Growth & Development Benchmark 2026: How Employees Rate Growth & Development at Work

Growth & Development scores 7.89 out of 10 in CultureMonkey's 2026 benchmark, 18th of 22 engagement drivers, with a 0.53 correlation to eNPS (2nd strongest of 22).

Based on ~1.1M survey answers.Q3 2026 dataLast updated: October 2026

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

SNAPSHOT

Growth & Development benchmark for 2026 at a glance

Score

7.89 / 10

Link to eNPS (r)

0.53

2nd strongest of 22

Top quartile starts at

8.40

Second-strongest link to eNPS (0.53), yet 18th of 22 on score.

Education scores 6.47, the lowest Growth & Development score of any industry and 1.42 below all companies.

How much of the ten-point scale Growth & Development reaches

7.89 out of 10 across all companies

Top quartile starts at 8.40

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 Growth & Development highest

Hospitality employees rate Growth & Development highest, at 8.34 out of 10. That puts it 0.45 above the all-company Growth & Development score of 7.89.
Creative and Media employees rate Growth & Development second highest, at 8.26. That puts it 0.37 above the all-company Growth & Development score of 7.89.

Industries that rate Growth & Development highest

HospitalityCreative and Media

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

This segmentAll companies 7.89

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 employee engagement scores for every industry.

LOWEST

Industries where employees rate Growth & Development lowest

Education employees rate Growth & Development lowest, at 6.47 out of 10. That puts it 1.42 below the all-company Growth & Development score of 7.89.
Telecommunications employees rate Growth & Development second lowest, at 7.27 out of 10. That puts it 0.62 below the all-company Growth & Development score of 7.89.
Agriculture employees rate Growth & Development third lowest, at 7.40 out of 10. That puts it 0.49 below the all-company Growth & Development score of 7.89.

Industries that rate Growth & Development lowest

Education6.47

Telecommunications7.27

Agriculture7.40

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

This segmentAll companies 7.89

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.

Growth & Development: Education vs all companies

Education6.47

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

This segmentAll companies 7.89

Education scores 6.47 on Growth & Development against 7.89 across all companies.

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

BREAKDOWN

Growth & Development scores by region and company size

How Growth & Development varies by region

APAC8.10

Middle East and Africa7.93

Latin America7.88

North America7.60

Europe7.50

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

This segmentAll companies 7.89

All 5 regions, highest 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. Regions are ordered highest to lowest.

How Growth & Development 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 7.89

All 4 company sizes, smallest 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. Company sizes run from the smallest headcount band to the largest.

See employee engagement by region and by company size.

Next in the ranking: Diversity ranks just above Growth & Development, and Wellness just below.

QUESTIONS

Common questions about the Growth & Development benchmark

What is a good growth and development score?

A Growth & Development score of 8.40 or higher puts a company in the top quartile of CultureMonkey's 2026 benchmark. The all-company Growth & Development score is 7.89 out of 10, 18th of 22 drivers.

Which industries score highest and lowest on growth and development?

Of the industries with enough answers to report, Hospitality (8.34) and Creative and Media (8.26) score highest on Growth & Development, and Education scores lowest at 6.47.

How strongly does growth and development affect eNPS?

Growth & Development has a 0.53 correlation with eNPS, 2nd 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 growth and development driver measure in an employee engagement survey?

Access to learning, stretch and a visible path forward. That is how CultureMonkey defines Growth & Development, one of 22 engagement drivers scored from 0 to 10.

How does the growth and development score differ between regions?

Across all 5 regions, APAC scores highest on Growth & Development at 8.10 and Europe lowest at 7.50.

How does the growth and development score differ by company size?

SMB companies (100 to 499 employees) and enterprise companies (2,000 or more employees) share the highest Growth & Development score, 7.95, and micro companies (under 100 employees) score lowest at 7.56.

How does the growth and development score compare with other engagement drivers?

Growth & Development ranks 18th of 22 engagement drivers on score at 7.89, below Diversity (7.91) and above Wellness (7.88). On its link to eNPS it ranks 2nd of 22.

What is the average growth and development score?

Across CultureMonkey's 2026 benchmark, the average Growth & Development score is 7.89 out of 10, based on ~1.1M survey answers. It is the mean of company-level Growth & Development scores.

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Growth & Development scores 7.89 out of 10 across all companies, 18th of 22 on score. Compare your own Growth & Development 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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