Job Satisfaction Benchmark 2026: How Employees Rate Job Satisfaction at Work

Job Satisfaction scores 8.31 out of 10 in CultureMonkey's 2026 benchmark, joint 5th of 22 engagement drivers.

Based on ~117,000 survey answers.Q3 2026 dataLast updated: October 2026

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

SNAPSHOT

Job Satisfaction benchmark for 2026 at a glance

Score
8.31 / 10
Survey answers
~117,000
Top quartile starts at
8.62

Its link to eNPS is still being reviewed, so it is not shown on this page.

Job Satisfaction has fewer survey answers than most drivers (~117,000), so treat these figures as indicative.

What a company has to score on Job Satisfaction to reach the top quartile

All companies today8.31
Top quartile starts at8.62
6.00Driver score, 0 to 10 scale, axis truncated at 6.00 so differences are visible10.00
All-company scoreTop-quartile threshold
Two bars on one scale: where all companies sit today, and where the top quartile begins. The difference in bar length is what a company has to close to get there.
HIGHEST

Industries where employees rate Job Satisfaction highest

  • Healthcare employees rate Job Satisfaction highest, at 8.75 out of 10. That puts it 0.44 above the all-company Job Satisfaction score of 8.31.
  • Technology employees rate Job Satisfaction second highest, at 8.38 out of 10. That puts it 0.07 above the all-company Job Satisfaction score of 8.31.

Industries that rate Job Satisfaction highest

Healthcare+0.448.75
Technology+0.078.38
−0.44Difference from the all-company score of 8.31+0.44
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 Job Satisfaction lowest

  • Retail employees rate Job Satisfaction lowest, at 8.02 out of 10. That puts it 0.29 below the all-company Job Satisfaction score of 8.31.
  • Construction and Heavy Industry employees rate Job Satisfaction second lowest, at 8.08. That puts it 0.23 below the all-company Job Satisfaction score of 8.31.
  • Finance employees rate Job Satisfaction third lowest, at 8.11 out of 10. That puts it 0.20 below the all-company Job Satisfaction score of 8.31.

Industries that rate Job Satisfaction lowest

8.028.088.11
RetailConstruction and Heavy IndustryFinance
6.00Driver score, 0 to 10 scale, axis truncated at 6.00 so differences are visible10.00
This segmentAll companies 8.31
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.

BREAKDOWN

Job Satisfaction scores by region and company size

Job Satisfaction by region

North America8.94
APAC8.25
Middle East and Africa8.00
6.00Driver score, 0 to 10 scale, axis truncated at 6.00 so differences are visible10.00
This segmentAll companies 8.31
Of the regions with enough answers to report, Job Satisfaction ranges from 8.00 in Middle East and Africa to 8.94 in North America.

How Job Satisfaction changes as companies get bigger

SMB (100 to 499)8.45
Mid-Market (500 to 1,999)8.13
Enterprise (2,000+)8.55
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. Each bar runs to that segment's score. The upright tick on every bar is the all-company score for this driver, and the figure under each bar is its distance from that score. Company sizes run from the smallest headcount band to the largest.

See employee engagement by region and by company size.

Next in the ranking: Culture ranks just above Job Satisfaction, and Management just below.

QUESTIONS

Common questions about the Job Satisfaction benchmark

What is a good job satisfaction score?

A Job Satisfaction score of 8.62 or higher puts a company in the top quartile of CultureMonkey's 2026 benchmark. The all-company Job Satisfaction score is 8.31 out of 10, joint 5th of 22 drivers.

Which industries score highest and lowest on job satisfaction?

Of the industries with enough answers to report, Healthcare (8.75) and Technology (8.38) score highest on Job Satisfaction, and Retail scores lowest at 8.02.

How does job satisfaction differ between regions?

Of the regions with enough answers to report, North America scores highest on Job Satisfaction at 8.94 and Middle East and Africa lowest at 8.00.

What does the job satisfaction driver measure in an employee engagement survey?

How content people are with the job itself, day to day. That is how CultureMonkey defines Job Satisfaction, one of 22 engagement drivers scored from 0 to 10.

How does the job satisfaction score differ by company size?

Of the company sizes with enough answers to report, enterprise companies (2,000 or more employees) score highest on Job Satisfaction at 8.55, and mid-market companies (500 to 1,999 employees) lowest at 8.13.

How does the job satisfaction score compare with other engagement drivers?

Job Satisfaction ranks joint 5th of 22 engagement drivers on score at 8.31, level with Culture (8.31) and above Management (8.26).

How many survey answers is the job satisfaction benchmark based on?

The Job Satisfaction benchmark is based on ~117,000 survey answers, fewer than most of the 22 drivers. Treat these figures as indicative.

What is the average job satisfaction score?

Across CultureMonkey's 2026 benchmark, the average Job Satisfaction score is 8.31 out of 10, based on ~117,000 survey answers. It is the mean of company-level Job Satisfaction scores.

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Track how your people feel about the job itself

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