One of the biggest challenges as a leader is keeping the team together and people engaged in uncertain times or in situations that still throw up many unknowns, such as hybrid work or a multigenerational workforce. In such situations, you need tools that can help you find out what is happening in your team and why. That means you need honest feedback from your peers, and one tool that can help is the Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS).
WHAT IS EMPLOYEE NET PROMOTER SCORE (ENPS)?
The Net Promoter Score® is a tool that is traditionally used to measure a company’s customer loyalty. We’re talking about a two-question survey that asks, “How likely are you to recommend our company to others?” And then “What made you choose that score?”. It’s as powerful a tool as it is simple. Many of the world’s most respected brands, including two-thirds of the Fortune 100 companies use it.
As you create engagement between a customer and a company as well you cultivate engagement between an employee and a manager. Both are related to being well served. Are you responsive to my needs? Do you communicate with me clearly and transparently? Do you support my interests? Do I feel better after interacting with you compared to my past experience?
By implementing a similar type of survey within your team, ask your people how likely they are to recommend the company. You will get valuable insight into the level of satisfaction and engagement of your colleagues.
AN OBJECTIVE View AT EMPLOYEE NET PROMOTER SCORE
eNPS won’t replace one-on-one meetings with your team, but it provides essential information that can be difficult to know otherwise. Ask your colleagues this question: “On a scale of 0 to 10, how likely are you to recommend this company to friends/colleagues as a place to work?” and follow up with the open question “What made you choose that score?” This way you understand in measurable terms the loyalty of your colleagues and their qualitative feedback. Responses range from 0 (not at all likely) to 10 (extremely likely) and classify peers into three categories: promoters (9-10), passives (7-8), and detractors (0-6). Subtract the percentage of detractors from promoters to calculate eNPS.
A leader should ask himself: Am I creating promoters? Do I feel like I care about them? Are they supported? Or do they leave interactions with you feeling disappointed, perhaps unconvinced that they had your attention or that you took their concerns and suggestions seriously?
This way you will have a perspective to improve people’s experience, paying attention to communication channels, messages transmitted, work processes, and professional training opportunities. eNPS guides you to practically improve your company culture.
WHO ARE THE PEOPLE ON YOUR TEAM?
The eNPS survey will help you find out the approach of the people in your team:
The promoters
They are not only engaged in the workplace but have a positive effect on the morale of their colleagues. Because of this, you might risk ignoring them because everything “seems fine.” But you should find out if they are happy and if they work to promote your business. Insights gained from promoters can also be used to improve the engagement of other colleagues.
Passives
Their scores aren’t taken into account when calculating eNPS, but that doesn’t mean they can’t provide valuable information for you to consider. In some cases, their neutrality can be a red flag because they would have wanted to give a lower rating but chose to be nice and gave a higher one.
The passive category can be more critical than detractors because while detractors will openly share what is wrong, passives might adopt a “I don’t care” attitude. Open-ended questions will allow your passives to openly (and anonymously) share the real reason they gave a certain score.
The detractors
As Bill Gates said, your most dissatisfied customers are your greatest source of learning. This can also be true for your colleagues. Ask them why they gave a certain score and what you can do to fix it. Implement the suggested solutions. If ignored, detractors can easily turn into toxic employees who will affect the work environment.
ENPS Benefits
Employee Engagement
The survey engages colleagues in shaping the future of the organization. Basically, by asking them for feedback you show them that you appreciate them, listen to them, and take their opinion into account, which can significantly improve their level of engagement. Through the eNPS survey, you show that you, as a leader, and the company, emphasize transparency, approach situations with responsibility, and have a plan for continuous improvement, creating a sense of trust. Thus the employer brand gets a boost, showing an authentic and modern leadership style.
Team cohesion and better collaboration
By taking the initiative to learn eNPS you show that you support open dialogue and encourage team members to collaborate to identify and solve problems. And by discussing the results you can create a safe space for open communication, allowing people to learn from each other’s experiences and perspectives. This way you develop a stronger connection in the team and encourage the achievement of common goals.
improve peer retention
Colleagues with a low level of engagement are more likely to leave the company. A company pays up to 9 months of the former employee’s salary to recruit a replacement. In addition to the fact that the departure of the colleague is costly from a financial point of view, it has an effect on the morale of those who remain. They may have to handle a higher workload or have to take on tasks for which they are not qualified until the company has recruited a new member.
It’s short and easy
The eNPS can be found out by a single question and allows respondents to choose only one answer. Because the investment in time and people is low, companies will likely see a higher response rate than other surveys.
It’s cost-effective
eNPS is a much more affordable way to check employee engagement. It doesn’t require bringing in outside consultants to run it, nor does it require high software fees. In addition, it can be used repeatedly to measure the degree of satisfaction of colleagues with the company.
It’s anonymous
eNPS allows peers to answer honestly while remaining anonymous, and companies should take care to keep their eNPS tests confidential so people can answer without fear.
DISADVANTAGES ENPS CAN HAVE
Lack of a standardized measure
While an eNPS score can range from -100 to 100, there is no standardized measure of what is a good or poor score. 10-30 is considered good, while 50 is considered excellent. -10 is considered a poor score. Because of this, companies may not know how to react and instead, they look to other companies’ scores to gauge how they are doing.
How to overcome this situation: Set your own company benchmarks. Measuring against a competitor’s benchmark may not reveal useful results. For example, the location and average age of employees could be what makes your results look different from a competitor’s.
It’s too limiting
eNPS has only 2 questions. As a result, it has been criticized for being too restrictive a measure of people’s satisfaction with the company.
How to overcome this situation: To achieve meaningful results, schedule to measure the eNPS more than once a year. That way, you’ll see trends in people’s engagement throughout the year. Although it remains anonymous, it can reveal information about how employee engagement has changed from the time they were hired to now.
It doesn’t show why
The results show how engaged or loyal employees are, but not why. For this reason, the eNPS has been criticized for not having complete information.
How to overcome this situation: Associate eNPS with external ratings, satisfaction surveys, and performance indicators. Without losing the benefit of the method, you can add 2 or 3 additional questions. For example, to provide feedback on what the company can do to improve employee engagement.
HOW YOU IMPLEMENT THE SURVEY AND HOW YOU PRESENT IT
You can include the two questions that help you find out your Net Promoter Score in any team survey that probes multiple aspects of coworker satisfaction.
After the survey has been closed, present the data to your team:
- Discuss feedback during a meeting and encourage colleagues to come up with ideas to help improve the score and ultimately the people experience.
- Involve the team in agreed changes. This gives them a chance to use their skills to turn feedback into action
- Provide regular updates on project progress
- Initiate eNPS survey year and present results compared to previous years
You expect loyal employees to be more productive, have a positive impact on coworkers, and provide a better customer experience. That’s why your energy should be focused on measuring, maintaining, and increasing the loyalty of the people on your team using the ideas in this article.
Sources:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/williamarruda/2023/07/11/why-team-leaders-need-to-use-the-net-promoter-score-approach-with-their-people/?ss =careers&sh=1fd352ee30c7;
https://fortune.com/2021/11/04/personal-net-promoter-score-joe-picoult-watermark-consulting/;
https://inside.6q.io/employee-net-promoter-score-enps/;
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