The State of UK Employee Engagement
Q3 2026 Benchmarks
Gain absolute confidence in your people strategy. Discover how your organisation compares to real-time benchmarks across the UK workforce.
Executive Summary & Key Takeaways
Employee engagement is dipping.
Advocacy tells a different story.
Employee engagement is declining this quarter, with the overall Engagement Index sitting at 7.0, down from 7.2 in Q2 and 7.4 in Q1.
But that’s not the whole story.
eNPS has moved in the opposite direction, rising from +12 to +14. So while employees are reporting slightly lower overall engagement, their willingness to recommend their organisation has increased.
That’s worth paying attention to. Engagement and advocacy tell us different things about the employee experience, and when they move in different directions, there’s more going on beneath the headline score.
This quarter, we’re seeing that play out across industries too. Technology continues to lead on engagement and advocacy, Housing Associations remain one of the strongest all-round performers, while Government continues to face the biggest challenge.
So what are the numbers telling us? Don’t look at your Engagement Index in isolation. Look at what sits underneath it, how willing people are to recommend your organisation, and, most importantly, what you’re doing with what employees tell you.
Employee engagement is declining this quarter, with the overall Engagement Index sitting at 7.0, down from 7.2 in Q2 and 7.4 in Q1.
But that’s not the whole story.
eNPS has moved in the opposite direction, rising from +12 to +14. So while employees are reporting slightly lower overall engagement, their willingness to recommend their organisation has increased.
That’s worth paying attention to. Engagement and advocacy tell us different things about the employee experience, and when they move in different directions, there’s more going on beneath the headline score.
This quarter, we’re seeing that play out across industries too. Technology continues to lead on engagement and advocacy, Housing Associations remain one of the strongest all-round performers, while Government continues to face the biggest challenge.
So what are the numbers telling us? Don’t look at your Engagement Index in isolation. Look at what sits underneath it, how willing people are to recommend your organisation, and, most importantly, what you’re doing with what employees tell you.
What stood out to me this quarter:
Engagement has dipped
Engagement Index is down to 7.0 this quarter. That’s a small drop, but after the recovery we saw earlier in the year, it’s one I’d keep an eye on.
Advocacy tells a different story
Here’s the interesting bit: eNPS is up to +14. So while overall engagement has dipped, employees are actually a little more likely to recommend their organisation. That’s exactly why I wouldn’t look at either measure on its own.
Technology is still out in front
Technology leads the way again, with 7.8 Engagement Index and +31 eNPS. It’s a strong combination of high engagement and employees who are willing to put their organisation’s reputation behind it.
Housing Associations keep performing
Housing Associations are another sector I’d be watching. With 7.7 Engagement Index and +30 eNPS, they’re continuing to show what a strong employee experience can look like.
Government remains the challenge
Government is still at the bottom of the benchmark, with 6.4 Engagement Index and -17 eNPS. And with a response rate of just 16%, there’s another question to ask: are organisations hearing enough from their people to really understand what’s going on? And why not?
Industries to watch this quarter?
These industries tell the story of this quarter’s benchmark. Some are leading the way, some are building momentum, and others highlight where organisations continue to face challenges. Here’s a snapshot of the stories behind the scores.
What we're seeing across the market
The interesting thing about this quarter isn’t simply that engagement has gone up or down. It’s that different parts of the employee experience are telling slightly different stories.
Engagement has moved from 7.2 to 7.0, while eNPS has increased from +12 to +14.
That tells us something important: a change in Engagement Index doesn’t automatically mean everything about the employee experience is heading in the same direction.
For HR teams, that’s a good reason to dig a little deeper.
Look at the drivers behind your score. Read the comments. Understand where experiences differ between teams. Give managers the context they need to have useful conversations.
And then look at what happens next.
Because collecting feedback is only one part of employee listening. The real value comes from turning what you hear into action.
Put your results into context
Numbers only tell part of the story.
Our free Benchmark Health Check compares your latest employee engagement results against Hive’s newest benchmark data, helping you understand where you’re leading, where you have opportunities to improve, and what to focus on next.
Why you can trust our data
Our benchmark data is built from hundreds of thousands of employee responses across organisations of different sizes and industries.
Employee Voices
Powered by over half a million real, anonymised employee responses across the UK workforce. No skewed panel data.
Industries Covered
From Healthcare and Tech to Government and Education, get true peer-to-peer comparisons.
Precision
Workforce dynamics change fast. We update our data quarterly so you’re never benchmarking against last year’s realities.
Total anonymity, guaranteed
Every data point in this tool is entirely anonymised, stripped of identifying markers, and strictly aggregated.
Looking ahead by Jen,
Head of Professional Services at Hive
“This quarter’s results show why employee listening needs more than one headline number.
Engagement has dipped slightly, while advocacy has moved up. For me, that’s a reason to look beyond the overall score and ask what’s really shaping the employee experience underneath it.
I’d encourage HR teams to use this data as a starting point, not an endpoint. Look at where sentiment is changing, listen to what employees are saying and give managers the insight they need to respond.
Because the value of listening isn’t in having the perfect score. It’s in understanding your people well enough to know what to do next.”
“This quarter’s results show why employee listening needs more than one headline number.
Engagement has dipped slightly, while advocacy has moved up. For me, that’s a reason to look beyond the overall score and ask what’s really shaping the employee experience underneath it.
I’d encourage HR teams to use this data as a starting point, not an endpoint. Look at where sentiment is changing, listen to what employees are saying and give managers the insight they need to respond.
Because the value of listening isn’t in having the perfect score. It’s in understanding your people well enough to know what to do next.”
Ready to move the needle on your scores?
Benchmarking is the diagnostic; Hive is the cure. Finding out where you stand is just step one. True cultural transformation happens when you can listen to your people and act on their feedback in real-time.
Let’s talk about how Hive’s employee feedback platform can help you close the gap between your current scores and your industry’s top 10%.
