Many organizations conduct regular employee surveys, using benchmarks as a key component of their analysis. While national peer benchmarks offer valuable insights, the usefulness of global peer and competitor benchmarks is often unclear. For global businesses, comparing themselves to international industry standards might seem like an effective strategy, but is it really the most reliable way to measure engagement?
Global Employee Engagement Index
Over the last 30 years, Effectory has partnered with international organizations and learned that comparing two global organizations with pinpoint accuracy is incredibly difficult. Differences in business models, geographical locations, and company structures make it nearly impossible to create perfect comparisons. As a result, global peer and industry benchmarks, while useful in some contexts, often present a picture that doesn’t fully reflect the nuances of each organization.
Despite this, many multinational organizations still insist on comparing themselves to the ‘perfect’ industry benchmark. They typically request comparisons with all their major competitors across all relevant international branches, assuming this will provide meaningful insights. While this may seem logical in theory, experience has shown us that building global industry benchmarks on the outcomes of surveys from similar or competing organizations can be risky.
Global Employee Engagement Index™
Discover the Global Employee Engagement Index™ 2025 for key insights on driving employee engagement, improving performance, and enhancing team dynamics.
DownloadWhy global peer and industry benchmarks are risky
Here’s why relying on global industry benchmarks may not be as effective as you might think:
1. Volatility
What happens if an organization (or more) within your benchmark changes suppliers? Or if one of the companies undergoes a significant restructuring, laying off a large portion of its workforce?
These are common events that can distort benchmark data, making it volatile and inconsistent. When this happens, the benchmark data becomes unreliable, with some parts reflecting exceptional circumstances rather than the typical performance of an organization.
2. International locations
Your organization may operate in multiple countries, but are the benchmarks you’re comparing against truly representative of all your international locations?
Many global companies operate in different markets and regions, and the countries they include in their benchmarks may not match up exactly with your own. This can result in a lack of relevant data for some of your key locations, leaving important insights on the table.
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3. Questionnaires
Another often-overlooked factor is the diversity of survey questionnaires. It’s rare for all organizations in a global benchmark to use exactly the same survey questions, making meaningful comparisons difficult.
When organizations tailor their surveys to better reflect their unique needs, this can lead to one-on-one comparisons that don’t provide much value. Are these comparisons really helping your organization improve its employee engagement?
Global Employee Engagement Index™: A more reliable benchmark
Effectory’s Global Employee Engagement Index™ offers an alternative that overcomes these challenges by providing consistent, reliable data across 54 countries. It’s an international benchmark that includes over 100 questions and covers 18 HR themes, and it’s based on a thorough, representative labor market scan in each country. This ensures that the data reflects the local context and is accurate at all times. This consistency helps eliminate the risks that come with switching suppliers, changing questionnaires, or dealing with companies closing operations in certain regions.
The Global Employee Engagement Index™ brings clear advantages for organizations looking for accurate benchmarks:
- Stability: The data remains reliable over time, with no risk of disruptions from supplier changes or company restructurings.
- Consistency: Standardized questions across all markets ensure that your comparisons are consistent and actionable.
- Relevance: Local benchmarks in 54 countries allow you to compare your organization’s engagement data to the most relevant labor market averages in each region.
This approach not only removes the risks of volatile or inconsistent data but also adds value by helping organizations gain deeper insights into cultural differences across locations. As organizations increasingly face challenges with industry benchmarks, the importance of local, culturally relevant data becomes clearer.
Download the Global Employee Engagement Index™
Discover the Global Employee Engagement Index™ 2025 for key insights on what drives employee engagement across the globe.
Global Employee Engagement Index™
Discover the Global Employee Engagement Index™ 2025 for key insights on driving employee engagement, improving performance, and enhancing team dynamics.
Download