Culture Index is a workplace behavioural assessment company. Its CI Survey is a short self-report questionnaire in two sections of 174 words each: you tick the words that describe you, then the words that describe how you must behave to succeed in your job. It scores seven traits, including Autonomy, Social Ability and Logic, and employers use the results, with a Culture Index advisor, for hiring, management and team design.
If a recruiter has sent you a Culture Index survey, or you're an employer weighing it up, the company's own pages explain more than most people realise. Here's what the survey measures, how it's used, how it stacks up against DISC and the Predictive Index, and what US employment law expects of any test like it.
What Culture Index sells
Culture Index presents itself as a system rather than a single test: behavioural data plus Executive Advisors who work with leadership teams. Its products page lists several parts:
- The CI Survey, which it calls a validated assessment completed in minutes, used for candidates, employees and leaders.
- C-Job, which builds a behavioural benchmark for each role before any candidate is reviewed.
- Hiring automation that sends and tracks surveys inside the hiring workflow.
- Structured interview guides and scoring tied to each role benchmark.
- Reporting that tracks productivity, retention and revenue after the system is rolled out.
Its approach page describes the process: everyone in the organisation completes the survey, an advisor reviews the data with leadership, a tailored plan is built, then the advisor supports the rollout.
How the CI Survey works
The company's technical page gives the mechanics. It's a self-report inventory, so you answer based on your own view of yourself. There are 174 words in each of two sections. Section one asks you to tick the words that describe you. Section two asks you to tick the words that describe how you must behave to succeed in your current role. It's free choice: you can tick as many or as few words as you like, rather than picking one word from a group.
That two-section design is the insight worth knowing if you're taking it. The survey compares who you say you are with what you think your job demands, so answering section two with the job you want, rather than the job you have, changes your report.
The seven traits it reports
| Trait | Letter | What the name suggests |
|---|---|---|
| Autonomy | A | Independence and assertiveness |
| Social Ability | B | Drive for interaction with people |
| Pace (also listed as Patience) | C | Preferred speed and appetite for change |
| Conformity | D | Attention to rules and detail |
| Energy Units | EU | Overall work energy |
| Logic | L | Reliance on facts over feelings |
| Ingenuity | I | Inventiveness |
Two small inconsistencies on the company's own site are worth flagging. Its independent technical report lists trait C as Pace, while its older validity primer calls it Patience. And its products page says the survey takes under 8 minutes, while the primer says approximately ten minutes. Neither changes how it works, but it tells you the materials were written at different times.
What Culture Index says about reliability
The company publishes a technical report by Alan D. Mead of Talent Algorithms, based on 300 completed surveys. It reports reliability coefficients from 0.86 to 0.96 across the seven scales, against an industry standard of 0.70, and says 96.7% of items functioned as intended. That's internal consistency, which shows the survey measures its traits consistently. It isn't the same as proof that a given score predicts success in a given job.
Culture Index vs DISC vs the Predictive Index
| Culture Index | PI Behavioral Assessment | DiSC | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Format | Two lists of 174 words, free choice | Two questions about one shared adjective list, free choice | Short assessment of your main style |
| What it scores | Seven traits | Four drives: dominance, extraversion, patience, formality | Four styles: Dominance, influence, Steadiness, Conscientiousness |
| Time | Under 8 to about ten minutes | About six minutes, untimed | Short |
| Typical use | Hiring, role benchmarks, leadership | Hiring, team building, coaching | Communication and collaboration |
The Culture Index and the Predictive Index look alike: both use self-selected adjectives and compare self with expected work behaviour. DiSC is aimed more at communication between colleagues than at matching people to roles. If you're comparing wider people platforms, our guide to Culture Amp alternatives covers the engagement side.
The legal side for employers
The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) says Title VII, the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act prohibit discriminatory employment tests, and it lists personality tests among the selection procedures it means. Three points from its guidance matter most:
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- A neutral test can still be unlawful if it disproportionately screens out people by race, colour, religion, sex or national origin, which is called disparate impact.
- If it does, the employer must show the test is job-related and consistent with business necessity.
- Even then, it can be challenged if a less discriminatory alternative would predict performance just as well.
The EEOC also points employers to its 1978 Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures. Culture Index's own primer says its research found no adverse impact between women and men, but as the employer you carry the legal duty, so keep records of how scores feed into decisions. Outside the US, check your own country's equality law.
My verdict
Culture Index can help a leadership team talk about how people work, and a benchmark for each role is better than hiring on gut feel. But I wouldn't let any survey make the hiring decision. Use it as one input next to structured interviews and real work samples, tie it to the job, and pair it with a positive company culture so people trust why you're asking. If you're the candidate, answer honestly: the two sections are designed to spot the gap between how you see yourself and what your job asks of you.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Culture Index survey?
It's a self-report workplace assessment with two sections of 174 words each. You tick words that describe you, then words that describe how you must behave to succeed in your current role.
How long does the Culture Index take?
The company's products page says under 8 minutes, and its older validity primer says approximately ten minutes.
What traits does the Culture Index measure?
Seven: Autonomy, Social Ability, Pace (also called Patience), Conformity, Energy Units, Logic and Ingenuity.
Can you pass or fail the Culture Index?
There's no pass mark. Like most personality inventories it reports traits rather than a score, and employers compare the results with the profile they want for a role.
Is it legal for employers to use personality tests?
In the US, the EEOC says employers can use tests, but not ones that discriminate. A test that disproportionately screens out a protected group must be job-related and consistent with business necessity.
