How to calculate employee net promoter score

If you were going to ask just one question to understand your employees' experience, Employee Net Promoter Score (ENPS) is a great option. You know, we're all familiar with NPS from a customer perspective – but I think it's just as critical, if not more so, to measure how likely your employees are to recommend you as an employer.

Here's the thing – a lot of organisations actually know more about their customers than their own people. Isn't that mad? Your employees are the heart of your hospitality business so measuring their advocacy tells you so much about your culture and employer brand.

When you ask ENPS, you're essentially asking: How likely are you to tell your friend or family member, "Hey, there's a job at my company, you should apply"? That single number reveals your employees' pride, loyalty, and engagement in a way that other metrics just don't capture.

Calculating ENPS

Now, the way eNPS works is actually quite simple. You ask the question on a scale of 0-10, then group the responses:

• 9-10: Promoters – your advocates who actively recommend you
• 7-8: Passives – satisfied but unenthusiastic employees
• 0-6: Detractors – unhappy employees who can damage your brand

To get your final ENPS, just take the percentage of promoters and subtract the percentage of detractors. The result is a number between -100 and +100.

Example of Calculating eNPS

You surveyed 100 employees and got the following results:

• 45 Promoters (scores of 9 or 10)
• 25 Passives (scores of 7 or 8)
• 30 Detractors (scores of 0 to 6)

Step 1: Calculate the percentage of Promoters
Promoters (%) = (Number of Promoters ÷ Total Responses) × 100
Promoters (%) = (45 ÷ 100) × 100 = 45%

Step 2: Calculate the percentage of Detractors
Detractors (%) = (Number of Detractors ÷ Total Responses) × 100
Detractors (%) = (30 ÷ 100) × 100 = 30%

Step 3: Subtract the percentage of Detractors from Promoters
eNPS = Promoters (%) − Detractors (%)
eNPS = 45% − 30% = +15

So the final result in this scenario is +15

Benchmarking eNPS

In my experience, anything positive is good, but you really want to aim for +20 or above. Truly excellent cultures often score +50 or higher.

But you know, context is everything with ENPS. Scores from an anonymous survey will be different than scores where managers can see individual responses. Framing matters too – if you position it as an opportunity to improve versus a contest to "win," you'll get very different results.

The key is to benchmark against yourself. Look at your ENPS over time, drill down by department and location, and track how key events impact the score. That's where you get real insight.

Driving Conversations

For me, the magic of eNPS really happens in the follow-up conversations. When a manager sits down with a team member and asks, "What would make you more likely to recommend us? What would make this a 10 for you?" – that's where you unlock invaluable feedback.

You know, sometimes it's the little things, like not having enough teaspoons in the break room for example! But you'd never know that without asking. And once you know, you can empower your managers to actually make those changes. That's how you turn detractors into promoters.

The Power of Advocacy

At the end of the day, you want every employee to be an advocate. Because people trust people. Your employer brand is defined by what your employees tell their friends at the pub, not what's on your website.

Building a culture of advocacy – where your people are shouting from the rooftops that yours is a great place to work – that's how you win the talent war. And it all starts with regularly measuring ENPS and, most importantly, acting on what you learn.

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