Chambers of commerce face unique challenges in attracting, retaining and developing high-performing talent. Employee engagement is a key driver of organizational success, but only 21% of the world’s employees are actively engaged at work. 

ACCE’s latest research found that 56% of chambers experienced staff turnover in 2025. When that turnover happens in key positions, it can create even more stress and negative experiences for the staff that remain.

ACCE’s Employee Engagement Survey is the only industry-specific endeavor to understand and transform chamber staff engagement. This research will equip chamber leaders with the insights necessary to achieve better business outcomes and will provide benchmarks against participating peer organizations.

2026 Program 

Target Audience

  • Chambers of commerce, umbrella organizations with a chamber entity, economic development corporations or similar
  • Organizations with a local, regional or state-wide presence
  • Organizations with at least three full-time, permanent employees
  • Organizations must be ACCE members to participate

Deliverables

ACCE will provide the following to the CEO (or a designee) of participating organizations:

  • Industry-specific employee engagement survey of around 20 questions (responses are fully anonymous)
  • Copy of the anonymized raw data survey responses in PDF format
  • Custom benchmarking report with…
    • A one-page summary of top highlights and opportunities
    • Data comparisons between the organization and aggregate participant results
    • Around 20 data visualizations and supplemental tables
    • A summary write-up of qualitative responses
  • Invitation to one executive roundtable discussion with participating organizations once results are delivered
  • Two follow-up resources provided at the conclusion of the program
  • Free copy of the 2026 Employee Engagement Resource Guide once released
  • Periodic emails from ACCE staff informing about program progress and action items

Participant Expectations

By participating, your organization commits to:

  • Champion this effort internally and encourage participation
  • Confirm staff roster and emails with ACCE
  • Specify if the CEO would like to appoint a designee to receive results and updates on their behalf
  • Review deliverables in their entirety
  • Join and participate in the executive roundtable call
  • Total time investment of approximately four hours

Timeline

  • March 13, 2026: Deadline to register to participate
  • March 23, 2026: Administer surveys to chamber staff
  • April 3, 2026: Deadline to complete the surveys
  • April 6 – May 15, 2026: Analyze data and prepare deliverables
  • May 18, 2026: Distribute results
  • June 2, 2026: Executive roundtable
  • June 8, 2026: Wrap-up email with final deliverables and call for feedback

Investment

Based on count of full-time employees across all organizational entities. 

  • 3-10 employees: $250
  • 11-50 employees: $500
  • More than 50 employees: $750

Registration

Registration for the 2026 Employee Engagement Survey is now open. If you have questions about the program, contact Jen Pruden ([email protected]).

Register Now

  

2025 Employee Engagement Resource Guide

This report, which contains data from the 2025 Employee Engagement Survey, examines the state of engagement among chamber professionals, presents data-backed strategies to strengthen it and shares sample policies from industry peers.

ACCE member price: $150 || Non-member price: $300

Get the Guide