Understand benchmarks

This article gives you a clear overview of what benchmarks are, how they work in My Effectory, and how they help you interpret your survey results. Benchmarks provide context, making it easier to understand whether a score is strong, average, or an opportunity for improvement.

What are benchmarks?

Benchmarks let you compare your results to something meaningful. Most Effectory questions and themes include benchmark data. When you look at your results in the dashboard, benchmark scores appear next to your own scores to provide additional context.

Benchmarks can help you:

• see differences between teams, departments, or previous surveys
• understand how your organization compares to similar organizations
• identify areas that need attention

Types of benchmarks

My Effectory supports two types of benchmarks: internal and external.

Internal benchmarks

Internal benchmarks help you understand how scores compare within your own organization. They can be grouped into two categories:

1. Previous and Organizational Level(s)

• Previous survey: Compare current scores with earlier survey results to track change over time.
• Organizational levels: Compare a team’s score with the results of its department or the overall organization.

2. Comparisons Across Related Groups (Sub-units and Segments)

• Sub-units: Compare a team’s score with smaller units or sub-teams to identify differences within the next level down.
• Segments: Compare a team’s score with specific groups of employees based on characteristics (e.g., gender, age). More about segments can be found here [link to article].

External benchmarks

External benchmarks show how your organization compares to others. These four types of external benchmarks are available:

• Effectory Index: The average score of all organizations running surveys with Effectory.
• Global Employee Engagement Index (GEEI): A global benchmark based on a large biennial survey across many countries, covering themes like work environment, well‑being and management. It includes all industries, making it useful for comparing results across countries and cultures.
• Industry/sector: Compare your results with organizations in your sector or industry, based on Effectory’s categorization of customers into groups like healthcare or retail. You can also choose to include the Top 3 for a comparison with the highest‑scoring organizations.
• Composed (custom) benchmark: A custom benchmark made from comparable organizations. It must include enough organizations to be reliable, with a minimum of seven and ideally ten to twelve for more complete benchmarking.

Primary vs additional benchmarks

Per project, you can select up to two benchmarks on a project level:

• Your primary benchmark is the first benchmark shown in the results dashboard and reports, and shown by default in Your Feedback.
• Your additional benchmark appears as an extra comparison in the results dashboard and reports.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between a benchmark and the Top 3?

A benchmark is the average of all organizations in that benchmark group. The Top 3 is the average of the three best‑scoring organizations.

Does Effectory use AI or machine learning to calculate benchmarks?

No. Benchmarks are simple aggregated averages based on real customer responses.

How often are benchmarks updated?

The Effectory Index is updated monthly. The GEEI is updated every two years.

Why do some questions not have a benchmark?

If a question does not have a benchmark, it can either be that the question is custom to your organization, or that there is not enough data across customers to provide a reliable benchmark.

How many benchmarks can I select?

This depends on your subscription. You can see the number available in your project settings.

Can I see which companies are in my benchmark?

No. Due to confidentiality, we cannot share customer names.

 

If you're unsure which benchmark options apply to your organization, contact your Customer Success Manager.