I’ve spent two decades studying workplace culture. I’ve seen companies build it from scratch. I’ve watched others destroy it accidentally. But building culture during a massive transformation? Especially in a large employer culture? Yes, there are different challenges – Large Employer Culture Challenges, in fact. 

That’s harder than either.

Kyndryl spun out from IBM in 2021. Seventy-three thousand employees. Global operations across North America, APAC, Europe, South America, and the UK. New company identity. New brand. New everything.

That’s when most cultures fracture.

But here’s what I’m hearing from Kyndryl employees across continents:

“Culture, people, and values.”

“Flexible work. I can get it done whenever I’m free.”

“You are heard.”

Not from one region. From all of them.

Seventy-three thousand people. Global operations. And employees across time zones and continents are using the same language to describe culture.

That’s not accidental. That’s systematic design under extraordinary pressure.

Let me explain what I learned.

What I Learned: Culture Infrastructure Matters Most

Here’s what studying Kyndryl taught me about culture during transformation amidst large employer culture challenges:

1. Transformation tests whether culture is real.
When everything else changes—company name, org charts, systems, strategy—culture either survives (because it’s infrastructure) or evaporates (because it was just fluff).

2. Scale doesn’t dilute culture if strong organizational systems exist.
Seventy-three thousand employees across five major regions. Same culture language. That’s only possible with systematic design: global standards, local empowerment, consistent manager development.

3. Flexibility without mission creates isolation.
Kyndryl employees cite flexibility and purpose together. Remote work fails when people don’t know why their work matters. It succeeds when mission clarity transcends location.

4. Innovation during uncertainty requires extra psychological safety.
Most companies hunker down during transformation. Kyndryl maintained innovation focus (“ahead in tech trends,” “AI vision”) while managing massive change. That requires leadership that encourages risk-taking even when the future is uncertain.

5. Leadership accessibility is non-negotiable.
“You are heard” doesn’t happen accidentally for more than 70,000 people. It requires infrastructure: feedback systems, manager training, accessible executives, and follow-through on what employees share.

Kyndryl is showing what’s possible when you design culture systematically rather than hope it emerges organically.

The Large Employer Culture Transformation Challenge: When Culture Gets Tested

Most companies build culture during stable times. Hire thoughtfully. Develop slowly. Iterate over years.

Kyndryl didn’t get that luxury.

IBM announced the spinout in 2020. The separation was finalized in November 2021. Overnight, over 70,000 employees became part of a new company they’d never heard of.

New name. New leadership. New strategy. New competitors. New everything.

Every piece of infrastructure—from email systems to performance reviews to who-reports-to-whom—had to be rebuilt or repurposed.

That’s the environment where culture either reveals itself as real or evaporates as performative.

I wanted to see which of those happened at Kyndryl.

What I found: Culture held. In fact, in some dimensions, it strengthened.

One employee from North America: “Treated professionally, respected by my manager and team, competent and friendly co-workers.”

Another from APAC: “Good company. Good work culture.”

A third from Europe: “Working conditions, challenges, and motivation.”

Different continents. Same themes.

That consistency doesn’t happen by chance during transformation. It happens when infrastructure exists—systems that make culture inevitable even when everything else is in flux.

Kyndryl earned Most Loved Workplace® certification—not through self-reported surveys or marketing claims, but through independent employee assessment that validated what employees across the globe were experiencing.

What Global Consistency Sounds Like

Here’s what fascinated me most: the consistency across 73,000 people in dozens of countries.

From Asia Pacific:
“Flexible Work, I can get it done whenever I am free. Good Work culture, You are heard!”

From North America:
“Culture, People, & Values.”

From Europe:
“Kyndryl values innovation and it’s always ahead in terms of tech trends.”

From South America:
“Opportunities / Workspace / HomeOffice flexible.”

From the UK:
“Collaborate well, Common goals to achieve growth, the people.”

These aren’t coordinated responses. These are independent assessments analyzed by machine learning for sentiment, emotion, and themes.

The pattern is clear: Kyndryl built infrastructure that works at scale.

Not slogans. Infrastructure.

One employee captured it perfectly: “Career, purpose, and learning outcomes.”

Another: “1. Culture/Team. 2. Growth/Development. 3. Mission/Impact.”

That’s the trifecta during transformation: When employees can still say their work has purpose, their team has culture, and their career has a path forward—even while the company name changes—that’s systematic culture.

The Innovation Infrastructure: Ahead of Trends

Transformation creates uncertainty. Innovation requires psychological safety. Most companies can’t maintain both simultaneously.

Kyndryl managed it.

Employees consistently cite innovation as a strength:

“Kyndryl values innovation and it’s always ahead in terms of tech trends.”

“Kyndryl’s Vision for AI.”

“Autonomy to take risks to solve business problems.”

This isn’t innovation theater. This is infrastructure for innovation built into how work happens.

Notice what employees are saying: They have autonomy. They have vision. They see the company as ahead in trends, not behind or catching up.

That perception matters. During transformation, employees watch leadership closely. Are they reactive? Or proactive?

Kyndryl employees see proactive leadership that invests in future technology while managing present challenges.

One employee: “Down to earth VPs and leaders. Excellent collaboration with stakeholders.”

Another: “Inclusivity. Client focused. Integrity.”

These aren’t separate from innovation. These enable innovation. When employees feel heard, respected, and aligned with leadership, they take the risks that innovation requires.

The most love workplace cultures don’t choose between stability and innovation. They build systems where both coexist.

Flexibility That Actually Works

I’ve seen a lot of companies claim to offer flexible work. Kyndryl’s employees describe something different: flexibility that works.

“Flexible work. I can get it done whenever I am free.”

“Work-Life Balance. Multicultural team.”

“Home Office, meaningful projects, collaboration.”

“Flexibility, Opportunities for Work Life Balance.”

Notice the pattern: Flexibility appears alongside meaningful work, collaboration, and balance. It’s not just “work from anywhere.” It’s “work from anywhere and do work that matters.”

That’s harder to build than it sounds. Most companies give flexibility but fail to maintain connection, mission, or accountability. Work becomes isolating. Productivity suffers. Culture erodes.

Kyndryl avoided that trap by building infrastructure:

1. Global standards with local empowerment
Employees across continents mention flexibility—which means it’s a system-level default, not a manager-by-manager discretionary perk.

2. Asynchronous collaboration that works
“I can get it done whenever I am free” only works when collaboration doesn’t require everyone online simultaneously. Kyndryl built systems for asynchronous work across time zones.

3. Mission clarity that transcends location
Employees cite “meaningful projects,” “mission/impact,” and “client focused” frequently. Remote work succeeds when people know why their work matters—not just what to deliver.

This is what flexible workplace culture looks like when done systematically.

Mission and Purpose: Why Work Matters

During transformation, employees ask fundamental questions: Why am I here? What does this company stand for? Is my work still meaningful?

Kyndryl employees have answers.

“Career, purpose, and learning outcomes.”

“Mission/Impact.”

“Client focused. Integrity.”

“Will to succeed. Longevity of Service. Hope.”

That last one struck me: “Hope.”

During transformation—when everything is uncertain—this employee cites hope as a reason they love their work.

That’s not empty hope. That’s mission clarity strong enough to survive massive organizational change.

Here’s what I learned from Kyndryl’s approach: Mission can’t be a poster. It has to be operational.

Kyndryl’s mission—infrastructure services that enable businesses to run—translated into employee experience. They see their work’s impact on clients. They understand their role in the larger ecosystem. They know why it matters.

One employee from APAC: “Friendships/coworkers, sense of purpose/belonging, value/worth.”

Another from South America: “Meaningful projects.”

Purpose isn’t abstract at Kyndryl. It’s embedded in how work gets assigned, how teams collaborate, and how success is measured.

Leadership During Change: Accessible, Listening, Responsive

Culture during transformation depends entirely on leadership quality.

Employees either trust leadership to navigate change, or they don’t. If they don’t, culture collapses regardless of systems.

Kyndryl employees describe trust:

“Treated professionally, respected by my manager and team.”

“My manager trusts me.”

“Down to earth VPs and leaders.”

“You are heard.”

That last phrase—”You are heard”—appeared frequently across regions. During transformation, when employees feel unheard, disengagement follows immediately.

Kyndryl built systems for voice:

Accessible leadership
“Down to earth VPs” suggests leadership isn’t distant or performative. Employees interact with senior leaders and see them as approachable.

Manager quality
“Respected by my manager” and “My manager trusts me” show manager development didn’t get deprioritized during transformation. Strong managers buffer uncertainty for their teams.

Feedback infrastructure
“You are heard” requires systems—not just one town hall where leadership says “your feedback matters.” Kyndryl built continuous feedback mechanisms that employees experience as genuine listening, not theater.

This aligns with what I’ve learned across 20 years of leadership research: Culture doesn’t cascade from vision statements. It cascates from manager behavior and leadership accessibility.

The Value of Being a Most Loved Workplace®

Kyndryl didn’t just claim to have exceptional culture during their transformation. They proved it.

Most Loved Workplace® certification requires independent employee assessment through the proprietary LOWI (Love of Workplace Index) evaluation. Every employee participates. Machine learning analyzes qualitative feedback for sentiment, emotion, topics, and themes.

The result: validated data showing Kyndryl’s systematic approach to culture predicts:

• Higher organizational commitment (even during transformation)
• Stronger innovation and psychological safety across global teams
• Better retention outcomes despite industry turnover challenges
• Increased likelihood employees recommend the company

This isn’t self-reported data. This is research-backed validation that Kyndryl’s infrastructure approach to culture works—at scale, across continents, during extraordinary organizational change.

For leaders navigating their own transformations, that validation matters. Culture at scale isn’t wishful thinking. It’s systematic design.

Worth Noting: Kyndryl Is Hiring

Kyndryl is actively hiring across global operations:

IT Infrastructure Services

• Cloud services engineers
• Infrastructure consultants
• Network architects
• Security specialists

Digital Transformation

• Application modernization
• Data center services
• Managed services
• Hybrid cloud solutions

Global Locations

• North America (US, Canada)
• Asia Pacific (India, Japan, Australia, Singapore)
• Europe (UK, Germany, France, multiple countries)
• South America (Brazil, multiple countries)

What you’ll find at Kyndryl:

• Systematic culture infrastructure that works across continents
• Flexibility built into how work happens (not a perk, a default)
• Innovation focus even during transformation (“ahead in tech trends”)
• Leadership that listens (“you are heard” across 73,000 employees)
• Mission-driven work with visible client impact
• Career growth and development infrastructure
• Most Loved Workplace® certified

Explore opportunities: Kyndryl Careers

When you work at a company that built culture systematically during transformation—not just during stable times—you’re joining a place where infrastructure supports you even when everything else is uncertain.

That’s rare. And worth noting.