What is the difference between a culture survey and an engagement survey?

An engagement survey measures how committed and motivated employees feel, while a culture survey examines the underlying beliefs, behaviours and norms that shape how work gets done. Culture surveys focus on the gap between the culture leadership intends and what employees actually experience.

Can culture surveys be run in multiple languages?

Yes. Pure Survey regularly deploys culture surveys in multiple languages to accommodate diverse workforces. Translations are managed carefully to ensure that question meaning is preserved across languages, and all results roll up into a single reporting platform.

How do you measure organisational culture?

We use a combination of quantitative survey items and qualitative open-ended questions. The survey is designed around your stated values and strategic priorities, allowing us to measure the gap between intended culture and lived experience across teams, regions and demographics.

Organisational Culture Surveys in South Africa

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Culture surveys go beyond engagement scores to capture the beliefs, behaviours and norms that define how work gets done. They help you see the gap between the culture you want and the one people actually experience – so you can prioritise culture initiatives that support your strategy.

Culture vs climate vs engagement

The terms "culture", "climate" and "engagement" are sometimes used interchangeably, but they measure different things. Understanding the distinction helps you choose the right survey — or the right combination of surveys — for your goals.

Culture refers to the deep-seated beliefs, values and unwritten rules that shape how people behave in your organisation. It is relatively stable and slow to change.
Climate describes how employees experience the working environment at a point in time — policies, practices, management style and working conditions. Climate surveys capture this snapshot.
Engagement measures the emotional and rational commitment employees feel towards their work and employer. Engagement surveys quantify discretionary effort and intent to stay.

A culture survey sits at the deepest level. It asks not just "How do you feel?" but "How do things work around here?" — and whether the way things work aligns with the way leadership intends them to work.

Why run a culture survey?

Culture shapes every aspect of organisational performance: how decisions are made, how conflict is handled, how innovation is encouraged and how talent is retained. When culture is misaligned with strategy, even the best plans struggle to gain traction. A well-designed culture survey gives you the evidence to close that gap.

Measure culture against your values and strategic priorities
Compare regions, divisions or teams to find strengths and risks
Support mergers, restructures or transformation with data
Track culture change over time with benchmarked, repeatable surveys

How we design culture surveys

No two organisations share the same culture, so a generic questionnaire won't do. Our process begins with a deep-dive into your stated values, strategic objectives and any existing culture frameworks. We then design a survey that measures both the "intended" culture — what leadership aspires to — and the "experienced" culture — what employees observe day to day.

Discovery workshops — We work with leadership and culture champions to articulate the target culture and identify the behaviours that would signal alignment.
Questionnaire design — We blend custom items with benchmarkable dimensions so you can see where you stand relative to your own aspirations and to South African norms.
Multi-language deployment — For organisations with linguistically diverse workforces, we translate and back-translate every item to preserve meaning across all languages.
Reporting and facilitation — Results are delivered through interactive dashboards and supported by AI-powered text analytics that surface themes from open-ended comments. We also facilitate leadership workshops to interpret findings and build action plans.

Global and multi-language reach

We support culture surveys across geographies and in multiple languages. In our work with Old Mutual, for example, we facilitated distribution to around 28,000 employees across multiple countries, achieving high participation rates and delivering results through a self-service reporting portal. Read the full Old Mutual case study to learn how the project was managed at scale.

Browse all our employee survey case studies for more examples of culture and engagement projects.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between a culture survey and an engagement survey?: An engagement survey measures how committed and motivated employees feel, while a culture survey examines the underlying beliefs, behaviours and norms that shape how work gets done. Culture surveys focus on the gap between the culture leadership intends and what employees actually experience.
Can culture surveys be run in multiple languages?: Yes. Pure Survey regularly deploys culture surveys in multiple languages to accommodate diverse workforces. Translations are managed carefully to ensure that question meaning is preserved across languages, and all results roll up into a single reporting platform.
How do you measure organisational culture?: We use a combination of quantitative survey items and qualitative open-ended questions. The survey is designed around your stated values and strategic priorities, allowing us to measure the gap between intended culture and lived experience across teams, regions and demographics.

Align culture with strategy

Every organisation's culture is unique, so we'll take the time to understand yours before designing anything. Let's have a conversation.

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