Definition
Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS) is a single-question loyalty metric that asks employees how likely they are to recommend their employer as a place to work, on a 0 to 10 scale. The score is the percentage of promoters minus the percentage of detractors, ranging from negative 100 to positive 100.
Also known as: eNPS
How it works
Employees answer one question, usually some form of “How likely are you to recommend this company as a place to work?”, on a zero-to-ten scale. Following Bain & Company's Net Promoter method, answers of 9 or 10 are promoters, 7 or 8 are passives, and 0 to 6 are detractors. The score is the share of promoters minus the share of detractors. Passives count in the total but not in the subtraction, so the result runs from negative 100 to positive 100.
Bain describes eNPS as part of an ongoing feedback routine rather than an annual event: requests are short, feedback is kept confidential, and companies most commonly ask monthly. Many teams add a second item, such as agreement with “My job inspires me”, or an open-text follow-up, because the number alone does not explain the cause. Survey platforms such as Culture Amp also treat eNPS as one input next to a multi-question engagement index, since a single question is a less reliable measure on its own.
Example
A team of 20 answers the eNPS question. Ten people score 9 or 10, six score 7 or 8, and four score 0 to 6. Promoters are half of the team and detractors a fifth, so the team's eNPS is 50 minus 20, or 30.
How it differs from similar terms
Employee Net Promoter Score vs Objectives and Key Results. eNPS measures how employees feel about the workplace, whereas OKRs track the business outcomes teams are working toward. Used together, they show whether goal pressure is affecting sentiment.
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Frequently asked questions
How do you calculate eNPS?
Group answers to the 0 to 10 question into promoters (9 or 10), passives (7 or 8) and detractors (0 to 6). Subtract the percentage of detractors from the percentage of promoters. Passives are counted in the total number of responses but are not subtracted, and the result is reported as a whole number between negative 100 and positive 100.
What is a good eNPS score?
Any positive score means promoters outnumber detractors. Bain cautions that employee scores can be substantially lower than customer scores, because employees often hold their company to higher standards, so customer NPS benchmarks are a poor yardstick. Compare first against your own earlier results and against the same team over time.
Is 40 a good eNPS score?
It means promoters outnumber detractors by 40 points, which is a clearly positive result. Whether it is strong for your organization depends on the scale used, the survey method and your earlier scores, so the trend and the follow-up comments matter more than the single number.
What question does an eNPS survey ask?
The core question is how likely an employee is to recommend the company as a place to work. Bain reports that this “likelihood to recommend” question is the best predictor of retention, and that a second item, agreement with “My job inspires me”, adds a predictor of energy and enthusiasm.
How often should eNPS be measured?
More often than an annual survey. Bain's Net Promoter for People approach treats eNPS as an ongoing operating routine, and says companies most commonly request eNPS feedback monthly. Keep the requests short and share results quickly with team leaders so the feedback leads to visible action.
Should eNPS surveys be anonymous?
Yes. Bain says employee feedback must be kept confidential to encourage honest answers, which rules out the follow-up conversations used with customer NPS. Bain describes sharing the feedback with supervisors in a disguised form, as quickly and fully as possible.
Is eNPS a reliable measure of engagement?
Not on its own. Culture Amp notes that single-question measures are less reliable than multi-question indexes and recommends keeping a multi-item engagement measure for the main analysis. eNPS works best as a quick, comparable pulse alongside a fuller engagement survey.
What is the difference between NPS and eNPS?
NPS, created by Bain & Company, measures customer loyalty by asking how likely customers are to recommend a company to a friend or colleague. eNPS applies the same scale and arithmetic to employees, asking how likely they are to recommend the company as a place to work.
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