White Lodging, one of the hospitality industry’s leading hotel development, ownership, and management companies, has been named one of the 78 companies across the globe as a winner of the 2026 Gallup Exceptional Workplace Award (GEWA) for employee engagement. The prestigious global recognition honors the most engaged workplace cultures in the world. This is the sixth year that White Lodging has earned the award, and it currently employs more than 6,500 associates across nearly 60 hotels and more than 50 restaurants and bars nationwide.
Despite momentous challenges in a rapidly evolving workplace, Gallup found that White Lodging continues to engage and develop its people in innovative, measurable ways, setting new benchmarks for workplace excellence and associate growth.
“Engagement among Gallup Exceptional Workplace Award engagement winners is 70%, based on Q12 employee engagement surveys administered between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31, 2025,” noted the Gallup press announcement. “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.”
“This award belongs to our Hospitalitarians,” White Lodging President and CEO Jean-Luc Barone said. “They create the culture, they care for one another, and they bring our guest and associate experiences to life every day. By empowering our teams, fostering belonging and investing in long-term career pathways, our company strengthens the human connections that define exceptional hospitality.”
Gallup’s research consistently shows that organizations that prioritize both people and performance are better positioned for long-term success. Gallup’s meta-analysis on team engagement and performance is the most comprehensive workplace study ever conducted, with data on more than 3.3 million employees in 347 organizations across 53 industries and 90 countries. Highly engaged organizations significantly outperform their peers on important business outcomes, including customer ratings, profitability, productivity, turnover, safety incidents, shrinkage, absenteeism, quality, wellbeing and organizational citizenship.
This recognition reflects more than strong engagement scores; it represents a sustained commitment to building a people-first culture that fuels performance.
For a complete list of GEWA winners, visit the 2026 Gallup Exceptional Workplace Award Winners page. Learn more about the awards here.
About Gallup
Gallup delivers analytics and advice to help leaders and organizations solve their most pressing problems. Combining more than 80 years of experience with its global reach, Gallup knows more about the attitudes and behaviors of employees, customers, students and citizens than any other organization in the world.
