Why does DX use the percent favorable scoring method?

DX uses the percent favorable method to calculate driver scores. This is a top-box scoring approach—an industry-standard methodology used in NPS, CSAT, and employee engagement surveys.

How it works

For each driver question, respondents select from a 5-point scale:

Response	Value	Counts as Favorable?
Always	5	Yes
Very often	4	Yes
Sometimes	3	No
Rarely	2	No
Never	1	No

The score is calculated as:

Percent Favorable = (Responses of 4 or 5) ÷ (Total Responses) × 100

Example

A team of 10 people responds to the driver “I feel confident making changes without accidentally breaking things”:

3 people answer “Always” (5)
2 people answer “Very often” (4)
5 people answer “Sometimes” (3)

Score: (3 + 2) ÷ 10 × 100 = 50% favorable

Why DX uses this method

1. Industry comparability

Benchmarks from other organizations use the same methodology. Using percent favorable ensures apples-to-apples comparisons.

2. Actionable insights

A score of 0% where everyone answered “Sometimes” tells you something important: this is a universal friction point where no one feels strongly positive. That’s a clear opportunity for improvement.

3. Distinguishes mediocrity from excellence

An average-based score would treat these two teams identically:

Team A: 50% “Always” + 50% “Never” → Average = 3.0
Team B: 100% “Sometimes” → Average = 3.0

Percent favorable reveals the difference:

Team A: 50% favorable (polarized experience)
Team B: 0% favorable (universal friction)

4. Measures true satisfaction

The goal isn’t “tolerable”—it’s “thriving.” Percent favorable only credits responses where people genuinely feel positive about their experience.

A 0% score in this case means nobody feels strongly positive about that driver—yet. “Sometimes” indicates room for improvement, not failure. The score helps prioritize which drivers to move from “tolerable” to “thriving.”

“Doesn’t this make scores look worse than they are?”

The scores reflect how many people have a genuinely positive experience. A low score on a driver where responses cluster around “Sometimes” or “Rarely” highlights friction worth addressing. Once improvements are made, you’ll see the score rise as more people move to “Very often” or “Always.”

“How should I interpret a score of 0%?”

A 0% score means no respondents selected the top two options. Look at the response distribution to understand why:

If responses cluster at “Sometimes,” it’s universal friction—an opportunity for targeted improvement
If responses cluster at “Never” or “Rarely,” it’s a more urgent pain point