Considering Great Place to Work certification? Here’s an alternative that doesn’t end in pass or fail.
Certification gives you a badge if you clear the bar, and nothing if you don’t. HELM Culture Score gives any business a credible number, whatever it turns out to be, and a clear way to see it improve.
The difference in a sentence
Great Place to Work sells a certification. HELM Culture Score sells a measurement.
Certification is a threshold: clear it and you get a badge, miss it and you get nothing to show for the process. A measurement is a number that exists whatever it turns out to be, one you can watch move year on year, and use externally regardless of where it currently sits.
Great Place To Work | HELM Culture Score | |
What you get | Certification if you meet the required threshold | A score, whatever it turns out to be |
If you don't clear the bar | No certification, no result to use externally | A credible score you can still use, improve and compare year on year |
Process | Can involve a lengthy application and assessment process | Ten questions, a sixteen-day survey window, a report shortly after |
What it measures | A pass/fail outcome against a certification standard | Five pillars of workplace quality, scored individually and overall |
External use | A certification logo, once achieved | A score, always available, plus the badge and detail behind it |
Best suited to | Businesses confident they'll clear the certification threshold | Any business that wants an honest answer, whatever it shows |
Why businesses choose HELM instead
A certification model only works for the businesses that pass. Everyone else is left with time and cost spent, and nothing to show externally. That’s a strange trade-off for a measurement that’s meant to help you understand your own culture.
HELM Culture Score works differently by design. Every business that runs it gets a credible score, a result they can put in front of a client, a candidate or a board, and a clear way to see whether it’s moving in the right direction each year. There’s no bar to clear first.
Straightforward, published pricing
No application process needed to find out what it costs.
Small | Medium | Large | Enterprise |
£2,400 | £3,600 | £5,400 | Custom |
Common questions
Is HELM Culture Score a certification too?
No, and deliberately so. It’s a measurement, not a certification. Every business that runs it receives a credible score, not a pass or fail outcome.
Could we do both, certification and HELM Culture Score?
Yes. Many businesses use HELM Culture Score as their ongoing, annual measure of culture, and pursue certification separately as a complementary credential once they’re confident in where they stand.
What happens if our score isn’t where we’d like it to be?
It’s still a usable result. The score and the pillar detail behind it show you where to focus, and running it again the following year shows whether that focus worked.
Ready to see if it fits?
HELM Culture Score. 10 questions. One honest score.