The research behind the work
Play is too important to leave to instinct. Everything Culture Hero does is grounded in evidence, our own and others.
Most organisations know intuitively that play matters. What they lack is the language, the framework and the evidence to act on it.
That's what this research provides.
Over the past decade, Culture Hero has conducted and contributed to original research into playful work design - what makes it work, what gets in the way and the measurable differences it makes when organisations get the conditions right.
The findings inform every workshop, program and keynote we deliver.
State of Play
Report
In partnership with a global toy foundation
What do adults actually think about play at work and what stops them?
This global study surveyed hundreds of employees across organisations including IKEA, World Vision and Sesame Workshop to understand the real barriers and enablers of play in professional settings.
The findings shaped the Playful Work Equation and is one of the most comprehensive studies of adult play at work conducted to date.
The Playful Work Equation
Play for All Global Pilot Study
Permission + Space + Spark = Connection, Wellbeing and New Thinking.
The Playful Work Equation emerged from months of qualitative and quantitative research conducted across seven international partner organisations. It defines the three conditions every organisation needs to build before play can do its job - and what happens to culture, performance and innovation when even one of them is missing.
It's not a theory. It's a diagnostic.
And it's the backbone of how Culture Hero designs every engagement.
RMIT University
Playful Work Design: Phase 1
Business Behavioural Lab
A review of existing literature on playful work design in enterprise settings -- examining what the evidence says about how play affects engagement, belonging, adaptability and performance at work.
This phase established the theoretical foundation for our ongoing research partnership with RMIT and identified the gaps in current organisational practice that Culture Hero's methodology is designed to address.
RMIT University
Playful Work Design: Phase 2
Business Behavioural Lab
The experimental phase. Working with 127 participants, this study tested the measurable impact of play-based learning interventions on engagement, learning adaptability and belonging in enterprise settings.
The results demonstrated statistically significant improvements across all three measures - giving Culture Hero's methodology an evidence base that goes beyond good feedback forms.
Want to see how the research translates into your context?
Every Culture Hero engagement starts with a discovery conversation to understand where your organisation is, which conditions are missing and what the right intervention might look like.