Part 1: New EEA EEI Index Uses Public Data to Evaluate People Management Effectiveness
A new index based on publicly available data makes it possible for management, investors, and other stakeholders to objectively evaluate how well public and private organizations convert employee, customer, and stakeholder engagement strategies into measurable financial and operational incomes. It may even point to future opportunities and risks that affect share price performance.Based on Public, Easily Available Information
Applications of the EEA EEI
The EEI: Components and Weighting
Suggested Preliminary AI Query
11 Industry Analyses Conducted by AI
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The Enterprise Engagement Alliance Impact Committee has announced the development and preliminary testing of the new EEA Enterprise Engagement Index ™ (EEI), a framework designed to help business leaders, investors, and analysts evaluate how effectively their organizations or public companies translate employee, customer, and stakeholder engagement strategies into measurable financial and operational outcomes.
The EEI is designed to be a S&P 500 index of companies based on how well they translate employee and customer investments into concrete value. It enables anyone to evaluate companies using a basic AI query provided below. The EEI does not identify how organizations achieve high scores. It is designed to help senior management and investors better understand how well the company is creating value through people.
ESM readers are invited to test the EEI on their own and to report any feedback to Bruce Bolger, EEA Founder, at Bolger@TheEEA.org.
Early cross-industry testing of the new EEA Enterprise Engagement Index found that companies with the strongest combination of profit per employee, operating margins, Human Capital ROI, and revenue growth frequently produced superior long-term shareholder returns or higher profitability within their industries, suggesting the framework may have value as an enterprise quality and organizational effectiveness indicator.
The preliminary study found that in seven of the 11 industries analyzed, the company with the highest EEI score also generated the strongest shareholder performance within its peer group over the same general period. The analysis covered industries including chip lithography, homebuilding, cruise lines, airlines, steel, banking, payments, healthcare, oil and gas, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics and toiletries. See ESM: Part 2: Preliminary Five-Year Analysis Suggests the EEA EEI Provides Strong Predictor of Profitability.
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Instead of utilizing customer or employee surveys, the EEI is based on the following financial criteria related to employee and customer metrics:- Revenue per employee (20%)
- Profit per employee (30%)
- Human Capital ROI (10%)
- Profitability to net income (net income ÷ revenue) (10%)
- Three-year revenue growth (30%)
Based on Public, Easily Available Information
Using publicly available financial data across 11 major industries—including semiconductors, homebuilding, cruises, airlines, steel, banking, payments, healthcare, energy, pharmaceuticals, and consumer products—a preliminary test of the EEI found that companies with the highest EEI scores frequently also demonstrate the strongest combination of productivity, profitability, growth, and, in many cases, superior shareholder performance relative to industry peers.
The same formula can be used by privately held companies using readily available data from their own accounting systems.
The preliminary findings, based on yet to be independently verified AI analysis, suggest that the EEI may provide organizations and investors with a practical new lens for assessing organizational effectiveness, stakeholder alignment, and long-term value creation by applying Total Quality Management (TQM) principles to people and engagement systems rather than relying solely on traditional financial metrics or employee survey data.
Among the key preliminary findings of the test of 11 industries and 32 companies finds that:
- Companies with the highest EEI scores often led their industries in shareholder performance, including ASML in semiconductors, Royal Caribbean in cruises, PulteGroup in homebuilding, JPMorgan Chase in banking, Merck in pharmaceuticals, and Procter & Gamble in consumer products. In even more cases, EEI leaders exceeded competitors in profitability.
- The study also found that organizations with stronger productivity per employee, profit per employee, and long-term revenue growth consistently achieved higher EEI scores regardless of industry, while companies with weaker profitability and growth patterns tended to significantly underperform both peers and the broader S&P 500.
Applications of the EEA EEI
Management can use the EEA EEI Enterprise Engagement Index as a practical operating diagnostic to better understand how effectively the organization converts investments in people, customers, culture, and stakeholder relationships into measurable business outcomes. Unlike traditional engagement surveys that primarily measure sentiment, the EEI links stakeholder engagement to operational metrics such as productivity, profitability, growth, and efficiency of human-capital investment, allowing leaders to benchmark performance against peers and identify areas where organizational systems may be limiting results.
To help organizations use other data for further analysis, the EEA’s People Value Impact Indicator is being customized not only to support creation of the EEA EEI Index, but also for companies to enter additional survey, turnover, NPS (net promoter scores), and almost any data to better understand the source of strengths and weaknesses in the findings.
For example, a company with strong revenue growth but weak profit per employee might uncover issues related to alignment, productivity, turnover, training effectiveness, customer loyalty, incentive or promotional program effectiveness, or operational complexity, while a company with strong margins but weak growth could identify innovation or customer-engagement gaps.
Because the framework compares companies within industries using publicly available data, executives, boards, HR leaders, and investors can use it to identify operational strengths and weaknesses, evaluate whether engagement initiatives are translating into measurable value creation, and encourage more integrated management practices aligned with TQM principles.
Over time, the EEI could also help organizations track whether improvements in leadership, communication, recognition, training, customer experience, or stakeholder alignment are producing tangible financial and operational improvements rather than simply higher survey scores or activity levels.
From inputs to outcomes. The logic behind the EEI is straightforward. Rather than focusing on what organizations do for employees—training hours, recognition frequency, survey scores—it focuses on what the system produces: revenue, profit, customer value, and growth. In that sense, the EEI borrows from the logic of TQM: the quality of a system is reflected in its outputs. If the system that manages people is working, it should show up not only in how employees feel, but in what the organization achieves. If the system isn’t working, the analysis should identify areas to address.
The EEI: Components and Weighting
To make the framework practical and comparable, the EEI combines a small set of consistently available financial metrics available for all publicly held companies to and to privately held companies to owners, investors, or potential acquirers into a single weighted index.
Below is an explanation of:
- The components measured and why, including the weighting scale.
- The ratings based on EEI fixed benchmark scales outlined below.
- Additional details on calculations used.
| Component | What It Measures | Weight |
| Revenue per employee | Revenue ÷ Employees | 20% |
| Profit per employee | Value creation | 30% |
| HCROI | Efficiency of people investment | 10% |
| Profitability to net income ratio (net income ÷ revenue) | Economic value of customers | 10% |
| 3-year revenue growth | Market validation | 30% |
|
Stock market performance |
Three-year stock performance compared with the S&P 500 | Not included in the EEEI score |
| Ratings |
| 90–100 | World-class organizational performance |
| 80–89 | Strong stakeholder alignment |
| 70–79 | Competitive but inconsistent |
| 60–69 | Average organizational effectiveness |
| Below 60 | Weak conversion of people investment into outcomes |
| EEEI Fixed Benchmark Scales | |||||
| Metric | 20 Score | 40 Score | 60 Score | 80 Score | 100 Score |
| Revenue per Employee | $150,000 | $250,000 | $400,000 | $600,000 | $800,000 |
| Profit per Employee | $25,000 | $50,000 | $100,000 | $175,000 | $250,000 |
| HCROI | 1.00x | 1.50x | 2.00x | 3.00x | 3.75x |
| Operating Margin | 3.0% | 5.0% | 10.0% | 20.0% | 30.0% |
| 3-Year Revenue CAGR | 0.0% | 2.0% | 5.0% | 10.0% | 15.0% |
| Scoring rule: the model linearly interpolates between the benchmark points and caps scores at 100. Negative revenue growth is scored at 20. These thresholds can be modified for industry-specific versions. | |||||
Suggested Preliminary AI Query
While use of the EEA Enterprise Engagement People Value Impact Calculator provides the most precise results, you can use the following AI query to obtain a preliminary, unvalidated evaluation of any public company.
Query: Please evaluate the company(s) on the following basis.
| Component | What It Measures | Weight |
| Revenue per employee | Revenue ÷ Employees | 20% |
| Profit per employee | Value creation | 30% |
| HCROI | Efficiency of people investment | 10% |
| Profitability to net income ratio (Net income ÷ revenue) | Economic value of customers | 10% |
| 3-year revenue growth | Market validation | 30% |
|
Stock market performance |
Three-year stock performance compared with the S&P 500 | Not included in the EEEI score |
| Ratings |
| 90–100 | World-class organizational performance |
| 80–89 | Strong stakeholder alignment |
| 70–79 | Competitive but inconsistent |
| 60–69 | Average organizational effectiveness |
| Below 60 | Weak conversion of people investment into outcomes |
| EEEI Fixed Benchmark Scales | |||||
| Metric | 20 Score | 40 Score | 60 Score | 80 Score | 100 Score |
| Revenue per Employee | $150,000 | $250,000 | $400,000 | $600,000 | $800,000 |
| Profit per Employee | $25,000 | $50,000 | $100,000 | $175,000 | $250,000 |
| HCROI | 1.00x | 1.50x | 2.00x | 3.00x | 3.75x |
| Operating Margin | 3.0% | 5.0% | 10.0% | 20.0% | 30.0% |
| 3-Year Revenue CAGR | 0.0% | 2.0% | 5.0% | 10.0% | 15.0% |
| Scoring rule: the model linearly interpolates between the benchmark points and caps scores at 100. Negative revenue growth is scored at 20. These thresholds can be modified for industry-specific versions. | |||||
11 Industry Analyses Conducted by AI
To test the utility of the EEI formula, the above query was used to test its use in the 11 largest industries with publicly held companies. The industries include:
1. Chip lithography
2. Home builders
3. Cruise industry
4. Airlines
5. Steel
6. Banking
7. Credit Card/Payments
8. Healthcare/Managed Care
9. Oil and Gas
10. Pharmaceuticals
11. Toiletries and cosmetics
1. Chip Lithography / Semiconductor Equipment
| Enterprise Engagement Evaluation Factors | ASML | Applied Materials |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue per Employee | $869K | $795K |
| Profit per Employee | $301K | $199K |
| HCROI | 3.94x | 2.6x |
| Operating Margin | 34.6% | 25.2% |
| 3-Year Revenue CAGR | 15.5% | 9–10% |
| Final Weighted EEEI Score | 100.0 | 85.5 |
| 3-Year Stock Performance vs. S&P 500 | ASML | Applied Materials |
|---|---|---|
| Approx. 3-Year Total Return CAGR | 32% | 18–20% |
| Relative Performance vs. S&P 500 | +10 pts annually | Near parity/slight underperformance |
2. Homebuilders
| Enterprise Engagement Evaluation Factors | D. R. Horton | Lennar | PulteGroup |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue per Employee | $2.39M | $2.73M | $2.66M |
| Profit per Employee | $330,514 | $224,534 | $446,818 |
| HCROI (Proxy) | 8.28x | 9.31x | 8.56x |
| Operating Margin | 13.8% | 8.2% | 16.8% |
| 3-Year Revenue CAGR | -1.8% | -0.6% | 4.2% |
| Final Weighted EEEI Score | 72.8 | 69.2 | 83.8 |
| Shareholder Performance | D.R. Horton | Lennar | PulteGroup |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3-Year Share Price Performance | +49% | +16% | +80% |
| S&P 500 3-Year Return | +78% | +78% | +78% |
| Difference vs. S&P 500 | -29 pts | -62 pts | +2 pts |
3. Cruise Industry
| Enterprise Engagement Evaluation Factors | Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings | Carnival Corporation | Royal Caribbean Group |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue per Employee | $165K | $169K | $244K |
| Profit per Employee | $16.5K | $24.8K | $52.7K |
| HCROI (Proxy) | 1.18x | 1.32x | 1.88x |
| Operating Margin | 10.0% | 14.7% | 20.6% |
| 3-Year Revenue CAGR | 24.0% | 22.5% | 25.4% |
| Final Weighted EEEI Score | 49.3 | 51.0 | 63.7 |
| Shareholder Performance | Norwegian | Carnival | Royal Caribbean |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3-Year Share Price Performance | +78% | +72% | +245% |
| S&P 500 3-Year Return | +78% | +78% | +78% |
| Difference vs. S&P 500 | 0 pts | -6 pts | +167 pts |
4. Airlines
| Enterprise Engagement Evaluation Factors | Delta Air Lines | American Airlines | United Airlines |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue per Employee | $634K | $392K | $522K |
| Profit per Employee | $58K | $11K | $42K |
| HCROI | 2.62x | 2.10x | 2.36x |
| Operating Margin | 9.1% | 2.7% | 8.0% |
| 3-Year Revenue CAGR | 8.1% | 4.1% | 10.4% |
| Final Weighted EEEI Score | 64.2 | 42.2 | 60.9 |
| Shareholder Performance | Delta | American | United |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3-Year Stock Performance CAGR | 29.8% | -1.7% | 31.4% |
| Relative vs. S&P 500 | +7.6 pts | -23.9 pts | +9.2 pts |
5. Steel Industry
| Enterprise Engagement Evaluation Factors | Nucor | ArcelorMittal | Steel Dynamics |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue per Employee | $985K | $488K | $1.26M |
| Profit per Employee | $81K | $29K | $102K |
| HCROI | 6.2x | 6.1x | 8.8x |
| Operating Margin | 8.2% | 5.9% | 8.1% |
| 3-Year Revenue CAGR | -7.8% | -8.4% | -6.6% |
| Final Weighted EEEI Score | 57.0 | 41.1 | 59.4 |
| Shareholder Performance | Nucor | ArcelorMittal | Steel Dynamics |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3-Year Stock CAGR | 16.2% | 28.9% | 30.6% |
| Relative vs. S&P 500 | -5.6 pts | +7.0 pts | +8.8 pts |
6. Banking Industry
| Enterprise Engagement Evaluation Factors | JPMorgan Chase | Bank of America | Citigroup |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue per Employee | $437K | $382K | $458K |
| Profit per Employee | $87K | $61K | $49K |
| HCROI | 2.9x | 2.5x | 2.2x |
| Banking Efficiency / Margin Proxy | 31.4% | 27.1% | 18.2% |
| 3-Year Revenue CAGR | 10.8% | 6.4% | 4.8% |
| Final Weighted EEEI Score | 71.9 | 60.9 | 56.6 |
| Shareholder Performance | JPMorgan | Bank of America | Citigroup |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3-Year Stock CAGR | 24.8% | 18.9% | 14.2% |
| Relative vs. S&P 500 | +2.6 pts | -3.3 pts | -8.0 pts |
7. Credit Card / Payments Industry
| Enterprise Engagement Evaluation Factors | Mastercard | Visa | American Express |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue per Employee | $1.38M | $1.54M | $930K |
| Profit per Employee | $620K | $760K | $171K |
| HCROI | 9.4x | 11.2x | 3.8x |
| Operating Margin | 57.8% | 66.2% | 18.5% |
| 3-Year Revenue CAGR | 13.4% | 11.7% | 14.1% |
| Final Weighted EEEI Score | 98.1 | 96.0 | 90.3 |
| Shareholder Performance | Mastercard | Visa | American Express |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3-Year Stock CAGR | 21.8% | 24.6% | 19.2% |
| Relative vs. S&P 500 | -0.4 pts | +2.4 pts | -3.0 pts |
8. Healthcare / Managed Care
| Enterprise Engagement Evaluation Factors | UnitedHealth Group | Elevance Health | CVS Health / Aetna |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue per Employee | $1.15M | $1.98M | $1.34M |
| Profit per Employee | $48,626 | $71,990 | $15,533 |
| HCROI Proxy | 6.51x | 8.42x | 7.94x |
| Operating Margin | 4.2% | 3.6% | 1.2% |
| 3-Year Revenue CAGR | 11.3% | 8.2% | 7.6% |
| Final Weighted EEI Score | 70.4 | 69.1 | 59.1 |
| Shareholder Performance | UnitedHealth | Elevance | CVS |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3-Year Stock Total Return | 20% | -16% | +34% |
| S&P 500 3-Year Return | +84% | +84% | +84% |
| Relative vs. S&P 500 | -104 pts | -100 pts | -50 pts |
9. Oil and Gas
| Enterprise Engagement Evaluation Factors | Chevron | ExxonMobil | Shell |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue per Employee | $4.27M | $5.56M | $2.90M |
| Profit per Employee | $389,885 | $552,459 | $164,224 |
| HCROI (proxy-based estimate) | 3.75x+ | 3.75x+ | 3.75x+ |
| Operating Margin | 9.1% | 9.9% | 5.7% |
| 3-Year Revenue CAGR | 7.5% | 7.0% | 2.8% |
| Final Weighted EEEI Score | 86.7 | 86.4 | 71.1 |
| Chevron | ExxonMobil | Shell | S&P 500 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Approx. 3-Year Total Return | 22% | 35% | 52% | 84% |
| Relative Performance vs. S&P 500 | -62 pts | -49 pts | -32 pts |
10. Pharmaceutical Companies
| Enterprise Engagement Evaluation Factors | Pfizer | Merck | Johnson & Johnson |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue per Employee | $710K | $1.00M+ | $885K |
| Profit per Employee | $87,000 | $273,000 | $172,000 |
| HCROI (proxy estimate) | 2.1x | 3.8x | 3.2x |
| Operating Margin | 12.3% | 36.0% | 24.5% |
| 3-Year Revenue CAGR | 0% to 1% | 10%+ | 4% to 5% |
| Final Weighted EEEI Score | 58.6 | 95.3 | 77.4 |
| Pfizer | Merck | J&J | S&P 500 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Approx. 3-Year Total Return | -15% | +32% | +8% | +84% |
| Relative Performance vs. S&P 500 | -99 pts | -52 pts | -76 pts |
11. Toiletries and Cosmetics
| Enterprise Engagement Evaluation Factors | L'Oréal | Procter & Gamble | Estée Lauder |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue per Employee | $505K | $913K | $398K |
| Profit per Employee | $102,000 | $198,000 | -$8,000 |
| HCROI (proxy estimate) | 2.8x | 3.9x | 1.1x |
| Operating Margin | 19.8% | 23.4% | -1.8% |
| 3-Year Revenue CAGR | 11.0% | 5.5% | -4.0% |
| Final Weighted EEEI Score | 76.8 | 91.5 | 24.7 |
| L'Oréal | Procter & Gamble | Estée Lauder | S&P 500 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Approx. 3-Year Total Return | +28% | +33% | -68% | +84% |
| Relative Performance vs. S&P 500 | -56 pts | -51 pts | -152 pts |
Enterprise Engagement Alliance Services
Celebrating our 17th year, the Enterprise Engagement Alliance helps organizations enhance performance through:1. Information and marketing opportunities on stakeholder management and total rewards:
- ESM Weekly on stakeholder management since 2009. Click here to subscribe; click here for media kit.
- RRN Weekly on total rewards since 1996. Click here to subscribe; click here for media kit.
- EEA YouTube channel on enterprise engagement, human capital, and total rewards since 2020
Management Academy to enhance future equity value for your organization.3. Books on implementation: Enterprise Engagement for CEOs and Enterprise Engagement: The Roadmap.
4. Advisory services and research: Strategic guidance, learning and certification on stakeholder management, measurement, metrics, and corporate sustainability reporting.
5. Permission-based targeted business development to identify and build relationships with the people most likely to buy.
Contact: Bruce Bolger at TheICEE.org; 914-591-7600, ext. 230.
