Culture Benchmark 2026: How Employees Rate Culture at Work

Culture scores 8.31 out of 10 in CultureMonkey's 2026 benchmark, joint 5th of 22 engagement drivers, with a 0.12 correlation to eNPS (21st strongest of 22).

Based on ~166,000 survey answers.Q3 2026 dataLast updated: October 2026

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

SNAPSHOT

Culture benchmark for 2026 at a glance

Score
8.31 / 10
Link to eNPS (r)
0.12
21st strongest of 22
Top quartile starts at
8.79

Joint 5th of 22 on score, yet 21st of 22 on its link to eNPS (0.12).

The spread of Culture from its lowest reported industry to its highest

7.888.43
ManufacturingFinance
6.00Driver score, 0 to 10 scale, axis truncated at 6.00 so differences are visible10.00
Lowest to highest reported industryAll companies 8.31
The two ends are the lowest and the highest reported industry for this driver, joined so the size of the spread between them is the thing you see. The dashed line is the all-company score.
INDUSTRIES

How employees rate Culture across industries

Culture by industry

Finance8.43
Technology8.42
Professional Services8.39
Manufacturing7.88
6.00Driver score, 0 to 10 scale, axis truncated at 6.00 so differences are visible10.00
This segmentAll companies 8.31
Industries with enough answers to report, highest first. 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.

See employee engagement scores for every industry.

BREAKDOWN

Culture scores by region and company size

How Culture varies by region

8.358.308.297.97
APACNorth AmericaEuropeMiddle East and Africa
6.00Driver score, 0 to 10 scale, axis truncated at 6.00 so differences are visible10.00
This segmentAll companies 8.31
Regions with enough answers to report, 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 Culture changes as companies get bigger

SMB (100 to 499)8.90
Mid-Market (500 to 1,999)8.17
Enterprise (2,000+)8.25
6.00Driver score, 0 to 10 scale, axis truncated at 6.00 so differences are visible10.00
This segmentAll companies 8.31
Company sizes with enough answers to report, 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: Manager Support ranks just above Culture, and Job Satisfaction just below.

QUESTIONS

Common questions about the Culture benchmark

What is a good culture score?

A Culture score of 8.79 or higher puts a company in the top quartile of CultureMonkey's 2026 benchmark. The all-company Culture score is 8.31 out of 10, joint 5th of 22 drivers.

Which industries score highest and lowest on culture?

Of the industries with enough answers to report, Finance scores highest on Culture at 8.43 and Manufacturing lowest at 7.88.

How strongly does culture affect eNPS?

Culture has a 0.12 correlation with eNPS, 21st strongest of the 22 drivers and a weak link on CultureMonkey's scale (below 0.35 is weak). It measures how closely the two move together across benchmark segments and does not prove that one causes the other.

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

How well day-to-day behaviour matches the values the company says it holds. That is how CultureMonkey defines Culture, one of 22 engagement drivers scored from 0 to 10.

How does the culture score differ between regions?

Of the regions with enough answers to report, APAC scores highest on Culture at 8.35 and Middle East and Africa lowest at 7.97.

How does the culture score differ by company size?

Of the company sizes with enough answers to report, SMB companies (100 to 499 employees) score highest on Culture at 8.90, and mid-market companies (500 to 1,999 employees) lowest at 8.17.

How does the culture score compare with other engagement drivers?

Culture ranks joint 5th of 22 engagement drivers on score at 8.31, below Manager Support (8.32) and level with Job Satisfaction (8.31). On its link to eNPS it ranks 21st of 22.

What is the average culture score?

Across CultureMonkey's 2026 benchmark, the average Culture score is 8.31 out of 10, based on ~166,000 survey answers. It is the mean of company-level Culture scores.

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Put a number on the culture your people actually experience

Culture scores 8.31 out of 10 across all companies, joint 5th of 22 on score. Compare your own Culture 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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