Autonomy Benchmark 2026: How Employees Rate Autonomy at Work

Autonomy scores 8.22 out of 10 in CultureMonkey's 2026 benchmark, 9th of 22 engagement drivers, with a 0.40 correlation to eNPS (10th strongest of 22).

Based on ~512,000 survey answers.Q3 2026 dataLast updated: October 2026

Industries, regions and company sizes appear here only when they have at least 3 companies for Autonomy, so this page can list fewer than the parent's segment tables. Industry rankings cover the 14 industries with a full driver breakdown.

SNAPSHOT

Autonomy benchmark for 2026 at a glance

Score

8.22 / 10

Link to eNPS (r)

0.40

10th strongest of 22

Top quartile starts at

8.64

How much of the ten-point scale Autonomy reaches

8.22 out of 10 across all companies

Top quartile starts at 8.64

The filled wedge is the all-company score as a share of the full ten-point scale, and the marker on the outside shows where the top quartile begins.

HIGHEST

Industries where employees rate Autonomy highest

Hospitality employees rate Autonomy highest, at 8.79 out of 10. That puts it 0.57 above the all-company Autonomy score of 8.22.
Creative and Media employees rate Autonomy second highest, at 8.62 out of 10. That puts it 0.40 above the all-company Autonomy score of 8.22.

Industries that rate Autonomy highest

Hospitality+0.578.79

Creative and Media+0.408.62

−0.57Difference from the all-company score of 8.22+0.57

Scores higherScores lowerAll companies

Each bar starts at the center line, which is the all-company score. A bar to the right means the segment scores higher and a bar to the left means it scores lower, and the figure on the end of each bar is that difference. Only industries with enough answers to report are shown.

See employee engagement scores for every industry.

LOWEST

Industries where employees rate Autonomy lowest

Education employees rate Autonomy lowest, at 7.19 out of 10. That puts it 1.03 below the all-company Autonomy score of 8.22.
Telecommunications employees rate Autonomy second lowest, at 7.84 out of 10. That puts it 0.38 below the all-company Autonomy score of 8.22.
Construction and Heavy Industry employees rate Autonomy third lowest, at 7.98. That puts it 0.24 below the all-company Autonomy score of 8.22.

Industries that rate Autonomy lowest

Education7.19

Telecommunications7.84

Construction and Heavy Industry7.98

6.00Driver score, 0 to 10 scale, axis truncated at 6.00 so differences are visible10.00

This segmentAll companies 8.22

Each dot marks one segment's score on a shared scale. The upright line is the all-company score for this driver, so the further a dot sits from it, the further that segment is from the benchmark. Only industries with enough answers to report are shown.

The spread of Autonomy across industries

7.19 Education8.79 Hospitality

6.00Driver score, 0 to 10 scale, axis truncated at 6.00 so differences are visible10.00

Reported rangeAll companies 8.22

Of the industries with enough answers to report, Autonomy ranges from 7.19 in Education to 8.79 in Hospitality, around an all-company score of 8.22.

See how all 22 drivers rank on score and on their link to eNPS.

BREAKDOWN

Autonomy scores by region and company size

How Autonomy varies by region

Latin AmericaAPACMiddle East and AfricaNorth AmericaEurope

6.00Driver score, 0 to 10 scale, axis truncated at 6.00 so differences are visible10.00

This segmentAll companies 8.22

All 5 regions, highest first. The line joins the segments in order and the shaded area under it makes the direction of travel easy to follow. The dashed line is the all-company score for this driver. Regions are ordered highest to lowest.

How Autonomy changes as companies get bigger

Micro (under 100)SMB (100 to 499)Mid-Market (500 to 1,999)Enterprise (2,000+)

6.00Driver score, 0 to 10 scale, axis truncated at 6.00 so differences are visible10.00

This segmentAll companies 8.22

All 4 company sizes, smallest first. Each column is one segment's score. The dashed line is the all-company score for this driver, so a column above the line scores higher than the benchmark and one below it scores lower. Company sizes run from the smallest headcount band to the largest.

See employee engagement by region and by company size.

Next in the ranking: Meaningful Work ranks just above Autonomy, and Engagement Survey Section just below.

QUESTIONS

Common questions about the Autonomy benchmark

What is a good autonomy score?

An Autonomy score of 8.64 or higher puts a company in the top quartile of CultureMonkey's 2026 benchmark. The all-company Autonomy score is 8.22 out of 10, 9th of 22 drivers.

Which industries score highest and lowest on autonomy?

Of the industries with enough answers to report, Hospitality (8.79) and Creative and Media (8.62) score highest on Autonomy, and Education scores lowest at 7.19.

How strongly does autonomy affect eNPS?

Autonomy has a 0.40 correlation with eNPS, 10th strongest of the 22 drivers and a moderate link on CultureMonkey's scale (0.35 or more is moderate). It measures how closely the two move together across benchmark segments and does not prove that one causes the other.

What does the autonomy driver measure in an employee engagement survey?

How much freedom people have to decide how their own work gets done. That is how CultureMonkey defines Autonomy, one of 22 engagement drivers scored from 0 to 10.

How does the autonomy score differ between regions?

Across all 5 regions, Latin America scores highest on Autonomy at 8.60 and Europe lowest at 7.95.

How does the autonomy score differ by company size?

Mid-market companies (500 to 1,999 employees) score highest on Autonomy at 8.33, and micro companies (under 100 employees) lowest at 8.03.

How does the autonomy score compare with other engagement drivers?

Autonomy ranks 9th of 22 engagement drivers on score at 8.22, below Meaningful Work (8.25) and above the engagement survey section (8.14). On its link to eNPS it ranks 10th of 22.

What is the average autonomy score?

Across CultureMonkey's 2026 benchmark, the average Autonomy score is 8.22 out of 10, based on ~512,000 survey answers. It is the mean of company-level Autonomy scores.

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Measure how much freedom your teams actually have

Autonomy scores 8.22 out of 10 across all companies, 9th of 22 on score. Compare your own Autonomy score against the CultureMonkey Employee Engagement Benchmarks, built on Q3 2026 data, then turn the gaps into an action plan your managers can run.

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