What is Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS)?

Customer satisfaction is often the number one priority for a company or business, we normally measure this using Net promoter score (NPS), but what about employee satisfaction?

This article will look at what eNPS is and its benefits for your business and employees. We will go over the following questions and topics:

• What is Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS)?
• What are the Benefits of eNPS?
• What are the limitations of eNPS?
• Alternative to eNPS

In recent years, companies have realised that employee satisfaction is equally important as employees are the driving force behind the products and services provided to the company and its customers.

Often surveys are sent out to customers to get an insight into their experience or product satisfaction. Similarly, companies have been sending out surveys to their employees to find out their experience and feedback on the company they work for - this is where Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS) comes in.

What is Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS)?

Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS) is a way to measure your employees' satisfaction and their loyalty to the company. It is carried out through a single or sometimes a two-question survey:

• On a scale of 0-10, how likely are you to recommend our business to a friend or colleague? - A scale based question where the respondent has the option to answer with a number between 0-10.
• What is the primary reason for your response? - An open-ended question where the respondent has the option to give further details on their response.

The responses to the eNPS are divided into three categories:

• Promoters - are employees that have given the company a score of 9 or 10; they are the most satisfied, motivated and happy with their company.
• Passives are employees who have given the company a score of 7 or 8; they are satisfied but are considered neutral, so they are likely not to promote or discredit their company.
• Detractors - are employees that have given the company a score between 0 and 6; they are not satisfied or happy with their company. And will most likely not recommend or even discredit their company.

Once the responses have been divided, the eNPS score can be calculated using a simple formula.

Calculating eNPS score

To calculate your company's eNPS score, you have first to remove the Passives and then subtract the percentage of the Detractors from the percentage of the Promoters.

% of Promoters - % of Detractors = eNPS

eNPS scores can range from +100 (every employee is a promoter) to -100 (every employee is a detractor). A 'good' eNPS score can range from 10-30, and a score above 30 is considered to be 'excellent'.

The results of the eNPS should be shared with employees, and any action that will be taken regarding the score obtained. It is essential to understand that a company needs to take into consideration any response or feedback provided by the employee from the eNPS - this should also be included in the eNPS result email or message.

What are the benefits of eNPS?

• You get valuable insight into employee satisfaction.
• It is easy and quick.
• You will most likely get more participants with this type of survey and avoid survey fatigue.
• It's cost-effective - you can simply send out the survey via email or other messaging channels. Or you could use an eNPS software that can automatically generate and send out the survey and calculate the data.

What are the limitations of eNPS?

• The eNPS question is not enough to determine employees satisfaction and employee engagement. While it gives an insight into the organisation's perception, there would be a lack of direction on what measures the company should take to improve their work culture. Therefore companies should consider an open-ended follow-up question such as 'What is the primary reason for your response?'.
• Not everyones' response (Passive) is counted towards the eNPS score. Therefore, companies should consider a different or additional way to collect their feedback.
• It lacks individuality as employees are not able to express their opinions or feelings.
• Some employees may question the anonymity of the survey and not give their honest feedback. If that is the case, consider using an external party to send out the survey.

Alternative to eNPS

Pulse Survey

Besides sending out an eNPS, you could also consider sending out Pulse surveys. Pulse surveys are 10-15 question surveys that are sent out on a weekly or monthly basis. This type of survey records employee engagement in more detail and is more inclusive of everyones' response. It usually consists of questions with different categories, i.e. job role, communication, management, diversity, etc. Employees can respond in different ways depending on the question - they could have a mixture of number/Likert scale and open-ended questions. For these types of surveys, it is also essential to ensure employees responses are anonymous and that they are not sent out too frequently as that could lead to survey fatigue.

Key points

• eNPS is a quick and good starting point to measure employee engagement.
• eNPS should preferably be sent out once or twice a year.
• It is essential to guarantee employee anonymity for these surveys.
• Share the eNPS score with your employees and collaborate with them to help you get a better understanding of how your company can improve.
• Create an action plan to convert detractors to passives or possibly into promoters.
• Pulse surveys can be combined with eNPS to get a deeper insight into employee engagement.
• Avoid survey fatigue by sending out the surveys to different groups and not too frequently.