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| It gives employee feedback on acceptability of work environment. |
One simple question can give companies an insight into their organisational culture, employees’ perception and acceptability of the company and managers amongst the employees.
The question is very simple and direct: On a scale of zero
to ten, how likely is it that you would recommend this company as a place to
work?
NPS (Net Promoter System) gives the company a picture of
how customers show their loyalty to the company and its products. However,
employee-NPS provides feedback of the employees as to how they feel about the
company and if they will recommend it to their friends or not.
Employees’ answers are parked into three categories:
Promoters, Passives and Detractors. Those who give 9 or 10 scores are taken as
promoters of the company.
Less than 6 means the employee is a detractor. Both the
types (promoters and detractors) are vocal about the company and create good or
bad word of mouth for it. Passives are not vocal but they can be easily
influenced by any of the two sides.
In eNPS, the role of promoters and detractors is far more
significant than the passives as eNPS is not about employee satisfaction only.
It is more about recommendation.
The question wants to know if the employee is
enthusiastically promoting the company or he is just okay with the days he is
spending at his workplace. There is a grey area between satisfaction and
recommendation. When someone talks about his satisfaction, he tends to
compromise on many grounds to ensure his job security.
A satisfied employee may like the salary but dislike the
environment or vice versa. However, when someone talks about recommendation, he
actually keeps his company’s culture, brand name, environment, perks and
benefits, and many other intangible things in mind while introducing it to
others.
He would never like a potential candidate or his friend to
feel disappointed about the company he specifically recommended. Above all, the
subsequent question, “Why would you recommend/not recommend your company as a
place of work?” can highlight the real issues that employees consider the most.
If a company’s internal stakeholder is not recommending it
to the external customers as a workplace, then the management must know that
the damage has already been done and they need to work on findings of the eNPS
survey right away.
Products and services
Through eNPS, companies can also get their employees’
input on the products and services they offer to their customers. Customer care
and sales departments have direct interaction with the customers. They usually
use the product first and then recommend it to their customers, friends and
colleagues. There are a lot of products which are not liked by the frontend
staff as they feel that the products are not user-friendly.
Their customers will come back with complaints and these
would eventually harm their own repute so they remain hesitant in recommending
it to others.
Companies must get the eNPS done periodically, especially
about the most critical products. To evaluate products or services, eNPS
suggests one question: “How likely would you recommend this company’s products
or services to a friend or colleague?”
Above all, what fears the companies most is another
million-dollar question, which is, “How likely would you recommend your line
manager to a friend or colleague?” This question helps the management reach a
productive decision by asking another subsequent question as to why the
employee would or would not recommend the line manager to their friends or
colleagues.
This can actually highlight the manager’s acceptability
amongst his subordinates. Moreover, it helps the managers find areas to
improve. On the results of eNPS, they can revisit their policies, relationship
and attitude with their peers.
To get best results of the eNPS survey, companies must
ensure that most of the employees attempt the survey with the trust that their
responses will be kept confidential so that they do not face any undue pressure
from the line management and above all, their actual issues get addressed.
If there are more silent (not passive) employees than
those who attempted the survey, then the company must revisit its policies as
lack of interest in attempting the survey shows that employees are either
hopeless and believe that the company does not value their input or they feel
threatened and prefer to avoid it instead of attempting it.
A satisfied and happy employee is more likely willing to
create promoters for the company. He influences his colleagues, friends and above
all customers who will eventually generate more revenue and more promoters.
The article was published in Daily Tribune on 6th April 2015.
