Lessons Learned from Schindler Elevator Corporation’s eNPS Program
When you step into an elevator today, look down. More than likely you are taking a Schindler product every day and don’t even realize it. That’s because the company is one of the leading manufactures of elevators, escalators, and moving walkways.
To keep you and I moving in the right direction, Schindler Elevator Corporation employs 60,000 employees in more than 100 countries. They also appreciate that companies with engaged employees tend to experience higher levels of retention, thereby reducing the significant costs associated with employee attrition.
That’s why for the past five years, the company has partnered with Satrix Solutions to develop and manage its employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS) feedback program for its US-Based employees. More specifically, Schindler wanted a reliable yardstick for evaluating a manager’s capability to create loyalty within their teams. As a result of adopting eNPS, manager performance is stronger, leading to a 96% “A” player talent retention rate.
You can check out their impressive success story here, but I wanted to also take this opportunity to share lessons learned and how your organization can successfully adopt Employee Net Promoter Score:
1. Establish Trust with Employees
For many organizations, launching an employee feedback initiative is a delicate endeavor. Do employees believe their feedback will lead to change? Can they trust that their honest and candid feedback will be kept confidential?
To help Schindler overcome any potential hurdles they faced, we authored a variety of communications, newsletter articles, and intranet banners, which Satrix and Schindler conveyed to all employees. The purpose was to illustrate that feedback could be given anonymously and to show that the survey will help managers develop into stronger leaders and create a better environment for their teams.
This decision has had a profound impact on Schindler’s ability to not only keep this program evolving and gaining more adoption within the organization over the years, but also provide leadership with the ability to keep their finger on the pulse of employee sentiment.
2. Listen and Act On Employee Feedback
After receiving feedback from employees, it is important to carefully review it and share anonymous insights with the right people. In the case of Schindler, this meant managers would need to understand their Employee Net Promoter Score and use this quantitative and qualitative feedback to modify behaviors that would have the greatest impact on employee engagement.
You can accomplish this by thoroughly analyzing the quantitative feedback, reviewing the written responses to the open-ended questions, and incorporating the results into the team dynamics.
Relying on our recommendations and best practice approach led Schindler to significantly increase its manager eNPS by sixteen percentage points in the second year of the program.
3. Commit to Continuous Improvement
What ultimately delivers success to your organization’s Employee Net Promoter Score program is a leadership-led commitment to continuous improvement. That means leaders should be ready to use employee input to address concerns, make improvements, and/or fuel innovations. When this happens, it establishes a greater level of trust with employees.
By investing in the continuous development and training of its people, Schindler has established an important competitive advantage that supports their ability to acquire and retain talent.