How to run an eNPS survey in a 20-person company

To run an eNPS survey in a company of 20 people, ask one question, add one open comment box, tell the team how answers will be used, and send it every three months. Share what you learned and change something within two weeks.

What eNPS is

eNPS is employee Net Promoter Score: customer NPS with employees as the audience. The standard wording from tinyteam is: "On a scale of 0 to 10, how likely are you to recommend Company Name as a place to work?" Keep the wording fixed, the guide says, so scores stay comparable. ¹

Answers sort into three groups:

• Promoters answered 9 or 10.
• Passives answered 7 or 8.
• Detractors answered 0 to 6.

The score is the percentage of promoters minus the percentage of detractors, from -100 to +100.

A worked example with 20 people

Fernhill Labs has 20 people. Sixteen answer: 7 promoters, 6 passives and 3 detractors (made-up numbers).

The score is 43.75 minus 18.75, which is +25. The response rate is 16 out of 20, or 80%.

Each answer is worth 6.25 points (100 divided by 16). If one promoter had been a detractor, the score would be 12.5 points lower. The tinyteam guide says a single response can move a small company's score by 5 to 10 points, and suggests following the trend over three or four rounds.

Step 1: Decide what you will do with the answers

1. Who will read the answers? Write the names down.
2. Will the survey be anonymous? Choose one and stay with it.
3. What will you do with the result? Promise only that.

The tinyteam guide cites research that says anonymity raises honest participation, and suggests a separate tool for teams under 15, so answers cannot be traced.

In a team of 20, anonymity is hard to keep: a comment that mentions "the Friday release" points to a few people.

Pulseri links each answer to the person who received the survey, so you can follow up with someone who is struggling. It has no anonymous mode. If that does not suit your team, pick a tool that has one. If it does, say so in your announcement.

Step 2: Announce it in plain words

Before the first survey, send a short note that covers:

• Why you are asking.
• Who sees the answers, and whether names are attached.
• How long it takes. The tinyteam guide puts an eNPS survey at under one minute.
• When people will hear back.

A note to copy:

Next Tuesday you will get one question about how it feels to work here. It takes a minute. Your answer is linked to your name, and only Maya and Tomas will read it. By month end we will share what we heard and what we will change.

Step 3: Write the survey

Keep it very short:

1. The standard 0 to 10 question.
2. One open question, such as "What is the main reason for your score?"

The Polly guide recommends one open question like this and says you can drop it for a shorter survey. ² The tinyteam guide says to use no more than one or two follow-ups. With 20 people you can read every comment, so comments beat extra questions. To learn about workload, pay or management, run a separate short survey later.

Step 4: Pick a rhythm and a day

The tinyteam guide suggests every six months for 5 to 15 people and quarterly for 15 to 50. A team of 20 fits quarterly. It also says to run it mid-week, around 10 in the morning, in the same week each time. That is one company's advice, so pick a time your team is at their desks.

Our guide on asking for feedback without annoying people covers gaps and fatigue.

Step 5: Read the results

Read in this order:

1. The response rate. If only 8 of 20 answer, the score describes 8 people.
2. The comments. Group them by theme, such as workload, communication or growth.
3. The score. Write it down as your baseline, whatever it is.
4. The groups. A split by team can leave three or four people in a group. Do not show groups that small.

The tinyteam guide cites Perceptyx research for an overall eNPS of about 12, and says other studies put the average at 14. Your own trend matters more.

Step 6: Act within two weeks

The tinyteam guide recommends sharing results and actions within two weeks.

A good follow-up has three parts:

1. The result. The score and the response rate.
2. What you heard. Two or three themes. Quote comments only with permission.
3. What you will do. One or two changes, who owns them and when you will report back.

Polly suggests sharing results where the team already reads, such as a Slack channel, and asking for ideas when the score drops.

What to do with detractors and passives

A detractor answered 0 to 6. Reach out soon. A quiet one-to-one chat works better than a group meeting. Ask what would need to change.

Passives answered 7 or 8. They are easy to forget. Ask what would make the answer a 9 or 10. Replies often point to small things. Each move counts the same: one detractor who becomes a passive, or one passive who becomes a promoter, changes the score by 100 divided by the number of answers.

Common mistakes

• Changing the question each time. Keep the wording fixed.
• Reading too much into one round. With 16 answers, noise is big.
• Asking and not acting. People stop answering.
• Mixing audiences. Never average employee and customer scores.

Where Pulseri fits

A form and a spreadsheet can run all of this. A tool helps with a schedule and with getting a low score to the right person quickly.

In Pulseri, you add your team as employees and send eNPS on a schedule, such as every quarter. Employee surveys only reach employees, and their answers never appear in customer reports. By default nobody gets a relationship survey more often than every 90 days. A rule such as "score 5 or lower" can send an alert to your people lead in Slack or Microsoft Teams.

See employee feedback surveys.