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On paper, engagement benchmarks often look like progress. A single number that reassures a boardroom, calms restless executives, and offers the comforting story that we’re doing better than most.
But culture and engagement don’t happen on paper. They happen inside organisations — in the choices leaders make, in the way managers listen, and in whether employees feel their voices truly matter. And this is where benchmarks can become a trap: anchoring leaders to a false sense of safety, offering the quiet pride of being “above average,” while disengagement spreads, innovation slows, and people quietly check out.
The truth is, culture isn’t built on averages. It’s built on intent, action and the courage to measure what matters most. It's built on leadership deciding to face what’s uncomfortable, and to create workplaces where people don’t just clock in, but show up with purpose.
Until organisations embrace that truth, they’ll keep mistaking comparison for progress while watching their best people walk out the door. Scores may cheer them on as they inch past industry peers, but the deeper signals such as rising attrition, disengagement, and customer dissatisfaction will keep heckling from the sidelines. Because culture isn’t a race to be slightly better than the company next door. It’s a commitment to be better than you were yesterday.
The Benchmark Trap
Our Future of Work research uncovered a sobering reality: 63% of HR practitioners say engagement in their organisation has stayed the same or declined in the past year.
If benchmarking were truly the secret to transformation, those numbers would look very different. Instead, we’re seeing measurement without movement with leaders comparing sideways rather than confronting what their own people are telling them.
It’s a dangerous loop. On the surface, it looks like progress. In reality, it’s stagnation , or worse, slow erosion.
Here’s why:
- Benchmarks give averages, not answers. They show where you sit in a crowd, not what’s happening inside your culture. Worse, if the average is low, is it really a win?
- Culture is unique. Engagement is shaped by your values, leadership, and ways of working. Copying others erases what makes you distinctive.
- Benchmarks risk imitation. The chase for validation encourages conformity. Leaders polish numbers while real issues go unresolved.
- Data becomes PR. When leaders start asking, “What if we counted neutral responses as positives?” or “What if we excluded struggling teams?” the purpose of listening is lost.
Beyond “Above Average”
The organisations making real cultural progress aren’t obsessed with being better than their peers, they're obsessed with being better for their people. That’s a fundamental difference.
Instead of asking, “How do we compare?” they’re asking:
- What does great look like in our context?
- Where are we genuinely improving over time — and where are we stalling?
- What barriers are our employees pointing to, and are we addressing them with urgency?
These aren’t comfortable questions, but they are important because they force leaders to confront the truth of the employee experience. In doing so, they shift the conversation from optics to outcomes.
Culture and engagement can only truly change when leaders listen without defensiveness, act without hesitation, and measure success against the only benchmark that really matters: their own progress.
The WorkBuzz Difference
At WorkBuzz, we use benchmarks within our own platform but we focus on the insights in your own data, not anyone else's.
What we do instead is help leaders dig beneath the numbers to find meaning. We do this by focusing on:
- Trends, not snapshots. Progress is measured in movement over time, not a single static score.
- The why, not just the what. We surface the drivers behind results, so leaders understand not only where challenges exist, but why they matter.
- Your story, not someone else’s. Our insights are tailored to your organisation’s DNA — your values, your leadership style, your ambitions.
This helps swap a vanity metric for a roadmap with a clear, evidence-based view of where you’re thriving, where you’re stalling, and what you need to do next.
Ready to stop chasing averages and start building progress? Use the WorkBuzz ROI & Engagement Tool to see what real change looks like inside your organisation.
