And, if something stops working, we’re not afraid to rewrite it. And crucially, our values aren’t just lived internally, they shape every relationship we have with our temporary workforces and candidates.
For us, Passionate, Genuine, Progressive and Resilient aren’t abstract words. They’re the reason people choose to register with us, to stay with us, work with us and to recommend us. They show up in how we treat our workers and candidates: with respect, transparency, and support. That’s why, in a crowded market, we are fast becoming the agency of choice.
Values aren’t just there for calm times. They’re there for change. They’re there when a worker turns up for their first shift, when they hit a bump in the road, and when they’re deciding who they trust to represent them.
So, let’s stop asking if we have values and start asking if we’re living them because for us, living them is the difference between being another agency on the list and being the agency people choose to work with.
Forget the graphics. What do your people say when no one is listening?
At Major Recruitment, we work with businesses ready to turn values into lived experiences, not marketing. If you are ready to have the real conversation, we’re listening. Contact your local Major branch or email us at sales@major-recruitment.com.