Gallup Access vs. Lattice

Gallup's approach to engagement surveys for the workplace is built on a fixed, proprietary measurement framework — the Q¹² — developed through decades of original research and validated across 183,806 business and work units and 347 organizations in 53 industries. Every organization using Gallup Access measures engagement the same way, which allows direct comparison across companies, industries and geographies.

Lattice uses survey templates that cover engagement topics but does not publicly describe a survey methodology. Employee engagement is one module within a broader people management platform that also includes performance reviews, goal setting, career development and compensation management.

Gallup maintains a benchmark database of over 1 billion responses across 146 industries and 230 countries. Because every Gallup Access client uses the same validated question items, comparisons remain consistent across organizations.

Lattice provides benchmarks based on its customer data and Mercer’s global HR consulting dataset, which adds about 1.5 million employee survey responses per year. Benchmarks are segmented by industry, company size and geography.

Gallup Access is better suited for large, global organizations. It supports surveys in more than 55+ languages and provides reporting in 22 languages. The platform also includes role-based access controls, HRIS integrations and real-time participation tracking. Gallup’s employee engagement benchmarks cover 230 countries.

Lattice is primarily designed for midsized organizations. It supports multiple languages and integrates with major HR systems, including Workday, BambooHR and Gusto.

Gallup Access includes a broad learning library that covers topics from engagement and workplace culture to leadership and employee wellbeing. The platform connects content directly to each person’s CliftonStrengths profile. Gallup designed the platform based on the finding that managers account for 70% of the variance in team engagement, so tools, guidance and learning resources focus on helping managers act on results.

Lattice develops managers through career development tools, AI-powered coaching and performance management features such as goal tracking, one-on-one meetings and performance reviews.

The Q¹² is Gallup's 12-item employee engagement survey, developed through decades of research and testing with more than 1 million employees. Each item was selected because it consistently differentiates high-performing workgroups from low-performing ones and links directly to business outcomes.

Gallup has conducted 11 meta-analyses on the Q¹², examining more than 112,000 teams. These studies show that organizations in the top quartile of engagement achieve 23% higher profitability, 18% higher productivity, and 63% fewer safety incidents than those in the bottom quartile. The Q¹² is fixed and proprietary and is only available as a part of Gallup Access’s employee feedback software. Because every organization uses the same 12 items, results can be benchmarked against a global database of more than 70 million respondents.

Gallup AI is an AI assistant built into Gallup Access that uses retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) to draw only from proprietary Gallup research on employee engagement, CliftonStrengths and workplace performance.

Unlike general-purpose AI tools that rely on broad internet sources, Gallup AI relies on Gallup’s validated science and does not train on client data, meaning organizational information stays confidential. Leaders and managers can ask Gallup AI questions in plain language about their survey results, team dynamics, or workplace challenges and receive research-backed answers in real time, personalized to their CliftonStrengths profile and engagement data.

Gallup Access supports unlimited pulse surveys that organizations can launch at any time, on any topic and across all or targeted segments of the workforce, from frontline staff to specific business units or role types. Organizations can choose from a library of nearly 400 validated questions on topics such as safety, wellbeing, leadership, employee burnout, agility and customer centricity. They can also add custom questions alongside validated items.

What distinguishes Gallup’s flexibility from common employee survey tools is that pulse questions are validated and tied to documented outcomes, meaning organizations gather data that is predictive of real business results. Gallup’s consulting approach adds another dimension of flexibility: rather than leaving organizations to determine what to measure on their own, Gallup works with organizations to understand their specific business goals and builds a listening strategy around them.

CliftonStrengths is Gallup’s strengths-based development framework that identifies an individual’s natural patterns of thinking, feeling and behaving. It helps people apply those talents to achieve higher performance. In Gallup Access, CliftonStrengths connects directly to employee engagement by giving managers and teams practical, individualized insights they can use to align roles, improve collaboration and create more meaningful work experiences.

Gallup’s research shows that employees who use their strengths daily are more engaged, more productive and more likely to stay with their organization, enabling organizations to move from measuring engagement to improving employee engagement through strengths-based development.

Lattice does not offer a strengths-based development framework in its platform.