Innovation Benchmark 2026: How Employees Rate Innovation at Work

Innovation scores 8.14 out of 10 in CultureMonkey's 2026 benchmark, joint 10th of 22 engagement drivers, with a 0.33 correlation to eNPS (15th strongest of 22).

Based on ~177,000 survey answers.Q3 2026 dataLast updated: October 2026

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

SNAPSHOT

Innovation benchmark for 2026 at a glance

Score
8.14 / 10
Link to eNPS (r)
0.33
15th strongest of 22
Top quartile starts at
8.63

Hospitality scores 9.01, the highest Innovation score of the 14 industries with a full driver breakdown and 0.87 above all companies.

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

7.819.01
Construction and Heavy IndustryHospitality
6.00Driver score, 0 to 10 scale, axis truncated at 6.00 so differences are visible10.00
Lowest to highest reported industryAll companies 8.14
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.
HIGHEST

Industries where employees rate Innovation highest

  • Hospitality employees rate Innovation highest, at 9.01 out of 10. That puts it 0.87 above the all-company Innovation score of 8.14.
  • Logistics and Transportation employees rate Innovation second highest, at 8.18 out of 10. That puts it 0.04 above the all-company Innovation score of 8.14.

Industries that rate Innovation highest

Hospitality9.01
Logistics and Transportation8.18
6.00Driver score, 0 to 10 scale, axis truncated at 6.00 so differences are visible10.00
This segmentAll companies 8.14
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.

Innovation: Hospitality vs all companies

Hospitality9.01
6.00Driver score, 0 to 10 scale, axis truncated at 6.00 so differences are visible10.00
This segmentAll companies 8.14
Hospitality scores 9.01 on Innovation against 8.14 across all companies.

See employee engagement scores for every industry.

LOWEST

Industries where employees rate Innovation lowest

  • Construction and Heavy Industry employees rate Innovation lowest, at 7.81 out of 10. That puts it 0.33 below the all-company Innovation score of 8.14.
  • Food and Beverage employees rate Innovation second lowest, at 7.91 out of 10. That puts it 0.23 below the all-company Innovation score of 8.14.
  • Professional Services employees rate Innovation third lowest, at 7.94 out of 10. That puts it 0.20 below the all-company Innovation score of 8.14.

Industries that rate Innovation lowest

Construction and Heavy Industry−0.337.81
Food and Beverage−0.237.91
Professional Services−0.207.94
−0.33Difference from the all-company score of 8.14+0.33
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 how all 22 drivers rank on score and on their link to eNPS.

BREAKDOWN

Innovation scores by region and company size

How Innovation varies by region

APAC8.33
Middle East and Africa8.18
North America7.84
Europe7.77
Latin America7.62
6.00Driver score, 0 to 10 scale, axis truncated at 6.00 so differences are visible10.00
This segmentAll companies 8.14
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 Innovation changes as companies get bigger

8.008.188.178.18
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 8.14
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: Engagement Survey Section ranks just above Innovation, and Work Environment just below.

QUESTIONS

Common questions about the Innovation benchmark

What is a good innovation score?

An Innovation score of 8.63 or higher puts a company in the top quartile of CultureMonkey's 2026 benchmark. The all-company Innovation score is 8.14 out of 10, joint 10th of 22 drivers.

Which industries score highest and lowest on innovation?

Of the industries with enough answers to report, Hospitality (9.01) and Logistics and Transportation (8.18) score highest on Innovation, and Construction and Heavy Industry scores lowest at 7.81.

How strongly does innovation affect eNPS?

Innovation has a 0.33 correlation with eNPS, 15th 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 innovation driver measure in an employee engagement survey?

Room to try new ideas, and how failure is treated when they don't land. That is how CultureMonkey defines Innovation, one of 22 engagement drivers scored from 0 to 10.

How does the innovation score differ between regions?

Across all 5 regions, APAC scores highest on Innovation at 8.33 and Latin America lowest at 7.62.

How does the innovation score differ by company size?

SMB companies (100 to 499 employees) and enterprise companies (2,000 or more employees) share the highest Innovation score, 8.18, and micro companies (under 100 employees) score lowest at 8.00.

How does the innovation score compare with other engagement drivers?

Innovation ranks joint 10th of 22 engagement drivers on score at 8.14, level with the engagement survey section (8.14) and above Work Environment (8.10). On its link to eNPS it ranks 15th of 22.

What is the average innovation score?

Across CultureMonkey's 2026 benchmark, the average Innovation score is 8.14 out of 10, based on ~177,000 survey answers. It is the mean of company-level Innovation scores.

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Learn whether your people feel safe trying something new

Innovation scores 8.14 out of 10 across all companies, joint 10th of 22 on score. Compare your own Innovation 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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