An employee net promoter score, or eNPS for short, might seem like a complicated statistic. However, it’s pretty simple. 

An eNPS is based off a single anonymous question asked to employees: How likely are you to recommend your company as a place to work on a scale of 0 to 10? 

Once responses are received, they get sorted into three categories: 

  • Promoters: individuals who scored nine to 10 
  • Passives: individuals who scored seven to eight 
  • Detractors: individuals who scored six or lower 


After responses have been sorted into these categories, a score can be created. An eNPS is based on a scale of -100 to +100. Any score below zero is in need of improvement, while scores +10 are considered good and above +50 are excellent. 

We view employee engagement as an important indicator of the overall health of the organization.”

Jason Lipsett

President & CEO, Geiger

In the branded merchandise industry, you might think a net promoter score or NPS score is more important than an eNPS.  

  • An NPS is the same as eNPS except that it’s based off how likely a customer would recommend a product, service or company to a friend.  


However, an eNPS is just as important for a successful business as NPS, if not more so. After all, if your employees are unhappy, chances are your customers are, too.  

‘Valuable Insight’

Based on 2026 PPAI 100 survey results, prioritizing employee net promoter scores is becoming a trend in the branded merch industry.

“We view employee engagement as an important indicator of the overall health of the organization,” says Jason Lipsett, president and CEO of Charles River Apparel, PPAI 100’s No. 42 supplier. “It gives us valuable insight into what’s working, where we have opportunities to improve and how we can continue building a stronger company.” 

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According to the employee engagement survey conducted by Charles River Apparel, employees were nearly twice as likely to report feeling more positive about working there compared to one year ago. Additional statistics include: 

  • 93% of employees reported understanding the company’s mission and values. 
  • 84% indicated they feel comfortable seeking help from colleagues within their department.
  • 73% reported being optimistic about the company’s future (with no negative responses).
  • Nearly 80% of employees agreed that their department manager is invested in their success and career development. 


“Those insights help strengthen communication, invest in leadership development, create greater clarity around where the business is headed and continue improving the overall employee experience,” says Lipsett, a 2024 PPAI Rising Star.

‘We Don’t Want To Rest On Our Laurels’

Emily Piechowski, HR manager at Storm Creek, PPAI 100’s No. 28 supplier, began conducting surveys quarterly and then every six months to calculate eNPS.  

As a company using an entrepreneurial operating system, data like an employee net promoter score is helpful for checking the pulse of company growth, according to Teresa Fudenberg, owner and CEO of Storm Creek. The standardization of eNPS makes it particularly helpful, Fudenberg says, because you can learn from your own company’s scores as well as from other companies’ scores. 

  • Storm Creek shared with PPAI an eNPS score of +37.


While eNPS can reveal the general happiness of employees, it doesn’t tell you how to improve. That’s why the Minnesota-based firm conducts stay interviews. Rather than only hearing feedback from employees when they are hired or when they leave, Storm Creek seeks direct feedback on how things can be improved more frequently.  

After a good eNPS score, “We don’t want to rest on our laurels,” says Fudenberg. “We want to dig in, so that’s what the stay interviews are for.” These interviews allow the leadership team to receive feedback and consider how to improve the employee experience and, in turn, improve the customer experience. 

It’s cool to be able to really feel like your voice matters and that leadership and HR actually care about what you have to say.”

Chloe Ward

Marketing Manager, Storm Creek

“We call our customer service team the CX team, which is customer experience. It’s clear that EX, the employee experience, equals CX. Good EX equals good CX,” says Fudenberg. 

Another element of employee happiness that was discovered through the stay interviews, Fudenberg adds, is that employees want to hear about wins. Whether these are individual accomplishments or companywide milestones, hearing about and celebrating each other’s wins is important for creating a stronger sense of community.

Fudenberg also emphasized the importance of transparency. Storm Creek prioritizes sharing details about revenue and other company goals, which has helped increase the feeling of connection between employees and created a safe environment for sharing feedback through forums like the stay interviews. 

“It’s cool to be able to really feel like your voice matters and that leadership and HR actually care about what you have to say, and they care enough to then put action behind some of the feedback,” says Chloe Ward, marketing manager at Storm Creek. 

An eNPS might just seem like one number but it reflects something much bigger. Prioritizing company culture and employee happiness is crucial for a successful business.

Charles River Apparel declined to share its eNPS.