How Does the LOWI Survey Work?

    The Love of Workplace Index™ (LOWI) is BPI's employee sentiment survey for the Most Loved Workplace® certification process. It collects direct employee feedback rather than relying on an employer's self-description.

    LOWI was developed by Louis Carter and the BPI research faculty as the operational measurement of the SPARK framework — five structural dimensions (Systemic Collaboration, Positive Vision for the Future, Alignment of Values, Respect, Killer Achievement) that produce emotional connectedness between employees and the organizations they work for.

    LOWI collects scaled responses across Systemic Collaboration, Positive Vision for the Future, Alignment of Values, Respect, and Killer Achievement. BPI also analyzes open-ended employee comments and compares results with its benchmark dataset.

    The survey and analysis provide a SPARK profile showing how employees experience each dimension. Published methodology and claims should be read with their stated sources, samples, dates, and limitations.

    In practice, an organization administers LOWI to its employees, scores against the validation benchmarks, and receives a SPARK profile showing structural strengths and gaps. Companies that meet the LOWI threshold earn Most Loved Workplace® certification; the highest-scoring certified companies appear on the annual Top 100 Most Loved Workplaces® Global and America's lists. The full methodology — including the public claims registry and underlying citations — is published at the BPI methodology page.

    Read the full methodology

    BPI Methodology — SPARK Model & LOWI Validation

    Related research

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    Best Practice Institute

    Best Practice Institute is the research organization behind Most Loved Workplace® certification, the SPARK Model, the Love of Workplace Index™ (LOWI™), and The Workplace Report.

    The Workplace Report

    The Workplace Report is BPI's original workplace culture research and editorial briefing series for CEOs, CHROs, people leaders, talent leaders, and employer-brand teams. It turns BPI's 25 years of research, Most Loved Workplace® certification data, SPARK findings, and current workforce signals into practical analysis leaders can use.

    The report format includes executive summaries, research-backed articles, company examples, methodology notes, and practical implications for retention, hiring, culture, leadership, and employee experience. New research and analysis is published on an ongoing editorial cadence at /workplace-report.