​eNPS - Three reasons to survey your staff

When we often talk about getting feedback and net promotor scores, it is about the customer experience and journey. eNPS takes the same concept but turns it inward to find out how employees think about their place of work.

What does eNPS mean?

NPS stands for Net Promoter Score and is widely used in the UK and globally as ‘the one score that matters’, having been featured in a Harvard Business Review, linking NPS and business success and profitability.

It is a straightforward metric which uses scores of 1 to 10 on a number of questions to give you an idea of what people think about your business, and the one final question, “… how likely are you to refer or recommend us…?”.

eNPS uses the same metric but can help understand employees' level of engagement and commitment, giving you an overall understanding of their happiness and satisfaction at work.

Here at C4S Search, we’ve been using this for a while, and with a significant impact on both employee retention and attraction – both improved by over 50% YOY! To work out your eNPS score, you will need to send your employees a survey with questions which can be rated on a 1 to 10 scale on the core elements that matter (we can help you here).

These questions can be broken down into specific areas to better understand different aspects of your business, including culture, opportunity, management, and whatever is essential for you to know as a business. 

Reasons to conduct eNPS:

It gives you an honest reflection on what employees think

Because eNPS is a score of 1 to 10 and should also be anonymous, it means employees feel they can be truthful in their reviews when answering questions without fear of repercussions for any potential ‘negative’ scores.

Getting everyone in the business to answer several key questions will give you a clear map of what areas are working and what is not. The higher level of engagement with the survey, the more reflective of the business overall will be.

This information can be valuable when looking at your employee value proposition and planning your priorities. The learnings from the survey helps businesses focus budget and attention in to the right areas.

You can find out what really matters to your employees 

Through key questioning, you can learn what it is that your employees value and need from your business in order to feel engaged. This is particularly relevant in this ‘candidate short’ market – attract the best and retain the best!

While you may be prioritising areas of the employee experience, your eNPS score can be a crucial indicator directly from your employees, without management influence, which creates a more honest picture of what your employees value and need.

Even questions which require a 1 to 10 scoring can be written to tease out the key things that matter to employees with the use of ‘narrative boxes’ – again, we can help you devise the way to solicit the most meaningful information to improve your business. The survey results can enable you to refocus your priorities so that you can deliver real value to your employees rather than guessing what matters to them.

You have a benchmark to measure yourself against in the future

Much like doing a customer NPS survey, an eNPS survey should be done every six months to help track improvements and employee happiness. By asking the same questions again every six months, you will see what areas have improved and what still needs work.

Access to the information eNPS surveys provides your business to continue developing and growing with your employees and demonstrates your long-term commitment to them.

An improving score is also an opportunity to promote your business when looking to hire. Being able to show how you have continued to improve and listen to your current employees shows commitment when people are considering working at your company.

How do you calculate an eNPS score? 

Once you have your results back, your employee's scores fall into one of three categories:

Promoters:Those who give the eNPS question a score of 9 or 10.

Passives: Those who give the eNPS question a score of 7 or 8.

Detractors:Those who give the eNPS question a score from 1 to 6.

Your eNPS score comes from subtracting the percentage of distractors from the percentage of promotors. Any which are classed as passive are not included.

What is a good eNPS score?

The score range for eNPS is from -100 to +100.

Red - between -100% and 0%: This is a severe warning that you must dedicate resources to your employee value proposition. Doing nothing can result in high staff turnover and more difficulties recruiting.

Amber - between 1 and +49%: While having a positive score is obviously better than a negative one, having a low positive score means there is still work to do to improve employees' happiness and fulfilment at work. Doing nothing could see your score to slip and require more work in the long run.

Green - Between +50% and +100%: This indicates a healthy organisation with engaged employees and uses it to attract the best talent when recruiting. It is vital to maintain and continue participating in eNPS surveys to ensure your employees stay engaged so that you can position yourself against your competitors as a preferred place to work.

There are key actions and drivers of improvement that follow.

Get in touch. to discuss the eNPS process, crafting the questions that really matter; ‘closing the loop’ and the action plan.

Great business will see a significant shift in people and business performance when harnessed correctly.