Net Promoter Score (NPS) Explained

How does NPS work?

Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a concept devised by Fred Reichheld, Bain & Company and Satmetrix Systems. Originally developed for customer relationships, the concept was developed to measure Employee Experience and Employer Brand (eNPS). In the survey, only one question is being asked:
“How likely is it that you would recommend your employer to a friend as a company to work for?”

The reason this question is so effective in capturing Employee Experience (and therefore Employer Brand) is that by recommending something, we put our reputation at stake on this brand’s behalf.

The respondent is asked to rank their answer on a scale of 0-10. The result is then plotted on a scale from -100 to +100.

• A score of 100 implies that all respondents are promoters (100% NPS score of 9 or 10)
• A score of 0 implies a balance between promoters (NPS score 9 or 10), passives (7 or 8) and detractors (6 or below)
• A score of -100 implies that all respondents are detractors (100% NPS score of 6 or below)

Who are in the different groups?

• Promoters are loyal enthusiasts who will stay on as employees and refer others, fueling growth
• Passives are satisfied but unenthusiastic employees who are vulnerable to competitive offerings
• Detractors are unhappy employees who can damage your brand and impede growth through negative word-of-mouth

Subtracting the percentage of Detractors from the percentage of Promoters yields the Net Promoter Score, which can range from a low of -100 (if every employee is a Detractor) to a high of 100 (if every employee is a Promoter).

Further NPS Reading

• The Employee Experience White Paper Series - Most companies do not take a systematic approach towards Employee Experience management. In this 3-part White Paper Series, we explore which employee experiences have the biggest impact on the Employer Brand, and why it’s important to invest, measure, and manage them.
• Quantifying the Mobility Experience with Net Promoter Score (NPS) - Net Promoter Score is now the preferred metric of many major corporations and is rapidly increasing in popularity worldwide. Rolling out the NPS metric to employees and assignees using the eNPS methodology is the simple way of measuring assignment experience.