By: Lindy Taylor - CEO & Founder at 5th Discipline

South Africa’s net-zero employers face an inflection point. As the climate change, renewables and sustainability sectors surge forward - with ambitious targets and high competition for skilled workers - a quieter, less visible challenge has emerged on project sites, in offices, and amid Teams calls: the unvarnished reality of organisational culture.

A new report, conducted the 5th Discipline on Company Cultures, delves into this often-overlooked dimension, revealing how culture, leadership, and retention intersect to either power success or quietly erode talent pipelines. The findings - drawn from over 150 professionals ranging from executives to engineers - shine a light on the pulleys and levers shaping the soul of South Africa’s green economy.

A survey reflecting a sector in transition.

Conducted over five weeks with career professionals from every rung of the industry ladder, the survey sets out to answer a simple yet critical question: what factors truly empower employees, and which ones drive them out the door? With 65.8% of respondents holding over seven years of work experience, and insights spanning C-suite, engineering, technical, sales, and operational roles, the resulting dataset has both depth and granularity.

“The market is growing fast, but retaining the right skills is a massive challenge. This isn’t just about filling seats - strong culture and leadership are now central to delivering on sustainability’s promise,” says Lindy Taylor the CEO & Founder at 5th Discipline.

Unpacking culture: more than a buzzword

Asked to rate their company cultures, professionals present a revealing spectrum:

• Only 10.4% signal perfection, rating their company 5/5.
• Nearly 40% are “mostly happy,” granting a 4/5.
• A telling 31.2% hover around “average” at 3/5.
• 19.2% rate culture as problematic—even to the point where coming to work is a struggle.

A striking pattern emerges: company culture is rated highest by early-career staff and consultants, but falls sharply among senior managers and technical experts. According to the report, “as experience increases, culture ratings tend to decrease.” For employers, this is a red flag. The very people most critical for mentoring and leading teams are the ones feeling most alienated. There are clear business implications: “Unless your company is investing in and nurturing its culture, the ROI of employment can take a direct hit,” notes the survey.

Retention and culture: a symbiotic relationship

The survey probes retention through a 1.5-year benchmark, reflecting the time required for new hires to “pay back” their onboarding and upskilling investment. The findings? There’s a near-perfect correlation:

• Low culture score? Staff don’t stick around.
• High culture score? Most team members stay past the crucial 18 months.
• “Average” culture? Retention is a coin toss.

This has a direct cost. Firms struggling to break free of “average” risk losing momentum — and even profitability—through staff churn and institutional amnesia.

What keeps green sector talent loyal?

When prompted to explain why they stay, respondents cite several core pillars:

• 36% see people, culture, and team as central.
• 22% highlight leadership and management—pointing to support, inspiration, and recognition.
• 19% value flexibility and work/life balance, underscoring post-pandemic shifts in workplace expectations.
• 18% prioritize growth and opportunity for learning and advancement.
• 12% are driven by purpose and the meaning of their work.

Notably, those focused on pay or job security tended to rate their company’s culture lower — a sign that compensation alone is not enough to anchor loyalty.

Leadership: the double-edged sword

The sharpest insights in the report centre on leadership. While widely recognized as a retention driver, leadership issues are even more prominent as a reason for leaving. In fact, when asked what pushed them out, an overwhelming 42% cited leadership/management failures, while a further 41% pointed to cultural or environmental problems. Career stagnation and growth barriers followed at 31%.

The most common leadership deficiencies, according to the survey, are:

• Communication lapses (48.9%)
• Lack of motivation and inspiration (46.7%)
• Missing emotional intelligence (41.6%)
• Underinvestment in training/coaching (40.9%)
• Insufficient recognition, career path clarity, and decision-making autonomy

Remarkably, when respondents were happy with leadership, they reported few improvement needs. Where they weren’t, they rang loud alarm bells across several areas: communication, career development, recognition, and management’s own accountability.

“Communication is the beating heart of leadership in this sector,” the report states. “Without it, even well-intentioned firms struggle to retain top-tier talent. The higher up you go, the more this matters.”

Not all staff want the same from management

The survey dives further, exploring how staff at different career stages perceive leadership and employee experience:

• Early-career professionals crave better coaching, feedback, and clear, measurable development milestones — but also want room to grow autonomously.
• Mid-career respondents seek transparent communication, motivation, and a vivid sense of where the company is headed.
• Most experienced professionals (13+ years) are “significantly more vocal” in demanding respect, trust, meaningful decision-making power, and opportunities to influence the bigger picture.

The “one-size-fits-all” management philosophy, it seems, is increasingly obsolete.

Exit interviews: the silent attrition risk

Perhaps the most startling insight: as careers progress, staff become less open in sharing the real reasons why they leave. Two-thirds of highly-experienced professionals admitted to withholding honest feedback during exit processes, suggesting traditional HR approaches may be systematically underestimating the true extent of culture and leadership problems within mature teams.

A call to action for South Africa’s sustainability leaders

For employers and sector leaders, the Culture Killers findings are a rallying cry: build embedded, evolving cultures or risk losing your biggest differentiators — your people. This is especially urgent as the expansion of the green economy draws in competitors and shortens talent supply chains.

The report closes with a series of pragmatic recommendations for organisations determined to turn the culture tide:

• Invest in leadership development and soft skills for managers.
• Tailor engagement and retention strategies for different career stages and specialisms.
• Redefine performance management and KPIs to align with meaningful work and professional growth.
• Prioritise open communication, recognition, and clear paths for advancement from early talent through to senior roles.
• Reimagine exit interviews to capture honest feedback and mitigate silent attrition at the senior level.

In a sector built on innovation, collaboration, and impact, company culture is no longer a luxury — it’s an operational imperative.

Want to see how your business stacks up — and learn how to build the culture needed for a thriving net-zero workforce? The 5th Discipline helps organisations to unpack the nuances of data and what the insights really mean for their businesses. We are able to dive into what communication and leadership really mean to their teams in a practical sense and how to address these gaps to retain their talent.