Research shows that only 1 in 3 employees feel engaged at work, a somewhat alarming statistic.
Ensuring continued employee engagement is about instilling purpose, open communication, employee recognition, gathering and enacting feedback, and crafting a great employee experience overall.
Here’s our pick of the best tools to help you with this.
The Best Employee Engagement Software List
Here’s a shortlist of the best employee engagement solutions:
- Kazoo - Best for creating a work culture
- Pingboard - Best for visualization and rich profiles
- Waggl - Best for easy employee feedback
- SurveySparrow - Best for omnidirectional feedback
- Medallia - Best for CX and EX solutions combined
- Leapsome - Best for performance management solutions
- ActivTrak - Best for intelligent insights into how your team works
- Bamboo HR - Best for small and medium-sized businesses
- ConnecTeam - Best for managing and communicating with non-desk employees
- Qualtrics Employee XM - Best for real-time employee engagement insights
Employee Engagement Software Comparison Criteria
What do I look for when I select the best employee satisfaction platforms? Here’s a summary of my evaluation criteria:
- User Interface (UI): Engagement software ought to be…engaging! I’m looking for employee engagement tools that are visually appealing and fun to use. Bonus points if they employ gamification tactics or borrow ideas from social media.
- Usability: Will both employees and managers find the system easy to use? And will the features encourage them to engage on a regular basis?
- Integrations: Does the software connect easily with other employee management tools? Are there pre-built integrations to major HR systems?
- Value for $: Does the pricing make sense for engaging employees in both small and large teams? Is the pricing structure easy to understand?
Employee Engagement Software Key Features
There are various types of software in this category. These include survey tools to help you collect feedback and messaging software to improve internal communication—plus options such as 1:1 feedback tools. Here are the main features you should look for:
- Daily Engagement with Employees: dashboards, gamification, and activity feeds where team members can interact to boost engagement throughout the employee lifecycle
- Goal Setting & Tracking: tools that define goals and expectations, then reward engaged employees for achieving them
- Performance Evaluation: monitors performance from onboarding onwards, according to give Key Performance Indicators
- Employee Training Tools: ensures that everyone knows how to make the best use of the software
- Survey & Feedback Options: gather real-time feedback from employees to monitor progress, identify problem areas and improve retention
- Employee Recognition: identifies and rewards employees who are achieving excellence in their work
- Collaborative Spaces: team-building communities that foster common interests among members
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Overviews Of The 10 Best Employee Engagement Tools
Here are some brief overviews for each of the employee engagement solutions on my list, showing what each does best (with screenshots to highlight some of the functionalities).
Kazoo - Best for creating a work culture
Kazoo encourages requesting and giving feedback on their platform.
Kazoo also features 360 Reviews where employees can request and give feedback using templates like ‘Start, Stop, Continue’. Managers can also create surveys, schedule 1-on-1 conversations, and check-in with their team members.
Kazoo integrates with BambooHR, Namely, Rippling, Speakap, and Verb. More integrations are available through their API and SFTP.
Kazoo costs from $4.25/employee/month.
Pingboard - Best for visualization and rich profiles
Pingboard gives a simple visual representation of how teams fit together.
Pingboard gives you visibility into your organization in a way that’s easy to understand. You can customize the employee profiles to fit your culture and create an always-relevant organizational chart showing how teams fit together.
Peer recognition features include a fun “who’s who” quiz to help everyone get to know each other. Pingdom integrates with popular work tools like Slack, LinkedIn and Google calendar to fit easily into your everyday routine.
Pingdom costs from $99/month and offers a free 14-day trial (no credit card required).
Waggl - Best for easy employee feedback
Waggl gives every employee a voice to improve their workplace.
Waggl makes it easy to engage employees. They answer questions and give their feedback by voting. Then you share the results for further discussion. Participants answer simple questions in an intuitive and game-like framework.
This dialog-centric approach drives engagement by inviting employees to vote on each other’s anonymous responses. HR teams can then choose how to share results according to OKRs and relevant organizational priorities.
Pricing for Waggl depends on the number of employees, and the platform features selected. There is no free trial option.
SurveySparrow - Best for omnidirectional feedback
Allows you to evaluate performance in a 360 degree way.
SurveySparrow allows you to conduct omnidirectional assessments of your employees using 360-degree feedback software. Assessment status can be tracked with filters according to status and type, like self-assessed, partially evaluated, or evaluation complete.
The survey reports give detailed real-time insights into strengths, weaknesses, blind spots, and hidden talents. Using 360 feedback tools, you can conduct appraisals backed by performance reviews to build a better-equipped team.
Pricing starts from $149/month and a 14-day free trial is available (no credit card required)
Medallia - Best for CX and EX solutions combined
Medallia helps you chart employee journeys from recruitment to ongoing enablement and care.
Medallia is a dual employment- and customer-engagement platform designed to capture and interpret touchpoint data using an AI enhanced engine. They can do text analytics, hierarchy modeling, and risk scoring. Medallia connects with your pre-existing CRM, ERP, and HCM systems for a 360 overview of CX and EX profiles.
Medallia leverages continuous assessment, employee feedback, key service scores, and role-based analytics access to assess and acknowledge weak spots before they result in turnover. They have a blog, resource library, case studies, and training courses to help guide your EX process.
Medallia offers customized pricing upon request and comes with a free demo.
Leapsome - Best for performance management solutions
Leapsome offers a number of assessment options.
Leapsome helps you develop your people and scale your business by creating reliable cycles of performance management. The software uses personalized learning to enhance employee engagement. The software creates ‘belonging’ by aligning the team around the company’s mission, boosts engagement with team members and provides tools to improve employee management.
The system aims to be a single platform for people enablement. Leapsome offers deep integrations with your existing business, social media, and HR department tools.
Leapsome costs from $7/user/month. A free 14-day trial option is also available.
- Free plan for up to 3 users is also available
- From $9/user/month (when billed annually)
ActivTrak - Best for intelligent insights into how your team works
Team Pulse displays productivity and availability so you can view real-time metrics throughout the day.
ActivTrak provides productivity insights so you can better understand how your teams operate. The software identifies the work patterns of top performers and highlights distractions which reduce focus.
Managers can view productivity trends across the organization and use benchmarks and trends to inform decisions. The system collects contextual data to show what makes top performers successful, informing future decisions and action plans.
ActivTrak costs from $9/user/month (when billed annually). A free plan for up to 3 users is also available.
Bamboo HR - Best for small and medium-sized businesses
A complete HR solution that sets you free to focus on your employees.
BambooHR provides an all-in-one HR software for small businesses. The software makes it easy to collect, maintain, and analyze employee data.
The employee engagement tools allow you to uncover the issues your workforce is facing and create an informed, effective plan to address them. Comprehensive management report templates make it easy to get insights into what’s working (and what’s not), so you can improve employee retention.
Pricing information is available by contacting the company. They offer a 7-day free trial.
ConnecTeam - Best for managing and communicating with non-desk employees
Connecteam is an easy-to-use, customizable, and scalable employee app.
Thanks to ConnecTeam, you can engage every member of your team and help them share their thoughts and ideas. The software helps you communicate through pre-scheduled updates, social engagement tools, and automated follow-up capabilities
ConnecTeam includes advanced features such as pre-scheduled updates, social network engagement tools, and automated follow-up capabilities. You can also use pulse surveys, live polls, and suggestion boxes to ensure every employee’s voice is heard.
Pricing starts from $39/month for up to 50 users. A 14-day free trial is also available (no credit card info required).
Qualtrics Employee XM - Best for real-time employee engagement insights
Qualtrics Employee XM serves up actionable insights like high performer attrition risk.
Qualtrics Employee XM empowers every manager in your organization to monitor team engagement according to a variety of metrics, like average level of engagement and attrition risk. These metrics pinpoint precisely where to focus efforts and even track level of engagement changes over time.
Thanks to real-time data, you can act quickly to address problems. Anyone can give feedback through a digital ‘open door’ policy to improve transparency and employee communication.
Qualtrics costs from $1500/year and a free demo is available on request.
Best Employee Engagement Software Summary
| Software | Overview | Free Option | Price | Site |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Kazoo  | Read Kazoo features & functionality | Not Available | From $4.25/employee/month | Check out Kazoo |
Pingboard  | Read Pingboard features & functionality | 14 days free trial (no credit card required) | From $99/month | Check out Pingboard |
Waggl  | Read Waggl features & functionality | Not Available | Pricing for Waggl depends on the number of employees | Check out Waggl |
SurveySparrow  | Read SurveySparrow features & functionality | 14 days free trial is available (no credit card required) | From $149/month | Check out SurveySparrow |
Medallia  | Read Medallia features & functionality | Not Available | Offers customized pricing upon request and comes with a free demo | Check out Medallia |
Leapsome  | Read Leapsome features & functionality | 14 days free trial | From $7/user/month | Check out Leapsome |
| ActivTrak | Read ActivTrak features & functionality | Free plan for up to 3 users is also available | From $9/user/month (when billed annually) | Check out ActivTrak |
Bamboo HR  | Read Bamboo HR features & functionality | 7 days free trial | Pricing information is available by contacting the company | Check out Bamboo HR |
ConnecTeam  | Read ConnecTeam features & functionality | 14 days free trial | From $39/month for up to 50 users | Check out ConnecTeam |
Qualtrics Employee XM  | Read Qualtrics Employee XM features & functionality | Free demo is available on request | From $1500/year | Check out Qualtrics Employee XM |
Other Employee Engagement Software Options
Here are a few more that didn’t make the top list.
- Lattice Engagement – Best for employee feedback solutions
- UKG – Best for integrating with payroll and scheduling software platforms
- Xoxoday Empulse – Best employee rewards & recognition solution
- WorkTango – Best combined software/service option
- SurveyMonkey Enterprise – Best for survey-focused feedback
- intelliHR – Best for a continuous feedback culture
- Blink – Best for mobile app employee engagement
- Glint – Best for real-time team insights
- Flex Surveys – Best for fully customized employee engagement surveys
- Winningtemp – Best for data driven by artificial intelligence
- Culture Amp – Best for a great employee experience
- 15Five – Best for a holistic suite of products
- Motivosity – Best for engaging employees anywhere
- Fond – Best for an advanced rewards and recognition program
- Kudos – Best for strengthening team culture
- OfficeVibe – Best for cultivating trust and performance
- Kazoo – Best for creating a better work experience
- Quantum Workplace – Best for deep analysis of employee sentiment
- Peakon – Best for an all-in-one employee success platform
What are employee engagement programs?
A company’s workforce is its biggest asset, but usually, it’s the biggest expense, too. If team members are not happy and committed, their performance will suffer. This leads to poor productivity, soaring absence rates, and high staff turnover—biting big chunks out of profits.
Employee engagement programs aim to resolve these issues by improving relationships. They allow employees to voice their concerns, contribute ideas, and be rewarded for their achievements. This results in a happier, more engaged workforce and greater business success.
What is employee engagement software?
Employee engagement software helps organizations get the best from their workforce. It provides a range of features that encourage feedback, survey sentiment, and recognize achievements. The aim is to produce a happy and productive team that works harmoniously for mutual benefit.
Is there free employee engagement software?
There are many free employee engagement software tools on the market. These open-source options are helpful for small teams or organizations on a tight budget. Although they have the place, they typically cannot match the full range of features offered with paid alternatives. Here are a few free employee engagement tools you can check out:
- Hi5 – free for up to 10 users
- Teamphoria – free for up to 5 employees
- Officevibes – free with feature limitations
What Do You Think About Employee Engagement Software?
So is employee engagement software an essential business tool or just another distraction for busy team members? Let us know what you think in the comments below.
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