Background
By late 2023, consumer ratings platform TruRating was thriving commercially but faced growing cultural strain. Rapid global expansion across the UK, US and Australia was stretching its closely knit identity, creating silos and threatening the company’s sense of shared purpose. Leaders recognised that sustained performance would require more than structure. It demanded a deeply embedded cultural foundation.
The aim was to define a clear set of values that could drive consistent decision-making, attract and retain purpose-aligned talent and strengthen both transparency and performance. The result was TruValues: five principles – Startup Mindset, Tru to Ourselves, You Own Tru, Easy to Choose, Easy to Use and Spreading TruLove – co-created to act as behavioural anchors across every aspect of the business.
Approach
CEO and Founder Georgina Nelson and Global Head of People and Culture Rachel Gowers led the initiative, supported by a cross-functional leadership group spanning customer experience, operations, diversity and inclusion. The team built the values from the bottom up, capturing real employee stories to ensure authenticity and lived meaning.
Through story-sharing sessions and engagement surveys, the team surfaced common patterns of motivation and success that became the foundation of the TruValues. Once established, each value was operationalised across six pillars – onboarding, recognition, transparency, performance, inclusion and service delivery – making culture a working system rather than a statement.
“By turning its values into a business operating system TruRating keeps connection and purpose alive through rapid global growth”
Values were introduced to new hires through storytelling rituals such as TruZoo (where team members introduce themselves as “what animal they are”) and TruMoment (where a team member shares a special memory about their life with TruRating), integrated into 1-to-1s and 360° reviews and reinforced through TruAppreciation awards celebrating peer-nominated behaviour that exemplified the values. A people platform upgrade allowed tracking of wellbeing, development goals and value alignment through a 1–9 scoring framework, mirroring the company’s customer rating product.
Outcome
Within 12 months, TruValues became an operating framework embedded across the organisation. Operational efficiency rose sharply, with 90% adoption of AI tools contributing to a 22% reduction in operating costs. Engagement scores increased by 18%, supported by stronger trust and cross-regional collaboration. More than 50 peer-recognition awards were given in the first year, reflecting inclusion and connection across levels and functions.
Retention strengthened, with 66% of employees staying over three years and 21% for more than a decade. Externally, TruRating was named the UK’s Happiest Female-Founded Startup and saw rising candidate interest citing culture as a key attraction. At the same time, TruRating continued to grow its revenue base and improve operational efficiency — and customers continued to give exceptional feedback, recognizing how its service-driven culture supports their own growth and success.
TruValues have become the company’s cultural operating system, driving clarity, consistency and connection as the business continues to grow globally.
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