Seven key metrics to track Employee Experience
“It all starts with being curious and humble; putting yourself in the shoes of your audience and going on the journey with them.” – Samara Johansson
Across many industries, the importance of knowing your audience is paramount, and this is no different in talent management. Understanding your audience, your people, and your team, gives insight into what’s working and what isn’t. With an unpredictable and competitive landscape, productivity, loyalty, and satisfaction are running low for many employees.
That’s why it’s time for all organizations who want to stay ahead of the curve to start taking employee experience, or EX, seriously. Spanning the entire employment journey — from the application process to interviews, onto daily tasks, and, eventually offboarding — EX is the sum of all facets of an employee’s journey with your company.
While it goes without saying that EX is an area all organizations should devote time and resources to, it’s also important that you have a way to measure and track just how well these efforts are impacting your team and your organization overall.
Here are seven key metrics to use to track EX at your organization, along with a few tips on how to implement them.
1. Satisfaction levels
Understanding just how satisfied your employees are is a big indicator on the overall employee experience. The satisfaction can be with job responsibilities, management, coworkers, work-life balance, benefits, or just the general workplace environment — i.e. is your whole staff freezing all day? High levels of satisfaction indicate loyalty and appreciation for the organization, which are also often correlated with higher productivity and longer tenure.
To measure satisfaction levels, there are a variety of options. With regularly conducted surveys and feedback forms, you can take stock of the entire organization at once and compile the data in a comprehensive, digestible way. It’s also a good idea to have one-on-one meetings and check-ins with departments or smaller groups. In those conversations, you can gather more qualitative information, while also showing the employees that you value their individual insights.
2. Employee Net Promoter Score
If your company hasn’t tried to find your Employee Net Promoter Score, or eNPS, it’s a simple metric that is great to share with prospective employees, shareholders, and other members of leadership. It’s another way to measure employee satisfaction and the likelihood of employees recommending the organization to others.
To find your eNPS, ask your employees to answer one simple question: On a scale of zero to ten, how likely is it that you would recommend working for our company?
Once the results are in, divide the responses into promoters (9-10), passives (7-8), and detractors (0-6). To calculate your eNPS with this data, follow this formula:
(Number of Promoters – Number of Detractors) / (Number of Respondents) x 100
Learn more about eNPS and its importance here.
3. Internal Referrals
Referrals from current employees for new talent from within their network to work at your organization are a valuable indication of a positive employee experience. Internal referrals show that your employees are happy with their experience on your team, and they come with a few benefits, too! Internal referrals often consist of quality hires of prescreened talent, a faster hiring process, and are cost-effective during the recruitment process.
To measure internal referrals, you can simply keep track of how many new employees come from referrals. To help encourage employees to bring in candidates, offer an incentive program. Don’t forget to survey both referring employees and referred candidates to keep your finger on the pulse of the referral process and address any concerns.
4. Employee Productivity
Happy employees are productive employees. According to Gallup, organizations with employees who reported positive employee experiences have 18% more productivity. A more productive workforce means higher revenue with less time needed to produce the work that makes your organization money, and, if properly managed, a better work-life balance for your team.
Measuring productivity can come in many forms, ranging from simply taking note of key performance indicators at the end of the month or quarter to implementing productivity tracking tools on company equipment.
5. Retention Rates
A loyal workforce indicates a positive employee experience. Employees who are happy and willing to stay with your organization in the long term are a sign that you are doing things the right way! With long-term team members, you’re saving money in recruitment costs and training expenses, as well as encouraging stable and improved productivity. Partnering organizations, shareholders, clients, and customers will also enjoy long-lasting relationships with individual team members. Longer tenure is also attractive to potential employees who are considering joining your organization!
Calculating your turnover rates and comparing those with your industry’s averages can help you understand if your retention is faring well among industry peers. To better understand why your retention rates are what they are, conduct exit interviews as part of your offboarding process to understand the areas for improvement in your employee experience.
6. Employee Absenteeism
While a work-life balance is important and should be a priority for every organization, employee absenteeism can be detrimental to other employees and the organization as a whole. There are valid reasons to miss work, like being sick or having a family emergency, but when employees are frequently absent without valid causes, it can impact the other employees and their team negatively due to the present employees having to take on the work of the absent ones.
Employee absenteeism also costs businesses $225.8 billion annually.
Be sure to maintain records of each employee’s absences and any patterns that may arise. It’s also important to implement wellness programs, sufficient PTO/vacation time, and provide adequate support to your employees to better prevent excessive absenteeism.
7. Recognition Frequency
Employee appreciation is a simple way to guarantee a better employee experience. Whether it’s thank you notes, a raise, or a pizza party, recognizing your team’s hard work is important. To make sure you’re doing enough, track the recognition events you put on and make a point of setting up reminders for monthly, quarterly, or annual recognition.
Measuring your organization’s EX is crucial for understanding, as well as improving, the workplace. By focusing on and implementing these 7 key metrics, your organization will gain valuable insights into your employee experience while identifying clear areas for improvement.
While implementing these metrics will help track your progress, it will also demonstrate a commitment to your employees, showing that you value and support them by taking pride in your employee experience. Higher levels of satisfaction, lower absenteeism, and stronger retention rates, which are all signs of a healthy employee experience, should come to your organization over time once these metrics are tracked and the appropriate adjustments are made. Continuously monitoring and bettering EX can foster a positive work environment that will make your team excited to come to work, boosting their productivity and encouraging their loyalty.
Put yourself in the shoes of your employees, ask for their feedback, and help create a better workplace for all, not only meeting their needs but helping them thrive.