The best metrics for employee experience

Working on employee experience means your (HR) organisation must be data-driven. So…no choices based on gut feelings, personal expertise or hierarchy, but rather on hard numbers, and by following Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and taking baseline measurements – and follow-up measurements. These are the 5 best base metrics for your EX dashboard!

No single KPI can tell you all you need to know about the employee experience in your organization. For that you need a more extensive dashboard, and then you’ll learn more. Are employees engaged, enthusiastic, happy and productive? How strong and warm is the bond between employees and the organization? Have actions had the intended impact, and for whom? Are we on the right track? Achieving our goals? Subsequently, you can link the various data together, and also link it to customer metrics and organisational productivity. (Predictive) analysis and cross-analysis can be used to make data-driven decisions about employees.

These 5 metrics definitely belong in your employee experience dashboard:

1. Employee Net Promoter Score

A key indicator of employee experience is the extent to which employees are enthusiastic about the organisation and would recommend it as an employer. We measure this via eNPS, the employee Net Promoter Score. In answer to the question of what extent an employee would recommend their employer, he/she gives a score of between 0 and 10. We then distinguish between the promoter (score 9-10), the passive (score 7-8) and the detractor (score 0-6). The eNPS is the difference in percentages between promoters and detractors. To glean more information, you must keep asking questions about their given answer: for what reason did you give this score?

The current average eNPS score in the Netherlands is +12 (Integron, 2021). The score was -3 in 2020. The coronavirus period therefore had a positive impact on eNPS. The eNPS among top employers was much higher: between 50-70.

If for example an organization is 10% a promoter, 50% a passive, and 40% a detractor, its eNPS is (10% – 40% =) -30

2. Scores for happiness at work – employee satisfaction

There is a difference between measuring perceived happiness at work and employee satisfaction.
For employee satisfaction, we also ask questions ranging from those about salary, employment conditions, facilities offered and working conditions, to how the works council operates. Happiness at work on the other hand focuses on issues that transcend employee satisfaction, such as about meaning, pride, perceived appreciation, autonomy, growth, inclusion, collaboration and relationships with managers.

According to De Monitorgroep, a research agency, the score when measuring employee satisfaction is primarily based on initiatives from the organization. Happiness at work measures the score on initiatives from both the organization and employee. Questions about happiness at work are therefore formulated based on more active involvement and a shared responsibility.

Employee satisfaction

Happiness at work

The workplace environment is good.

I have sufficient trainings and educational opportunities.

My effort is appreciated.

In my team. there is usually a positive and optimistic atmosphere.

In my team, we encourage each other to keep learning.

In my team, we routinely give each other positive feedback.

In recent years organisations have started measuring more frequently and more extensively. Moreover, it is now customary to measure at least once per year, possibly followed by short pulse surveys. The average score in the employee satisfaction/happiness surveys is 7.4 (Integron 2021). Top employers score around 8.5 – 9.

3. Review score

When perusing employer review sites like Indeed, Glassdoor and Jobsome, prospective employees are looking for signs of trust. Is it a club I’d want to join? They eagerly read the tales that (usually former) employees tell anonymously about their employers. Review sites give an overall score, and also individual scores for culture, management, work-life balance, salaries and benefits, and career opportunities, while also showing how the scores have developed over time. If the score is not trending upwards, there’s still internal work to be done. If, on the 5-point employer rating scale, a score is below 3.5, it’s not a recommendation. Top employers score higher than a 4.

4. Voluntary turnover

The voluntary turnover in your organization reveals how much employees want to keep working there. Those who don’t leave, don’t need to be replaced, and so organisations are spared the time and money needed for recruitment and onboarding, and productivity losses. Organisations can much better spend this time and money on investing in and developing their current employees. You can use employee surveys to measure your employees’ intentions to leave the organisation.

It is not inconceivable that, owing to the coronavirus period, more employees will want to change jobs in the near future. During the first months of the coronavirus pandemic an average of 50% of employees stated that whether they decided to stay or leave depended on how their employer behaved during the lockdowns (source: Intelligence Group, 2020). However, the ‘Great Resignation’ that occurred in the US is not yet perceptible in the Netherlands. Organisations with good employee experiences have on average a 40% lower turnover rated compared to organisations where employees are less content (Gallup, 2019).

You calculate the voluntary turnover rate by dividing the average staffing level in a year (starting period + end period: 2) by the total number of voluntary leavers during that period.

5. Absenteeism

Absenteeism rates are a good indicator of the perceived employee experience. The need to call in sick is already a good indicator, and how an organisation subsequently deals with its sick employees determines to an even greater extent how employees value the organisation. Absenteeism is an indicator of working conditions, motivation, engagement, stress and work pressure, leadership and work-life balance, among other factors. Departmental understaffing often has a knock-on effect, and this is certainly true if – as in this tight labor market – no replacements can be found. A good employee experience leads to between 66% (Morgan, 2017) and 40% (Gallup, 2019) lower absentee rates. Organisations that really take steps with employee experience will see their short-term absenteeism rates decrease.

Absenteeism Calculation:

(Total number of calendar days absent) : (available calendar days of all employees) x 100