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Workplace
Announcing the 2026 Gallup Exceptional Workplace Award Winners
Workplace

Announcing the 2026 Gallup Exceptional Workplace Award Winners

For 20 years, Gallup has recognized world-class organizations with the Gallup Exceptional Workplace Award. Learn more here.

In 2025, organizations faced mounting pressure to adapt and perform in an increasingly uncertain environment. Rapid advances in artificial intelligence reshaped how work gets done, while ongoing economic uncertainty required steady leadership and disciplined decision-making.

Even amid these pressures, the 2026 Gallup Exceptional Workplace Award winners stood out because they intentionally create cultures where employees feel valued, heard and empowered to perform.

Recognized for excellence in employee engagement and strengths-based development, this year’s winners demonstrate that performance and people strategies must move together. They invest in managers, build trust at every level and align employees’ strengths with business needs.

Across industries and regions, these organizations share a clear belief: People are their greatest competitive advantage. In a year defined by change, they set the standard for what’s possible when engagement and performance go hand in hand.

2026 GEWA Winners by the Numbers: Engagement

Engagement among Gallup Exceptional Workplace Award engagement winners is 70%, based on Q12 employee engagement surveys administered between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31, 2025. On average, these 78 world-class organizations have 14 engaged employees for every one actively disengaged employee — eight times the rate in the U.S. and 12 times the global average.

Exceptionally high levels of employee engagement allowed these organizations to adapt and adjust in response to disruption. Gallup's engagement meta-analysis found that top- and bottom-quartile business units and teams had the following differences in business outcomes:

  • 81% in absenteeism
  • 58% in patient safety incidents (mortality and falls)
  • 18% in turnover for high-turnover organizations
  • 43% in turnover for low-turnover organizations
  • 28% in shrinkage (theft)
  • 64% in safety incidents (accidents)
  • 41% in quality (defects)
  • 10% in customer loyalty/engagement
  • 18% in productivity (sales)
  • 23% in profitability

Congratulations to the 2026 Gallup Exceptional Workplace Award winners for engagement:

2026 GEWA Winners by the Numbers: Strengths

Winners of the Gallup Exceptional Workplace Award for strengths are unique in their ability to create thriving cultures and achieve outstanding business outcomes while investing in the strengths of their people to maximize the potential of their employees and teams. These 21 organizations achieve more by helping employees focus on what they do best and integrating strengths-accelerated development into their mission, vision and values.

Companies that incorporate strengths into their culture experience:

  • 23% higher employee engagement
  • 29% higher profit
  • 19% higher sales
  • 72% lower turnover

Congratulations to the 2026 Gallup Exceptional Workplace Award winners for strengths:

Learn more about the Gallup Exceptional Workplace Award criteria.

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