Communication Benchmark 2026: How Employees Rate Communication at Work

Communication scores 7.94 out of 10 in CultureMonkey's 2026 benchmark, 16th of 22 engagement drivers, with a 0.54 correlation to eNPS (the strongest of 22).

Based on ~802,000 survey answers.Q3 2026 dataLast updated: October 2026

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

SNAPSHOT

Communication benchmark for 2026 at a glance

Score

7.94 / 10

Link to eNPS (r)

0.54

Strongest of 22

Top quartile starts at

8.48

Strongest link to eNPS of all 22 drivers (0.54), yet 16th of 22 on score.

How much of the ten-point scale Communication reaches

Top quartile starts at 8.48

The ring fills to 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 Communication highest

Construction and Heavy Industry employees rate Communication highest, at 8.18 out of 10. That puts it 0.24 above the all-company Communication score of 7.94.
Finance employees rate Communication second highest, at 8.11 out of 10. That puts it 0.17 above the all-company Communication score of 7.94.

Industries that rate Communication highest

Construction and Heavy Industry+0.248.18

Finance+0.178.11

−0.24Difference from the all-company score of 7.94+0.24

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 Communication lowest

Telecommunications employees rate Communication lowest, at 7.36 out of 10. That puts it 0.58 below the all-company Communication score of 7.94.
Agriculture employees rate Communication second lowest, at 7.51 out of 10. That puts it 0.43 below the all-company Communication score of 7.94.
Healthcare employees rate Communication third lowest, at 7.71 out of 10. That puts it 0.23 below the all-company Communication score of 7.94.

Industries that rate Communication lowest

TelecommunicationsAgricultureHealthcare

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

This segmentAll companies 7.94

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. Only industries with enough answers to report are shown.

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

BREAKDOWN

Communication scores by region and company size

How Communication varies by region

APACLatin AmericaMiddle East and AfricaNorth AmericaEurope

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

This segmentAll companies 7.94

All 5 regions, highest first. The line joins the segments in order, so its slope shows how quickly the score changes from one to the next. The dashed line is the all-company score for this driver. Regions are ordered highest to lowest.

How Communication changes as companies get bigger

Micro (under 100)7.42

SMB (100 to 499)7.91

Mid-Market (500 to 1,999)8.00

Enterprise (2,000+)8.19

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

This segmentAll companies 7.94

All 4 company sizes, smallest first. Every reported segment is a dot on one shared scale, ordered highest to lowest, with the top and bottom emphasised. The upright line is the all-company score for this driver. Company sizes run from the smallest headcount band to the largest.

See employee engagement by region and by company size.

Next in the ranking: Inclusivity ranks just above Communication, and Diversity just below.

QUESTIONS

Common questions about the Communication benchmark

What is a good communication score?

A Communication score of 8.48 or higher puts a company in the top quartile of CultureMonkey's 2026 benchmark. The all-company Communication score is 7.94 out of 10, 16th of 22 drivers.

Which industries score highest and lowest on communication?

Of the industries with enough answers to report, Construction and Heavy Industry (8.18) and Finance (8.11) score highest on Communication, and Telecommunications scores lowest at 7.36.

How strongly does communication affect eNPS?

Communication has a 0.54 correlation with eNPS, the strongest of the 22 drivers and a strong link on CultureMonkey's scale (0.5 or more is strong). It measures how closely the two move together across benchmark segments and does not prove that one causes the other.

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

Whether information flows clearly and in time, in both directions. That is how CultureMonkey defines Communication, one of 22 engagement drivers scored from 0 to 10.

How does the communication score differ between regions?

Across all 5 regions, APAC scores highest on Communication at 8.16 and Europe lowest at 7.50.

How does the communication score differ by company size?

Communication rises with company size, from 7.42 at micro companies (under 100 employees) to 8.19 at enterprise companies (2,000 or more employees).

How does the communication score compare with other engagement drivers?

Communication ranks 16th of 22 engagement drivers on score at 7.94, below Inclusivity (8.00) and above Diversity (7.91). On its link to eNPS it ranks 1st of 22.

What is the average communication score?

Across CultureMonkey's 2026 benchmark, the average Communication score is 7.94 out of 10, based on ~802,000 survey answers. It is the mean of company-level Communication scores.

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Communication scores 7.94 out of 10 across all companies, 16th of 22 on score. Compare your own Communication 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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