Work-Life Balance Benchmark 2026: How Employees Rate Work-Life Balance

Work-Life Balance scores 7.66 out of 10 in CultureMonkey's 2026 benchmark, 20th of 22 engagement drivers, with a 0.35 correlation to eNPS (14th strongest of 22).

Based on ~368,000 survey answers.Q3 2026 dataLast updated: October 2026

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

SNAPSHOT

Work-Life Balance benchmark for 2026 at a glance

Score

7.66 / 10

Link to eNPS (r)

0.35

14th strongest of 22

Top quartile starts at

8.14

Education scores 6.05, the lowest Work-Life Balance score of any industry and 1.61 below all companies.

Latin America scores 8.14, the highest Work-Life Balance score of any region.

How much of the ten-point scale Work-Life Balance reaches

Top quartile starts at 8.14

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 Work-Life Balance highest

Agriculture employees rate Work-Life Balance highest, at 8.04 out of 10. That puts it 0.38 above the all-company Work-Life Balance score of 7.66.
Hospitality employees rate Work-Life Balance second highest, at 7.91 out of 10. That puts it 0.25 above the all-company Work-Life Balance score of 7.66.

Industries that rate Work-Life Balance highest

Agriculture8.04

Hospitality7.91

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

This segmentAll companies 7.66

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.

LOWEST

Industries where employees rate Work-Life Balance lowest

Education employees rate Work-Life Balance lowest, at 6.05 out of 10. That puts it 1.61 below the all-company Work-Life Balance score of 7.66.
Retail employees rate Work-Life Balance second lowest, at 7.21 out of 10. That puts it 0.45 below the all-company Work-Life Balance score of 7.66.
Creative and Media employees rate Work-Life Balance third lowest, at 7.29. That puts it 0.37 below the all-company Work-Life Balance score of 7.66.

Industries that rate Work-Life Balance lowest

Education−1.616.05

Retail−0.457.21

Creative and Media−0.377.29

−1.61Difference from the all-company score of 7.66+1.61

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.

Work-Life Balance: Education vs all companies

Education6.05

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

This segmentAll companies 7.66

Education scores 6.05 on Work-Life Balance against 7.66 across all companies.

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

BREAKDOWN

Work-Life Balance scores by region and company size

How Work-Life Balance varies by region

Latin AmericaMiddle East and AfricaAPACNorth AmericaEurope

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

This segmentAll companies 7.66

All 5 regions, 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 Work-Life Balance 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 7.66

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

See employee engagement by region and by company size.

Next in the ranking: Wellness ranks just above Work-Life Balance, and Recognition just below.

QUESTIONS

Common questions about the Work-Life Balance benchmark

What is a good work-life balance score?

A Work-Life Balance score of 8.14 or higher puts a company in the top quartile of CultureMonkey's 2026 benchmark. The all-company Work-Life Balance score is 7.66 out of 10, 20th of 22 drivers.

Which industries score highest and lowest on work-life balance?

Of the industries with enough answers to report, Agriculture (8.04) and Hospitality (7.91) score highest on Work-Life Balance, and Education scores lowest at 6.05.

How strongly does work-life balance affect eNPS?

Work-Life Balance has a 0.35 correlation with eNPS, 14th strongest of the 22 drivers and a moderate link on CultureMonkey's scale (0.35 or more is moderate). It measures how closely the two move together across benchmark segments and does not prove that one causes the other.

What does the work-life balance driver measure in an employee engagement survey?

Whether workload and expectations leave room for life outside work. That is how CultureMonkey defines Work-Life Balance, one of 22 engagement drivers scored from 0 to 10.

How does the work-life balance score differ between regions?

Across all 5 regions, Latin America scores highest on Work-Life Balance at 8.14 and Europe lowest at 7.56.

How does the work-life balance score differ by company size?

SMB companies (100 to 499 employees) score highest on Work-Life Balance at 7.78, and micro companies (under 100 employees) lowest at 7.23.

How does the work-life balance score compare with other engagement drivers?

Work-Life Balance ranks 20th of 22 engagement drivers on score at 7.66, below Wellness (7.88) and above Recognition (7.63). On its link to eNPS it ranks 14th of 22.

What is the average work-life balance score?

Across CultureMonkey's 2026 benchmark, the average Work-Life Balance score is 7.66 out of 10, based on ~368,000 survey answers. It is the mean of company-level Work-Life Balance scores.

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Spot the workload pressure your people are carrying

Work-Life Balance scores 7.66 out of 10 across all companies, 20th of 22 on score. Compare your own Work-Life Balance 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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