The questions behind the strain score
People are as default asked the first two questions.
If the employee's answers on the two default questions suggest that strain is potentially a real problem, they get two extra questions to improve our ability to detect and calibrate if their strain level is okay, a challenge, a concern og a problem.
Type | Question(s) | Scale |
Default | How often do you feel nervous or "stressed"? | 0 to 5 |
Default | How often do you feel comfortable solving your problems and challenges? | 0 to 5 |
Extra | How often do you feel that your interest or pleasure in doing things is low? | 0 to 5 |
Extra | How often do you find it difficult to cope with all the things you have to get done? | 0 to 5 |
This approach is to keep survey questions to a minimum unless the answers suggest we need to dive deeper into strain with a few extra questions.
People will not score problematic on strain, and get a strain notification, without answering the two extra questions. We use those for calibrating the score and assessing if this is truly a problem or "just" a challenge or concerning.
Despite the extra questions and added certainty, some people who receive the strain notifications don't feel they struggle with coping or feel overly strain, but keep an eye on them regardless. People are notoriously late to self diagnose.
Our algorithm for strain
We've developed a proprietary algorithm for strain, where the score's severity align with real world outcomes like poor well-being, increased absense or prolonged sick leave.
Our vision for measuring strain has always been to develop an early warning system for sick leave and ultimately burnout. We're super proud that stress is detected early in many cases (not all cases).
Logarithmic algorithm
The algorithm have a logarithmic nature, which means that a 4 is not just twice as high as a 2 but significantly more serious. We've found this approach increasingly helps the strain score correlate with the outcomes we aim to proactively warn about.
Strain's correlation to well-being and eNPS
It's normal to think that you can be under a lot or pressure but still thrive, but that is an exception to the rule. We clearly see that elevated strain levels correlate with decreasing well-being and low probabilities of being a promoter of the workplace.
Strain level (score) | Avg. well-being score * | Odds of being an eNPS promoter |
Problem (50+) | 63 | 16% |
Concern (40 to 49) | 70 | 23% |
Challenge (30 to 39) | 73 | 29% |
Okay (23 to 29) | 74 | 35% |
Good (16 to 22) | 76 | 47% |
Great (0 to 15) | 82 | 57% |
* Without including the mindful driver since the questions overlap with strain.
As you can see from the table above, well-being get's worse for every increased level of strain. People who have problematic strain very, very rarely thrive and generally don't
Classic misconceptions
"Some strain is good..."
Not within Zoios (at least not for the person with the strain). We only measure negative strain. But you can say: "Some strain is okay" or "Some strain is to be expected" - that is, of course, correct.
There are surely other ways of measuring or conceptualizing strain where some strain is good - because we measure positive strain. That is not the case here.
Not even the contribution or development drivers are on avearge doing better when people are more strained. It's tempting to think that people aren't stimulated, engaged or developing from challeging work if they have low strain scores, but they do.