Employee Satisfaction Measurement

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SEF Reference Guide G24  |  Manufacturing OpEx Maturity Assessment

What it is

Employee satisfaction measurement is how an operation finds out how its people feel about their work, and then acts on what it learns. It uses two kinds of data. Hard data comes from records: turnover, absenteeism, and what people say in exit interviews. Soft data comes from asking: an employee engagement survey run on a regular cycle.

Neither kind is enough alone. Turnover and absence tell you something is wrong but not what. A survey tells you what people think but, without action, teaches them that answering is pointless. PF-4 rewards the full loop: measure, act, and show the trend moving the right way.

“Satisfaction” and “engagement” are often used interchangeably. Strictly, satisfaction is how content people are, and engagement is how committed and involved they are. For this criterion, measure both with the same survey and treat them as one topic.

Why it matters

• Cost. Every leaver costs recruiting, onboarding, training, and lost output while the replacement learns the job. In skilled roles this is months of pay.
• Quality and safety. New and unsettled people make more mistakes and get hurt more often. High turnover shows up in scrap, complaints, and incident rates.
• Delivery. Unplanned absence leaves stations uncovered, drives overtime, and breaks the schedule.
• Improvement. People who feel heard bring ideas. People who do not keep them to themselves (see G17).
• Early warning. Rising absence and falling survey scores often come before a spike in resignations.

Key terms

Term	Meaning
Employee engagement survey	A structured, usually anonymous questionnaire measuring how employees feel about their work, leadership, and workplace, repeated on a regular cycle so trends can be tracked.
Turnover	Employees who leave during a period as a percentage of average headcount.
Voluntary turnover	Leavers who chose to go (resignations), excluding retirements. The part most influenced by how people are managed.
First-year turnover	Leavers with less than 12 months of service as a share of hires. Points at hiring and onboarding.
Absenteeism	Unplanned absence as a percentage of scheduled working time. A leading indicator of engagement problems.
Exit interview	A structured conversation or form with each leaver about why they are going.
eNPS	Employee Net Promoter Score. One question: “How likely are you to recommend this company as a place to work?” on 0 to 10. Percent scoring 9 or 10 minus percent scoring 0 to 6. Range minus 100 to plus 100.
Response rate	Completed surveys / employees invited. Low rates mean the results may not represent the workforce.
Minimum reporting group	The smallest group whose results are shown separately, so no individual can be identified. SEF uses 5.
Action plan	The two or three changes a team commits to after reviewing its results, with owners and dates.

How to do it

Part A: Hard data (monthly)

1. Define the formulas and stick to them.
   • Turnover % = leavers in period / average headcount in period x 100. Average headcount = (start + end) / 2, or the average of monthly counts. Annualize a monthly figure by multiplying by 12, or use a rolling 12 months.
   • Report total and voluntary turnover separately. Include temporary and agency staff only if you do so consistently, and state which.
   • Absenteeism % = unplanned absence hours / scheduled working hours x 100. Unplanned means sickness, no-shows, and unapproved leave. Exclude approved vacation, holidays, training, and approved leave.
2. Pull the data from payroll and time systems each month, by department and shift. Hand counts drift.
3. Run exit interviews for every leaver. Use the same short set of questions each time, held by HR or a manager outside the leaver’s own chain. Code the main reason (pay, supervisor, schedule, workload, career, personal, relocation).
4. Post the trend. Turnover and absenteeism by area belong on the information boards and in the monthly management report.

For reference, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported a lost worktime rate (hours absent as a percent of hours usually worked) of 1.6% for full-time manufacturing wage and salary workers in 2025, against 1.7% for all industries (BLS Current Population Survey, table 47). Compare your own figure with your own history first.

Part B: The survey (at least every 2 years, annually for Level 5)

1. Choose a short, stable question set. 20 to 30 items on a 5-point agree scale, plus eNPS and two open questions. Keep most items the same each cycle so trends are valid. Cover: the job itself, direct supervisor, safety, tools and resources, communication, recognition, growth, teamwork, and trust in site leadership.
2. Protect anonymity. Use an outside provider or a tool that separates names from answers. Report only groups of 5 or more.
3. Make it easy to answer. Run it on paid time, on the shift, with paper or kiosk options for people without company email, and in every language used on the floor. Aim for a response rate above 70%.
4. Share results within 30 days. Site results to everyone, team results to each team. Show the good and the bad.
5. Act. Each team picks two or three items to work on, writes an action plan, and posts it. Site leadership picks two or three site-wide items.
6. Report back. Three to six months later, tell people what changed because of the survey. This is what drives the next response rate.

Part C: Close the loop

1. Review together. Look at survey scores, turnover, absence, and exit reasons side by side each quarter. Where they point the same way, that is the priority.
2. Run structured projects on the biggest issues. Treat a people problem like any other: define it, measure it, find root cause, test countermeasures (see G05). Example: an A3 on first-year turnover in second shift.

What each maturity level looks like

PF-4 Employee Satisfaction

Level	Assessment wording	What it looks like on the floor	How to move up
1	No information on employee satisfaction.	Nobody can say what turnover or absence was last year. Leavers just stop showing up or hand in notice.	Set the formulas, pull 12 months of data from payroll, start exit interviews.
2	Employee turnover and absenteeism are measured, and exit interviews are held.	Monthly turnover and absence figures by area. Every leaver has an exit interview with a coded reason.	Plan and run a first engagement survey. Commit to acting on results.
3	As Level 2, plus an employee satisfaction survey is run at least every 2 years and actions are taken.	A survey has been run within the last 2 years. Results were shared. Team and site action plans exist and some have been completed.	Pick the biggest issues from survey, turnover, and exit data and charter structured improvement projects.
4	As Level 3, plus structured problem solving projects focus on employee satisfaction.	A3 or DMAIC projects are running on people issues (for example, shift pattern, supervisor skills, onboarding), with measures and root cause work.	Move to an annual survey. Track trends. Sustain the projects’ gains.
5	As Level 4, plus the survey is run annually and trends are good and stable or improving.	Annual survey with stable or rising scores and response rate. Turnover and absence stable at a good level or falling over at least 2 years.	Keep the cycle. Share what works with other sites.

Evidence to look for

Document

• Written definitions of turnover and absenteeism.
• Exit interview form and a summary of coded reasons for the last 12 months.
• Latest survey report with date, response rate, and results by area.
• Action plans from the last survey, with owners, dates, and status.
• Charters or A3s for projects on employee satisfaction.

Observation

• Survey results and team action plans posted in the work areas.
• Turnover and absence trends on the information boards.
• A visible change that came from the survey (a new break area, a changed shift rotation, a skills program).

Statement (questions to ask and who to ask)

• Operators: “Did you take the last survey? Did anything change afterward?”
• Supervisor: “What did your team’s results say? What are you working on?”
• HR: “What are the top three reasons people leave? How has that changed?”
• Plant manager: “What is your turnover and absence trend, and what are you doing about it?”

Management report

• Monthly people KPIs: headcount, total and voluntary turnover, first-year turnover, absenteeism.
• Survey trend across at least two cycles (needed to judge Level 5).
• Quarterly review that links survey, turnover, absence, and exit reasons.

Common pitfalls

• Survey and forget. Running a survey and doing nothing visible is worse than not asking. The next response rate will show it.
• Changing the questions every time. New questions each cycle mean no trend. Keep a stable core.
• Weak anonymity. Reporting groups of three, or a supervisor handing out and collecting paper forms, makes people answer carefully instead of honestly.
• Blaming individuals. Using results to punish a supervisor teaches everyone to game the next survey. Use results to find problems and support fixes.
• Mixing definitions. Counting temps one month and not the next, or including vacation in absenteeism, makes the trend meaningless.
• Only the office responds. If floor staff cannot easily take the survey, results describe the wrong population.

Template

SEF People KPI Sheet

(monthly, by area)

Field	Formula / notes
Month, area
Headcount start / end	From payroll
Average headcount	(start + end) / 2
Leavers, total
Leavers, voluntary	Resignations only
Turnover % (month)	Leavers / average headcount x 100
Turnover % (rolling 12 months)	Leavers in last 12 months / average headcount over 12 months x 100
Voluntary turnover % (rolling 12 months)
Hires in last 12 months / leavers with under 12 months service	For first-year turnover
Scheduled hours	From time system
Unplanned absence hours	Sickness, no-shows, unapproved leave
Absenteeism %	Unplanned absence hours / scheduled hours x 100
Top exit reasons this month	Coded

Survey Action Plan

(one per team)

Field	Entry
Team / supervisor
Survey date and response rate
Two strongest items
Two or three items to improve
Root cause (what the team says is behind it)
Action, owner, due date
How we will know it worked
Report-back date to the team

First 30 days

Week 1: Write the turnover and absenteeism definitions. Pull 12 months of data from payroll and time systems. Calculate the baseline by area.

Week 2: Start exit interviews for every leaver using a fixed form. Post turnover and absence trends on the boards.

Week 3: Choose a survey question set and delivery method. Agree anonymity rules and the minimum reporting group. Set the survey date and tell people what will happen with results.

Week 4: Add people KPIs to the monthly leadership review. If a survey ran in the last 2 years, dig out its action plans and report on their status.

Further reading

• Gallup, “Q12 Employee Engagement Survey.” https://www.gallup.com/workplace/356063/gallup-q12-employee-engagement-survey.aspx
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey definitions. https://www.bls.gov/jlt/jltdef.htm
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Population Survey, “Absences from work of employed full-time wage and salary workers by occupation and industry” (Table 47, 2014). https://www.bls.gov/cps/aa2014/cpsaat47.htm
• ISO 30414:2025, Human resource management: Requirements and recommendations for human capital reporting and disclosure. https://www.iso.org/standard/30414
• Reichheld, F. “The One Number You Need to Grow.” Harvard Business Review (December 2003). The origin of the Net Promoter Score. https://hbr.org/2003/12/the-one-number-you-need-to-grow