By now, most adherents of people analytics are familiar with Employee Net Promoter Score or eNPS. eNPS is a measure of employee advocacy derived from employee answers to the question, “How likely is it that you would recommend [your organization] as a place to work?”
A storied descendant of a customer-directed NPS measure, eNPS has now been at the heart of HR metrics for decades. Just as the original NPS helps inform a company’s unique value proposition and brand positioning to build connections to customers, the eNPS can help organizations shape their employee value proposition and improve their employer brand.
Research shows that employee advocacy and related measures of employee engagement are related to important organizational outcomes such as employee attrition, productivity, and shareholder return. Organizations that use both the NPS and eNPS usually see a positive correlation between the two measures, validating Apple’s insight that employees who are promoters are more likely to influence customers to become promoters as well. This synergistic relationship between the eNPS and the NPS also supports the service-profit chain model: a positive employee experience helps generate a positive customer experience.
What’s unique about both the NPS and the eNPS is the finer grain of the measure, which is a product of the methodology. Unlike the standard five-point scale of “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree,” NPS and eNPS measure responses are on an 11-point scale, where zero equals “would not consider recommending” and 10 equals “would absolutely recommend.” Responses are then converted through the process detailed below to yield a score on a 201-point scale.
The eNPS is a summary measure. It can help organizational leaders quickly gauge the overall level of advocacy expressed by employees. It sorts individuals into three groups:
eNPS measures responses to the question, “How likely is it that you would recommend [your organization] as a place to work?” on an 11-point scale from zero to ten. A zero equals “would not consider recommending” and a ten equals “would absolutely recommend.”
Those who respond with nines and tens are Promoters, while sevens and eights are Passives, and zeroes to sixes are Detractors.
To compute the eNPS score, just subtract the percentage of Detractors from the percentage of Promoters.
eNPS = % of Promoters - % Detractors
eNPS ranges from -100 (all Detractors) to 100 ( all Promoters). An equal distribution of Promoters and Detractors would yield a score of zero.
There seems to be general agreement on what makes a good eNPS. According to O.C. Tanner, for example, an eNPS in the range from 10 to 30 is generally considered good. A score above 50 is excellent. Above 70? Stratospheric!
The Perceptyx benchmark database, which collects Employee Experience (EX) data from more than 15 million employees in global organizations, reports that the global eNPS benchmark rose to 14.9 in 2022 — up from 13.8 in 2021. This aligns with other reports that place the average eNPS at 14 across all companies collecting employee data that measure eNPS.
Such a number may at first appear low. However, it’s important to remember that any positive number is good news. A zero indicates an even split between enthusiastic and dissatisfied employees.
The eNPS score is the difference between the proportion of Promoters and Detractors. All organizations, especially large ones, are bound to have plenty of both. These numbers indicate that a healthy majority of Perceptyx customers’ employee responses are Promoters.
eNPS scores vary widely across industries.
Variation is also apparent when comparing country-level scores or those representing different job classifications. Finally, variation is most apparent within organizations at the division or function level.
One last point to consider is that eNPS scores tend to be more favorable than customer-oriented NPS scores. There are many possible reasons for this. Whereas customers may return to certain organizations for goods and services, employees return each day for work. This may represent a greater investment in the organizations on the part of employees compared to customers and therefore encourage more positive responses among them.
There are several benefits of measuring eNPS:
Simple is a strength — until it’s not. There are a few drawbacks to using the eNPS. These include:
Knowing your Employee Net Promoter Score is an important first step toward improving employee satisfaction and engagement. Here's how you can proceed once you have that information:
Engage Detractors, but Focus on PromotersBy using eNPS effectively, you can create a positive work environment where employees feel valued and heard. Employee voice is a leading indicator of many change management initiatives and also informs the success of such endeavors. All measurements should become a part of an integrated and holistic listening strategy.
The Perceptyx People Insights Platform is optimized to accurately process and report eNPS data. Our consultants can help your company incorporate eNPS data into an employee life cycle survey program with an analytics engine that allows you to collect data easily and report on it instantly. Get in touch and let us show you how eNPS can help your organization see the way forward more clearly.