How to read Favorability and why it differs from the score
In this article, you will learn how to read the favorability bar and how to turn it on in the screens where it exists. Above all, you will understand why the bar and the score are not calculated the same way.
In this article:
- What Favorability is
- How to turn it on
- Where it appears
- Why the bar and the score do not match
- Practical example
- Frequently asked questions
What Favorability is
Favorability turns the scores of your climate surveys into a simple view, inspired by the NPS model.
Instead of showing only an overall average, it shows a chart that splits all responses into three groups:
Group | Scores | What it shows |
|---|---|---|
🟩 Favorable | 8 to 10 | The percentage of responses that show genuine engagement and satisfaction. |
🟨 Neutral | 5 to 7 | The percentage of responses with a neutral perception, an area with potential for improvement. |
🟥 Unfavorable | 1 to 4 | The percentage of responses with a negative perception, critical points that need attention. |
On the screen, the bar legend shows the groups with the same ranges and colors: "1 to 4 Unfavorable" in red, "5 to 7 Neutral" in yellow and "8 to 10 Favorable" in green.
The main value of Favorability is to reveal what the average hides.
How to turn it on
Favorability is turned on with a toggle switch, an on and off button, on the Climate screen, where the climate results are.
The switch has no name and no tooltip. To find it, look at the header of the screen: it sits between the download button and the Variation selector, right next to a gauge icon with "75%". The "75%" is just part of the icon's design, not the name of the switch.
There is only one switch. When you use it, the Overall Engagement Average, the 10 Pillars of Employee Engagement, Factors & Questions and Segmentation of Smart Pillars all change at once:
- With the switch on, the values are shown as a favorability percentage.
- With the switch off, the values go back to being shown as a score from 0 to 10.
In Questions, it works differently: the bars appear as percentages with the switch on or off.
Where it appears
The Favorability view is available in the most important areas of the climate analysis.
Overall Engagement Average
With the switch on, the left side shows, instead of the score, a gauge from 0 to 100 with the favorable percentage. On the right, the Overall Score Favorability chart details how the responses are split across the three groups. The Favorable part of this chart has the same value as the gauge on the left. In the corner of the chart there are three view buttons.
10 Pillars of Employee Engagement
Factors & Questions
Questions
When you hover over a bar, a tooltip shows the percentage and the name of that group, in the same format as the legend (for example, "1 to 4 Unfavorable").
Segmentation of Smart Pillars
That way, the same visual language repeats across these five areas, which makes the data easier to compare and understand.
Why the bar and the score do not match
The bar and the score use the same responses. Even so, they tell different stories, because they are calculated in different ways.
In the Overall Engagement Average, the 10 Pillars of Employee Engagement, Factors & Questions and Segmentation of Smart Pillars, the switch alternates between the two: off, it shows the score from 0 to 10; on, the favorability percentage.
Favorability bar | Score | |
|---|---|---|
How it is calculated | Simple count: each response is worth 1 and falls into one of the three groups (favorable, neutral or unfavorable). | Recency-weighted average: more recent responses weigh more than older ones, within a 90-day window. |
A response from yesterday and one from 80 days ago | They are worth the same. | The one from 80 days ago is still inside the window, but its weight is very small. |
In practice, a score of 10 given 80 days ago is worth 1 whole in the bar and almost nothing in the score.
That is why it is normal to see the bar with a comfortable favorable percentage while the score has already dropped.
When this happens, it almost always means the same thing: the good responses are old and the bad ones are recent. The weighted average exists precisely to give this signal.
Practical example
The Sales team has 5 people, and all of them answered the same question about Leadership:
Person | When they answered | Score range |
|---|---|---|
Ana | 2 days ago | Unfavorable |
Bruno | 6 days ago | Neutral |
Eva | 10 days ago | Favorable |
Carla | 75 days ago | Favorable |
Diego | 82 days ago | Favorable |
Carla's and Diego's responses are still inside the 90-day window.
In the favorability bar (simple count), 3 of the 5 responses are in the Favorable group: Eva, Carla and Diego. That gives 60% Favorable. Bruno's response accounts for 20% Neutral, and Ana's for 20% Unfavorable. The bar looks reasonable.
In the score (recency-weighted average), Ana's and Bruno's low responses are the most recent and weigh more. Carla's and Diego's high responses, on the other hand, are 75 and 82 days old and weigh little. That is why the score ends up lower than it would be if all responses were worth the same.
In other words, the bar stays at 60% Favorable and the score is lower. Both values are correct, and the right way to read them is: "this team was doing well before, and the recent responses are getting worse".
Frequently asked questions
The bar shows a high favorable percentage, but the score is low. Is one of them incorrect?
Neither. When they differ, the explanation is almost always that the favorable responses are the oldest ones.
If both measure the same thing, why have both?
They answer different questions. The score answers "how is the group doing now?". The bar answers "how are the opinions distributed?". Use the score to follow the trend and the bar to find out whether there is a subgroup in a critical situation hidden behind a good average.
Does a response from 3 months ago still appear in the bar?
As long as it is within the 90-day window, yes, worth 1 whole. When it reaches 90 days, it leaves both views: the bar and the score.
Updated on: 06/11/2026
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