Four Metrics for Evaluating Workplace Experience

Whether your company has a robust workplace experience program, or you are in the early stages of developing one, the following are four metrics that have become even more vital in a post-COVID-19 workplace to evaluate the program’s impact and effectiveness:

1. Net Promoter Scores

ISS uses an Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS) to measure employee loyalty and satisfaction. The eNPS measures employee’s willingness to recommend their workplace to family and friends.

Various studies have concluded that employee experience is a strong predictor of outcomes such as productivity, efficiency, customer focus, service quality, and profitability.

In addition to eNPS, ISS uses a Customer Net Promoter Score (cNPS) to measure customer loyalty—specifically whether or not a company’s stakeholders would recommend it to others. The cNPS is an index that ranges from -100 to 100. It is used as a proxy for gauging the client’s overall satisfaction with a company’s product or service and the client’s loyalty to the brand.

ISS has validated a correlation between a company’s eNPS and its cNPS – see Figure 1. The data shows that companies that receive high marks for employee satisfaction also tend to receive high marks for client satisfaction. At a practical level, this makes sense—engaged employees can positively impact service behavior and client experiences, which in turn can result in positive outcomes and eventually the bottom line.

2. Turnover Rate

This metric identifies the annual rate of employees who leave a company. The national average for turnover is around 7%—companies with lower percentages are doing well and those with higher percentages have room for improvement, especially because the cost of employee turnover can be significant.¹For example, the replacement cost of an employee making $45,000 per year is estimated to be $15,000—this is without factoring in impacts on employee morale or projects that are delayed as a result of the departure.²Moreover, employee turnover is 40% more likely to occur in an employee’s first year, underscoring the importance of focused recruiting and purposeful onboarding practices.³

The good news is that employers that actively work to engage their employees from the moment of hire can prevent 87% of the employees from leaving, according to a recent study.⁴Additionally, employee surveys and similar tools that demonstrate employee value by way of cultural, physical, and technological environments have proven to be effective means of increasing engagement.

Five ways to increase employee retention:⁵ 1. Right candidate hiring
2. Great first impression and successful onboarding
3. Employee engagement with workplace experience
4. Ongoing employee training
5. Competitive compensation

Top 11 reasons for employee turnover:⁵

Compensation
Lack of Flexibility
Work-life Balance
No Recognition
Benefits
Poor Management
Work Environment / Culture
Learning and Development
Meaningful work
Onboarding
Inadequate Technology

3. Absenteeism

Tracking absenteeism is another way to gauge whether an employee is happy, healthy, and performing effectively. Absenteeism can cost upwards of $3,600 per year per worker.⁶This not only costs the company money but also results in lower productivity and may indicate future turnover.

There are several reasons for absenteeism:

Bullying and harassment
Burnout, stress, and low morale
Childcare and eldercare
Depression

Disengagement
Illness and injuries
Job searching

These reasons can be mitigated with an effective workplace experience program. By benchmarking the absentee rate prior to implementing workplace experience initiatives, an employer can assess its impact on its employees’ engagement and wellness. Another best practice is to identify the root cause of the employee’s absence so that a reasonable accommodation may be made, or corrective action taken, to create and maintain a mutually gratifying and responsive workplace.

4. Productivity

Productivity can be measured through employee reviews, peer reviews, and other management assessments of employees’ performance. Mid-year and annual reviews should be designed to assess productivity and contribution based on individual job function.

Are tasks completed in a timely manner?

Are training programs used?
Does the employee take part in employee engagement activities?
Does the employee attend company social events?

Companies with a highly engaged workforce are 21% more profitable than those without.7

The review framework should provide insight into the impact of the workplace experience on their performance. Peer assessments should be part of every review and will inform a manager if the employee is collaborating and connected. The employer review should also allow the employee opportunities to suggest workplace improvements to ensure their individual needs are being met.

Companies that provide their employees with a vibrant workplace experience outperform the S&Ps 500 by 122%.⁷

Conclusion

Workplace experience programs require corporate commitment and employee buy-in. They also require goal setting, measurement, and tracking to ensure they remain effective for both the employer and employee. While there are operational costs to standing up and maintaining these programs, those costs are minimal compared to high turnover and low employee engagement.

References

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. https://www.bls.gov/
Work Institute. 2019 Retention Report.
Fast Company. What To Do During Your Employees’ First Week To Avoid Losing Them.
Qualtrics. 2020 Global Employee Experience Trends.
Access Perks. Employee Retention – 10 Reasons for Workplace Turnover and the Statistics Behind Them.
Dailypay. How Much Are Your Absent Employees Affecting Your Bottom Line.
Accenture. The employee experience as a competitive advantage.