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In a context where talent retention and employee experience have become priorities, companies are seeking to better understand how their teams feel. The eNPS, or Employee Net Promoter Score, is now one of the most widely used indicators to gauge the social climate. Simple, fast, and insightful, it reveals at a glance whether employees would recommend their company as a great place to work.
However, while useful, the eNPS is not a magic tool. A good score doesn't necessarily guarantee strong engagement, and a bad score doesn't always specify why teams are dissatisfied. It is a valuable indicator, but it must be supplemented with other analyses to be fully leveraged.
In this article, let's explore the definition of eNPS, how to calculate and interpret it, and most importantly, how to use it effectively without overestimating its value.
The eNPS is directly inspired by another well-known indicator: the NPS (Net Promoter Score), which was initially used to measure customer satisfaction and loyalty. In an HR context, it is applied not to customers, but to employees.
The idea is simple: ask employees to what extent they would recommend their company as a place to work.
The standard question is phrased as follows:"On a scale of 0 to 10, how likely are you to recommend [your company's name] as a place to work?"
This approach transposes the logic of recommendation, used to evaluate the customer experience, to the internal sphere of the company. It is a quick and intuitive indicator that provides an initial overview of the social climate.
If more and more companies are adopting tools to measure their eNPS, it is not just a passing trend. Here are the 5 key reasons behind this approach:
Companies want a synthetic and understandable indicator to quickly assess the internal climate. The eNPS provides a global overview of team satisfaction and perception.
Disengagement can be very costly due to absenteeism, turnover, or decreased productivity. The eNPS helps detect early warning signs before problems become critical.
It is essential to compare results from one period to another to measure the impact of implemented actions. The eNPS facilitates this tracking with a stable and simple indicator.
By seeking feedback from employees, the company shows that it is listening. This fosters trust, engagement, and strengthens the employer brand.
The eNPS is a widespread indicator that allows some companies to compare themselves to others in their sector or of their size. Even if each context is unique, these comparisons can provide valuable reference points.
The eNPS is based on a single question asked to all employees:
"On a scale of 0 to 10, how likely are you to recommend [company name] as a place to work?"
The responses are then grouped into three categories:
👉 At this stage, we are referring to the individual response scale, from 0 to 10.
"Passives" are not included in the score calculation. The following formula is applied:
eNPS = % of Promoters – % of Detractors
For example, if:
Unlike the response scale (0 to 10), the final eNPS score is expressed on a scale ranging from -100 to +100.
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There is no absolute standard, but here are some commonly used benchmarks for interpreting an eNPS score:
💡 What matters as much as the score itself is its trend: a steadily improving eNPS indicates a company that listens to its teams and is committed to a continuous improvement process.
The eNPS has several assets that explain its success:
For many organizations, it is an accessible first step in measuring the employee experience.
As useful as it is, the eNPS has its limits. It provides raw data but doesn't always reveal the root causes behind a high or low score. This can lead to incomplete interpretations.
Among its limitations:
To dig deeper, it is often necessary to add open-ended questions, such as:
These questions help to understand the drivers of satisfaction or frustration and to take targeted action.
A negative score is a warning sign. Before acting, you must understand why. Survey your teams with open-ended questions, preferably anonymously, and look for recurring themes: managerial relationships, communication, work-life balance, etc. The idea is not to react hastily but to build a targeted action plan.
Not necessarily. A positive eNPS is encouraging, but it can hide underlying issues. Even in a company where the majority recommends their employer, some employees may remain dissatisfied or disengaged. Continue to survey your teams regularly and gather qualitative feedback.
The eNPS doesn't tell the whole story. To move from a simple score to a genuine improvement process, here are some best practices:
💡 Tools like eBloom facilitate this process: you can connect your eNPS score to other key indicators, explore early warning signs continuously with anonymous micro-surveys like Click&Bloom, and manage your actions in a single, centralized HR environment.
The eNPS is a simple and powerful indicator for taking the pulse of your teams. It offers an initial view of the social climate and the likelihood of your employees becoming ambassadors for your company.
But it should not be used in isolation. For it to become a true lever for transformation, it is essential to supplement it with deeper analyses and targeted actions. Only then will it genuinely contribute to strengthening the engagement and loyalty of your talent.
Want to explore how to go further with eNPS? Discover how eBloom can help you turn your feedback into concrete actions by joining one of our introduction sessions.
From HR digitalization to AI integration and new employee expectations, the human resources sector is rapidly changing. Based on responses from over 450 Belgian companies, our report gives you a head start to prepare your teams and strategy for the realities of tomorrow.
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