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<h1>What is the Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS)?</h1> <p>Let's discuss what the Employee Net Promoter Score is about. Why is it great? But also the weaknesses and what to do about it.</p> <h2>Origins - from NPS to eNPS</h2> <p>For companies it is very important to measure how satisfied customers are with a company - or services of a company. Over the years psychologists came up with elaborate questionnaires to find that out.</p> <p>The biggest problem with those questionnaires was the length. These questionnaires had many questions - and the length made them very unlikely to be filled out by customers.</p> <p>The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Net_Promoter" target="_blank">Net Promoter Score</a> was a refreshingly simple alternative. One question plus free text. The basis for the NPS was the concept of loyalty. If customers are loyal then they will buy again.</p> <p>The question is "Would you recommend xyz to your friend?"</p> <p>The Net Promoter Score (NPS) was introduced in 2003 by Reichheld in an influential <a href="https://hbr.org/2003/12/the-one-number-you-need-to-grow" target="_blank">Harvard Business Review article</a>. The article made big waves in the community. Nowadays it is the industry standard to measure satisfaction of customers with a service.</p> <p>NPS is a registered trademark of Fred Reichheld, Bain & Company and Satmetrix.</p> <p>The Employee NPS (eNPS) is the extension of the concept towards employees.</p> <p>If your employees are loyal to your company - that's great and tells a lot. If they are not loyal then it is time to investigate further.</p> <p>Beautifully simple and beautifully actionable.</p> <h2>How to calculate the eNPS</h2> <p>The eNPS works on a likert scale from 0 to 10. 10 means an employee would recommend us very likely, 0 is the opposite - very unlikely recommendation.</p> <p>The eNPS classifies the likert score in three baskets: Detractors, promoters and neutrals. 0-6 are detractors. 7 and 8 are neutrals, 9 and 10 are promoters.</p> <p>The formula then is: (number of promoters - number of detractors) / number of votes * 100</p> <p>Example:</p> <p>We got the following votes: 0,5,6,7,7,9,9,9,9, 10. 10 votes in total. 3 detractors, 2 neutrals and 5 promoters. We put this in our formula: (5-3)/10 * 100 = 20.</p> <p>So we get an eNPS of 20 for this team.</p> <p>The NPS can range from -100 (only detractors) to +100 (only promoters).</p> <h2>Why is it great?</h2> <p>In short: Simplicity:</p> <p>It's one question. It is easy to answer by employees. It is easy to spot potential problems. And it is a metric that is well understood nowadays by <a href="https://fortune.com/longform/net-promoter-score-fortune-500-customer-satisfaction-metric/" target="_blank">management</a>. Everyone knows the NPS. Going to the eNPS is just a tiny step.</p> <p>It does not take long to fill out one question. This leads to a high turnout and meaningful results.</p> <h2>What are shortcomings?</h2> <p>The number alone does not tell you much. It can highlight that there is a potential problem. But which one? Hard to tell.</p> <h2>What to do about shortcomings</h2> <p>The eNPS can only be a starting point. If the numbers are low the investigation has to start. Why is that team / department scoring so low?</p> <p>The free text field then is the next stop for the leadership team. What are concrete problems people are talking about? And if that is not enough - management has to meet with the teams and talk face to face about the low loyalty.</p> <p>Nothing can replace a good conversation. Not even the eNPS.</p> <h2>Summary</h2> <p>The eNPS is a well understood metric to measure employee loyalty. Due to its simplicity it can be easily collected and the participation rate is high.</p> <p>It has its shortcomings, but combined with a free text field where employees can elaborate on their vote it acts as the starting point of an investigation.</p> How to make teams win Team-Climate™ for Managers and Department Leads