Education Services · · 4 min read

How StudyIn built a continuous listening program with 93%+ participation from day one?

By creating a continuous listening program with CultureMonkey, StudyIn achieved a 7.9 engagement score across a globally distributed workforce.

7.9 Engagement score across 800+ employee globally
How StudyIn built a continuous listening program with 93%+ participation from day one?

StudyIn : Where it began

StudyIn is a global higher-education specialist headquartered in the United Kingdom. Founded in 2006 in Tokyo, the company has grown to 100+ offices across 40+ countries, with 1.3 million+ students assisted and direct relationships with 1,000+ universities worldwide.

With 800+ employees spanning counsellors, technology, marketing, operations, and people functions, StudyIn's ability to deliver on its mission depends directly on how motivated, supported, and heard its people are. 

When the People team decided to build a structured employee engagement survey program, they needed a platform that could scale with their global footprint, and integrate natively with their HRMS from day one.

TL;DR
  • StudyIn came to CultureMonkey with no engagement layer, no baseline score, and no prior survey history to build on.
  • With Darwinbox integration, employee data and reporting lines flowed directly into CultureMonkey, zero uploads, zero manual effort needed.
  • 93.9% HR survey participation rate sustained across a globally distributed workforce, consistently, without any manual HR intervention.
  • 7-day, 30-day, 90-day, and exit surveys trigger automatically for every new joiner, without any manual intervention.
  • StudyIn's engagement drivers outperform the Education Consulting industry benchmark, mainly management, wellness, and recognition.

Why did StudyIn need a structured employee engagement strategy for a globally distributed workforce?

No engagement infrastructure to build on 

StudyIn had just onboarded Darwinbox but had no engagement layer, no baseline score, and no mechanism to connect feedback to decisions at scale.

A fast-growing company with counsellors spread across 40+ countries 

100+ offices across 40+ countries made manual employee engagement survey coordination impossible. A consistent continuous listening program demanded the right platform from day one.

No visibility into the employee journey, from onboarding to exit 

Without employee lifecycle surveys, early disengagement signals were invisible to HR and leadership. Retention decisions were being made without real data.

How did StudyIn implement continuous employee listening with CultureMonkey?

Darwinbox integration: seamless data flow from day one 

CultureMonkey's Darwinbox integration pulled reporting lines, locations, and tenure directly, no uploads, no lag, no manual effort required.

From zero to a fully structured, continuous listening calendar 

StudyIn moved from zero to a full calendar, employee engagement surveys, pulse surveys, and employee lifecycle surveys, all running simultaneously through a single analytics layer.

With the integration of CultureMonkey into our HRMS portal, we've been able to adopt a continuous listening approach, capturing real-time feedback and responding quickly to emerging employee needs.

Shiwali Arora, Head of People & Culture, SI-Global

Automated lifecycle surveys for employee journey

7-day, 30-day, 90-day, and exit surveys were configured once, then automated, triggering for every new joiner globally.

Multi-channel, multilingual survey delivery

Surveys reached employees via email and WhatsApp, with multilingual support including Indonesian, no login, one click on any device.

What results did StudyIn achieve with CultureMonkey?

7.9
Overall Engagement Score
93.9%
Survey Participation
70.6%
Highly Engaged Employees

Engagement reached 7.9 within eight months

Highly engaged employees rose from 68.4% to 70.6%. Actively disengaged fell from 4.5% to 3.7%. Both improved in the same eight-month window.

Participation sustained above 92% every cycle

Sep 2024 achieved 92% participation. May 2025 reached 93.9%,  both sustained without manual HR effort across a globally distributed workforce.

Achieving over 90% participation in our engagement surveys is something we're really proud of, and it comes down to trust, transparency, and action. Employees engage when they feel confident that their feedback is anonymous and will be taken seriously."

Shiwali Arora, Head of People & Culture, SI-Global

Strong eNPS from the very first survey

eNPS of 16.65 achieved on the very first survey, with no prior engagement program or baseline to build from.

Every driver beats the industry benchmark

Across all 12 drivers in the 2025 survey, StudyIn beats the industry norm. Management leads at 8.5, a standout 1.1 points above benchmark.

Lifecycle surveys live across every geography

7-day, 30-day, 90-day, and exit surveys run automatically via Darwinbox. People now has real-time visibility from onboarding to exit globally.

How does StudyIn's employee engagement compare to the Education Consulting industry benchmark?

The benchmark comparison tells a clear story: StudyIn is delivering an employee experience that outpaces what is typically seen in the Education Consulting industry. Management, recognition, wellness, and work-life balance all registered as standout strengths relative to peers.

This matters beyond the numbers. In an industry where counselor quality directly shapes student outcomes, a workforce that feels supported, recognised, and fairly managed is not just a people metric, it is a business advantage.

Driver StudyIn Score Industry Benchmark
Management 8.5 7.4
Work Life Balance 8.0 6.8
Wellness 7.6 6.6
Recognition 7.8 6.9
Leadership 7.9 7.2
Communication 7.7 7.0
Industry Benchmark
Discover where your engagement stands with CultureMonkey's industry benchmarks.
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What People & HR leaders in fast-growing education companies can learn?

Topic What you'll learn Applicable to
HRMS-native engagement How to build a listening program on top of Darwinbox without dual data management or manual HR effort CHRO, HR Director, People Ops
Continuous listening from zero How to go from no surveys to a full calendar covering annual, pulse, and lifecycle in one integrated program Head of People, HR Director
Lifecycle automation How 7-day, 30-day, 90-day, and exit surveys can be configured once and run fully automatically via HRMS HR Ops, People Ops
Global participation How to achieve and sustain 90%+ participation across a multi-geography, multilingual workforce without overhead CHRO, Head of People
Beating industry benchmarks What it looks like when structured listening drives an employee experience that outperforms your peer group on every driver CPO, CHRO, HR Director
Building engagement from no baseline How to create a data-led engagement program from scratch with no prior surveys, no historic data, no existing infrastructure Head of People, People Ops
Trust and the action loop How closing the feedback loop by sharing results and acting visibly builds participation trust across survey cycles HRBP, HR Generalist, People Ops

Turn employee feedback into action with a continuous listening program.

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real-time insights, and manager-driven action plans.

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