Every employee survey effort has to start somewhere and I strongly encourage you to start simple by consistently tracking your eNPS - also known as an Employee Net Promoter Score. In today’s episode, I’ll share my experience with using the survey and share the exact, easy steps to implementing it within your own organization.
Given today's episode includes math (gasp!) I have included a high-level overview of what we cover below. Hopefully it will make finding and calculating your own eNPS a breeze!
What is an eNPS?
The eNPS, which stands for Employer Net Promoter Score, is a benchmark that measures how loyal and engaged your employees are. It's a sibling to the NPS score created by Bain and Company in 2003. Your eNPS is the result of asking your employees one simple question: “How likely are you to recommend [business name] as a place to work to your family and friends?” Employees respond on a ten-point scale where 1 is not likely at all and 10 is extremely likely. It’s really THAT simple.
How should I distribute the survey?
There are lots of options when it comes to survey distribution. Here are three different paths to consider for implementing an ePNS survey within your organization.
Utilize your current email system. Both Google and Microsoft have a survey functionality.
Utilize your HRIS (like Bamboo or Rippling) or Employee Experience Software (like 15Five or Lattice).
Utilize a survey tool like Typeform or Survey Monkey to create the questions.
No matter which tool you use, make sure that responses are anonymous!
How do I calculate our eNPS?
Step One: Group responses
To calculate your actual eNPS score, begin by dividing all responses into three groups based on their scores:
9-10: Promoters – employees who are more likely to speak positively, or promote the organization to others
7-8: Passives – neutral employees
0-6: Detractors – employees who are more likely to speak negatively about the organization
Step Two: Calculate % promoters
Next, you'll find the percentage of each category by dividing it by the number of total responses. The below formula represents how you'd calculate the % of promoters. % of Promoters = # of promoters ÷ # of total responses x 100 For example, let's say 100 employees took the survey and 60 of them fell into the promoter category. You would first divide 60 by 100. This would equal .6 which you would multiply by 100 to get 60%. Repeat this step to find the percentage of detractors, as well.
Step Three: Find eNPS
Finally, your eNPS is calculated using the following formula: Employee Net Promoter Score = % of Promoters minus % of Detractors It's not a typo. Passives are not included in the final formula. Your business’s eNPS will fall somewhere between -100 and +100.
What is considered a good net promoter score?
The first thing I'm always asked is "what is considered a good score" versus a bad score. Truthfully, a good eNPS score depends on your industry.
Generally speaking, a score of 0-30 is considered average, 30-60 is considered good, and 60-100 is considered excellent.
Be mindful as well if you operate across different countries, as some cultures tend to rate things differently from your home country. Although you can use eNPS to benchmark against other organizations, it is also incredibly useful as a benchmark against yourself. Think of it as a temperature reading for your own organization. As you begin to consistently track your eNPS, you'll be able to identify fluctuations in sentiment.
What good is knowing our eNPS if it doesn't tell us what we need to change?
Now I know what some of you are thinking. Measuring employee sentiment without any additional insight seems quite pointless. This is why I actually recommend adding a second open-ended question to your survey. This will allow you to gather some additional qualitative insights that you can analyze and potentially act on. In the past, I’ve asked, “What is the main reason for your answer.” But you could ask any of these questions instead:
What’s one thing we could do to make you happier at work?
What’s one thing we could improve as an employer?
What would you recommend about this company to other people?
You could also just ask for additional feedback about what the company is doing well vs not well. Whichever way you go, make sure to add only one additional question alongside the eNPS. The point is for it to be quick and easy survey for employees to participate in.
How often should we do an eNPS survey?
I strongly recommend implementing the survey quarterly. More frequently than that can lead to survey fatigue, while only giving it annually doesn’t allow you to capture fluctuations in employee sentiment often enough. By giving the survey quarterly, you have something to consistently measure and reference as you’re thinking about employee experience. Employees will also come to expect it if you stay consistent. If you see big drops or gains between quarters, it can be helpful to read the associated free form comments and see if you can gain some high level insights.
What do we do if we're not happy with our score? Or it begins to drop?
Ultimately, if you're unhappy with your score or it has dropped significantly since the previous survey, it’s time to collect more data. An eNPS score alone is not enough to uncover problem areas. For that, I recommend a more robust employee culture survey, which will better help you understand the areas that employees are struggling most.
If you and your team are looking for support in this area, I can help.
Schedule your free consultation call and let's discuss your interest in implementing an employee survey, or working through how to make impactful changes based on data already collected. If that’s you, you can schedule your free 30-minute call here.
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