Attracting and retaining talent is a critical workforce issue today. When talent evaluates future employers, they place great importance on the employer brand. It is also proven that employer branding has a positive effect on retention.
To get an indication of their employer brand strength, organizations can use the Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS) metric.
Why should you measure eNPS?
A trend is to develop a strong employer brand that is credible, and from the inside out, reflects a sustainable organization. That work starts with employees' relationship with their employer’s brand, which eNPS simply and quickly indicates. If you measure eNPS with a modern employee survey, you can also look deeper into the details to understand what is working well and what you should change.
What is eNPS?
eNPS is a key metric for HR and management teams globally. It measures employee satisfaction and loyalty to understand how employees experience their workplace. The external equivalent is the Net Promoter Score (NPS), which measures how well an organization's services or products meet the customer's expectations. eNPS is measured on a scale of 0-10 and is based on the question:
"How likely is it that you would recommend the
organization as an employer to others?"
How is eNPS measured?
The eNPS question is asked anonymously to the employees who answer on a scale of 0 (Not at all likely) to 10 (Extremely likely). Based on the answers, the employees are divided into 3 categories:
- Ambassadors – This group is the most satisfied employees who often are both engaged and loyal. They are likely to spread a good reputation about the organization to others.
- Passives – Passive employees are pretty satisfied with their workplace. However, they may be susceptible to offers from other companies and thus change workplaces.
- Critics – The Critics are not satisfied with their current workplace, and there is a considerable risk that they will spread a negative image of the company when they talk to people in their environment.
How is eNPS calculated?
The measurement result for eNPS can vary between -100 to +100. It is calculated by taking the percentage of Ambassadors minus the percentage of Critics.
Formula
eNPS = % of Ambassadors - % of Critics
Example
If a company measures eNPS for all of its employees and 110 of them respond, the eNPS is calculated:
- 51 employees answer 9 or 10: (51/110)*100 = 46% Ambassadors
- 49 employees answer 7 or 8: (49/110)*100 = 45% Passives
- 10 employees answer between 0 and 6: (10/110)*100 = 9% Critics
46% Ambassadors and 9% Critics: 46 - 9 = 37 points
What is a good eNPS score?
If your organization's score is higher than 0, it means that more employees recommend your organization as an employer than those who actively discourage others. This means that an eNPS between 0-20 can be considered good, as you have more Ambassadors than Critics. An eNPS between 20-50 is considered very good, and an eNPS above 50 is extremely good. If the eNPS score is negative, between -100 and 0, then it is important to focus on raising it above 0.
The average eNPS score for benchmarking can provide valuable insights but also varies by industry and country. Therefore, it is better to focus on your organization's eNPS score and work to continuously improve it.
How can you improve your eNPS score?
eNPS is a good overall indicator of how employees thrive. However, it does not provide a sufficient basis for understanding why the measurement result looks the way it does or what you should do to improve it. Therefore, the eNPS question is best combined with additional questions that can be used to create a deeper understanding of the situation.
In order to improve the eNPS score, it is therefore important to:
- Complement the eNPS question with a few well-chosen questions that provide a deeper understanding of which areas should be improved to raise the eNPS score.
- Give employees access to the measurement results for the team they belong to for them to contribute with ideas and thoughts about improvement areas.
- Give managers tools and opportunities to lead constructive dialogues around measurement results and improvement in the team.
- Prioritize acting on the feedback discussed in the teams for employees to see that positive change is taking place.
- The lowest hanging fruit is to focus on moving Passives to become Ambassadors. Critics might need to be influenced by someone other than the employer, for example, Ambassadors.
The strength lies in knowing
By measuring your eNPS, you get a picture of how the employees view the organization as an employer. The measurement can easily be carried out and beneficially combined in a pulse measurement where you quickly understand the details of the organization's eNPS score. With the information, you know how to act to improve the eNPS score further to make it easier to attract and retain talent.
