Many Comms and HR professionals are advocating shorter ‘pulse surveys’ rather than the more traditional, longer 50-100 question surveys these days. If you’re short on time and resource, and would like to use a proven metric to measure your employee engagement, then Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS) could be the solution for you.
What is eNPS?
eNPS is practically the same as Net Promoter Score® (NPS), which measures customer loyalty. The eNPS score is simple to calculate, and involves asking just one question on a scale of 0-10 to employees:
How likely are you to recommend working at *your brand* to a friend or colleague?
Respondents are clustered as follows:
- Promoters (score 9-10) love working for you, and are in it for the long haul.
- Passives (score 7-8) like working for you, but would go elsewhere for a better offer.
- Detractors (score 0-6) don't like working for you so much, and may share their displeasure with colleagues.
The score is calculated by: % Promoters - % Detractors = your eNPS
Scoring can range from a low of -100, to a high of +100. Be warned that scoring for eNPS is traditionally lower than for NPS as employees tend to have high expectations of their employer. The object should be one of continuous improvement where the focus is on turning detractors into passives and passives into promoters.
Why bother to measure employee engagement?
Many leaders advocate that if you look after your employees, they will look after the customers. Therefore, it is vital that you have an engaged workforce. The evidence from the likes of Harvard Business Review and Gallup is that companies with high employee engagement outperform those who don’t by around 20% in terms of profit and productivity. So, if your eNPS score is rather low, you obviously need to improve your employee experience.
Are you allowed more than one question?
It’s up to you. Some companies include further questions on the 0-10 scale, or ask open ended questions. This involves more work, though, so be mindful of your resource availability. Also, think carefully about how you will ensure the survey is confidential.