Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS)

2025-09-21 12:12

Employee net promoter score is a useful metric for assessing an organization’s employee engagement. It measures how likely your employees are to recommend your organization as a good place to work to their friends or family.

The metric offers a glimpse into how happy and satisfied your employees are and the likelihood of them staying and promoting your company to others.

In a recent Gallup survey, companies with a highly engaged workforce are 21% more profitable and 17% more productive than those with disengaged peers. This illustrates the importance of understanding your employees’ engagement and identifying potential problems before they impact business profitability.

eNPS vs. NPS

eNPS mirrors NPS, an approach used to evaluate customer loyalty and satisfaction by asking customers how likely they are to recommend a company’s products or services to their family and friends. Though eNPS and NPS assess the satisfaction rates of different groups, scores are usually correlated.

An organization with high eNPS is likely to also have high NPS because, oftentimes, happier employees are more likely satisfied with their jobs and are therefore more willing to provide a better service to their customers.

Why should you measure eNPS?

The eNPS score can indicate your employee engagement levels quickly, so you can take action immediately.

Using it to measure your employees’ thoughts and feelings about working for your company has both its advantages and disadvantages:

Advantages of employee net promoter score (eNPS):

Ease of use: It doesn’t take employees too much time and effort to complete.
High participation rates: Because the eNPS is quick and easy to answer, you can expect 100% of your staff to answer the survey.
Quick action: eNPs survey data can also be collected and analyzed fast, so sharing results and drawing up the action plan can be done sooner. The immediate response allows for addressing issues promptly before they escalate.
Genuine feedback: The response to the question ‘how likely the employee is to recommend the company as a place of work’ accurately reflects employees’ sentiments about their employer. Individuals can answer the survey anonymously, making them more likely to be upfront about their work satisfaction and dissatisfaction.
Continuous measurement of employee engagement: Since the eNPS survey is quick to deploy, you can conduct it more frequently, allowing for effective and ongoing employee engagement monitoring.

How can you measure eNPS?

Here are the steps to follow when conducting and measuring your eNPS:

Step 1: Conduct a survey

HR can use a standardized eNPS questionnaire that asks employees to rate the likelihood of recommending their company on a scale of 0 to 10, with 0 being “not at all likely” and 10 being “very likely.”

Step 2: Categorize responses

Once the survey is completed, HR should categorize employee responses and calculate them (this will be discussed in the section after this).

Step 3: Analyze the results

Once eNPS has been calculated, HR should analyze the results and identify areas for improvement. It can involve looking at trends over time, comparing eNPS scores across different teams or departments, or using open-ended survey responses to identify specific issues that need to be addressed.

Employee net promoter score calculation

eNPS is calculated with the employees’ responses on a scale of 0-10 divided into three categories:

Promoters: Employees who gave a score of 9 and 10, which means they are happy and satisfied with your company
Passive or Neutral: Employees who gave a score of 7 and 8, which means they’ll either promote the company or say something bad about it
Detractors: Employees who gave a score between 0 and 6, which means they are dissatisfied and unhappy with the company

Then, look into the number of employees in each category and their share of the total.

The formula for calculating Employee Net Promoter Score is:

What is a good employee net promoter score?

Employee net promoter score can range from -100 to 100. eNPS scores between 10 and 30 are considered ‘good,’ while those between 50 and 70 are considered excellent. An above 80 eNPS score is likely in the top percentages in almost any industry.

Anything above zero is deemed an acceptable score, which means an equal split between Promoters and Detractors. The only thing to be conscious of is if you have too many Detractors compared to Promoters.

What’s more important than a ‘good’ score or a negative score is that your current score is higher than your previous records. Or at least maintain an acceptable or good score.

Benchmark your organization’s current eNPS scores with previous performance. Comparison of scores over time can help you spot trends in how employees feel about your organization. There could be peaks and valleys in your eNPS scores due to different business priorities and events. Benchmarking your scores can help you analyze the other factors that impact your score, so you’ll know the areas you need to enhance.

How to improve employee net promoter score

When you have low eNPS scores, here are strategies you can use to raise them:

Discover the possible reasons for low ratings. Conduct meetings or email follow-up questions. Ask what management can do to help promote the company as an ideal workplace. Follow-up questions can also help to determine why employees are dissatisfied with the company. Make employees feel that the company is genuinely interested in hearing their suggestions to improve the working environment.
Conduct regular employee feedback surveys: Conducting regular employee feedback surveys is one of the best ways to assess employee satisfaction and engagement. Surveys help HR teams identify specific areas of the organization that need improvement, such as training, communication, leadership, and work culture. It’s important to share the survey results with the organization and communicate any action plans to address the issues.
Take action on survey results: Based on the outcome, implement actions to address employee feedback. For example, if many respondents desire career advancement, boost your company’s learning and development initiatives. Explore different training delivery methods like mentorship or job rotation on top of classroom and virtual training.
Foster a positive workplace culture: A positive workplace culture is key to high employee satisfaction and engagement levels. HR teams can create a positive culture by communicating positive messages, recognizing employee achievements, celebrating milestones, promoting work-life balance, and offering wellness programs. When employees are happy and engaged, they’re more likely to recommend your organization as a great place to work.
Provide competitive salaries and benefits: Providing competitive salaries and comprehensive benefits packages is an essential factor in employee satisfaction and loyalty. HR teams should conduct regular salary reviews to ensure that salaries are competitive and benefits packages are attractive to employees. Offering benefits such as healthcare, retirement plans, and paid time off shows that your organization values its employees’ welfare and contributes to a positive eNPS score.
Invest in employee training and development: Employees want to work for organizations that offer opportunities for career growth and development. HR teams can invest in employees’ training and development by offering access to online courses, mentorship programs, and job shadowing opportunities. Investing in employees’ learning and development helps increase engagement and job satisfaction levels, resulting in higher eNPS scores.
Communicate effectively: Effective communication is essential to maintaining a positive work culture and keeping employees engaged. HR teams should communicate openly and transparently about company updates, changes, and policies. Regular communication helps employees feel connected to the organization and included in important events and decisions.

Employee net promoter score (eNPS) questions

To fully understand why an employee is recommending or not recommending the company to their friends and family, you should ask follow-up questions. These questions should be open-ended to receive qualitative data supporting their scores.

Here’s a list of questions to include in your eNPS survey:

What’s the reason for giving that score?
What can we improve as an employer?
What is one thing you like most about this company?
What prevents you from recommending this company to your friends and colleagues?
What is the biggest challenge you’ve experienced in this company?

👉🏻 Free employee net promoter score (eNPS) template

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