Everything about how EXD Score works, what it's built on, and what does (and doesn't) stay anonymous.
The basics
What is EXD Score, in one sentence?
A short, honest check-in on how work is actually going — scored across five conditions that shape employee experience, taken whenever you like rather than on a fixed review cycle.
Where does the model come from?
EXD Score is built on Tool 8, the employee-experience diagnostic from the book Designed to Work. Each of the five dimensions keeps several of its questions word-for-word as anchor items, so the score stays tied to that instrument rather than drifting into a generic engagement survey. Alongside those anchors, EXD Score adds reworded questions from an earlier internal instrument and new questions written to fill gaps Tool 8's own dimension definitions call for but don't fully cover yet — all fifty questions share one consistent 1–5 scale so every answer aggregates the same way. See our story page for more on where the model came from.
What are the five dimensions?
People (support, recognition, growth, decision rights), Process (workflow, approvals, workload, how time gets spent), Place (the physical or remote environment you actually work in), Technology (the tools and systems work runs through), and Culture (the unwritten norms that shape how people are treated day to day). Ten questions each, fifty total.
How long does it take?
Five to ten minutes. It's split into five short pages, one per dimension, with a progress bar so you always know how much is left.
What does the 1–5 scale mean?
For every statement: 1 = Not at all true, 2 = Rarely true, 3 = Sometimes true, 4 = Often true, 5 = Completely true. There are no trick questions and no right answer — it's simply how true each statement is for you right now.
Anonymity and data
If I'm logged in, how is this actually anonymous?
You sign in with your work email so the system can confirm you're a real employee and can show you your own progress over time — that's identity, not anonymity toward your employer. Structurally, there is no view, page, or export anywhere in EXD Score that lets an admin see one person's individual answers. Every number an admin can see is a pooled average across a group, and any group with fewer than five respondents is hidden entirely so no one's score can be inferred by narrowing the group down.
Can my manager see how I personally answered a question?
No. That query path doesn't exist in the product — admin dashboards are built on database functions that only ever return already-averaged, already-suppressed numbers, never raw per-person rows.
Who can see my full report?
Only you. Your individual report — the full breakdown, narrative, and tips — is yours: viewable on-screen, downloadable as a PDF, or emailed to you. It isn't visible to your admin.
Your report
What's the difference between the raw score and the percentage?
Each of the fifty questions is scored 1–5, so your overall raw score sits somewhere out of 250. The percentage is that raw score expressed as a share of the maximum, which is what determines your performance level and is easiest to compare across retakes.
What are the performance levels (e.g. "Healthy", "Thriving")?
Bands your overall percentage falls into, shown alongside a range chart so you can see where you sit relative to the boundaries — not just a single label with no context.
Why do some questions feel like they're about me and not my company?
Every dimension includes one deliberate "self-agency" question — something only you control, like asking for feedback proactively or reporting a tech issue instead of quietly working around it. Most other questions measure a condition of your workplace, which is right for surfacing what needs to change, but leaves nothing for your own report to recommend except "raise it with someone else." The self-agency items make sure every dimension has at least one thing that's genuinely in your hands.
How often should I retake it?
Whenever you like — there's no quarterly lock. Your report includes a specific recommendation on when it's worth checking back in, based on your own results, and each retake compares against your own previous submission by date rather than by calendar quarter.
For employers
How do I set this up for my company?
One person registers the company against your real corporate email domain, which becomes the login domain everyone else at your company signs up with. Personal providers like Gmail or Outlook can't be used to register a company.
What does the admin dashboard show?
Company-wide average and trend, participation rate, and demographic breakdowns (age band, gender, tenure, and any location or department groups you define) — all pooled averages, never individual answers, with small groups automatically suppressed.
What's an "EXD Score assessment round"?
A named, time-boxed window you open from the dashboard (say, one week) that groups every submission made while it's active, so you can compare participation and average scores from one assessment round to the next rather than as one continuously blended number.
Can I customize what's collected?
Yes — admins can define their own list of locations and departments from the dashboard, and employees are asked to pick theirs the first time it's relevant, without reopening the whole signup flow. You can also add or change your company logo from the dashboard at any time.
Can we see how we compare to other companies?
If it's turned on for your company, yes — a "How you compare" section on your dashboard and in your downloaded report shows your dimension scores against an anonymized average across other companies using EXD Score, so you can see where you're ahead or behind rather than just your own trend in isolation. It's off by default and switched on per company on request — get in touch if you'd like it enabled.
Is there an AI-written summary for admins, not just raw numbers?
Yes. Every company gets an automatically generated organization report alongside the dashboard: a plain-language summary of the current round, what's improved or slipped since the previous one, a top priority worth acting on this period, and a recommendation on when to check in again. It's included in your one-click "Download report" PDF, generated the first time you download a given round and cached after that, and it's clearly labeled as AI-written so you can double-check anything before acting on it or sharing it further — the report also points you to us directly if you'd like more in-depth, hands-on consulting.
What's in the downloaded report PDF?
One file, one "Download report" button: participation and overall score for the selected round, a breakdown by dimension and by demographic group, your trend across past assessment rounds, your "How you compare" standing if that's enabled for your company, and the AI-written organization report described above.
Plans and pricing
Is there a free plan?
Yes. Free gets you 3 EXD Score assessment rounds every 3 months and up to 100 employees, with the full admin dashboard, AI-generated individual reports for every employee, and PDF export all included — no cost, and no card needed to sign up.
What happens if we go over our plan's limits?
Rounds and employees are treated differently. Going over your round allowance just shows a reminder on the dashboard — you can still start another round while you think about upgrading. Employees are a hard cap: once you're at your limit, new people won't be able to join your company until it's raised.
What do the paid plans get us?
More rounds a year and more room for employees, on the same features as Free. Starter, Growth, and Scale are fixed presets, and Custom is sized to whatever your team actually needs if none of those fit — see the pricing page for what each includes.
How do we upgrade?
There's no self-serve checkout yet for paid tiers. Reach out from the pricing or contact page, or email us directly, and we'll get your company moved onto the right plan once that's arranged.