Employee engagement software is a tool designed to help organizations measure, manage, and improve employee engagement. Software provides features that allow companies to gather feedback from employees, track satisfaction levels, and understand employee sentiment through surveys, polls, and other data-gathering methods.
The goal of such software is to foster a more engaged and motivated workforce by identifying areas where improvements are needed, can include tracking things like communication effectiveness, career development opportunities, work-life balance, and overall company culture.
- Some of the key features of employee engagement software include:
- Pulse surveys and feedback tools
- Employee recognition and reward systems
- Performance tracking and goal setting
- Communication and collaboration tools
- Data analytics and reporting
By improving engagement, organizations hope to increase productivity, reduce turnover, and create a positive, thriving workplace culture.
Discover the Top 13 best employee engagement software platforms
Qualtrics
Understand what truly matters to your employees and create exceptional employee experiences with Qualtrics’ intuitive and all-in-one platform.
- Gain a deep understanding of the full employee experience, gather ongoing feedback on emerging issues at scale, and craft an engagement strategy tailored to your workforce, workplace, and market
- With advanced analytics, Qualtrics automatically identifies the most critical experience gaps, enabling you to prioritize impactful actions. Additionally, with feedback aligned to your organizational structure, leaders and managers receive personalized, easy-to-interpret insights that are both actionable and meaningful
- Qualtrics offers a full suite of action tools, including customizable action planning, idea crowdsourcing boards, and detailed reporting, empowering you to successfully take action on employee feedback at scale
Cultureamp
Cultureamp – Identify the key areas that will inspire meaningful work for your employees and maximize business impact with customizable survey templates, expert insights, and robust analytics.
- Gain a thorough understanding of how employees and leaders are feeling with proactive engagement tools and reliable data
- Discover what drives your top-performing employees and teams, then scale those insights across your entire organization
- Develop an engagement strategy that retains and revitalizes your workforce to adapt to the changing demands of your business
- Understand the diverse experiences and needs of your people, while integrating DEI into every aspect of your engagement strategy
Wtwco
Enhance your employee experience and boost business performance with Engage, WTW’s comprehensive employee engagement platform.
- Access real-time data and insights on what employees are thinking, how it affects organizational performance, and where to focus actions for improvement
- Discover your team’s unique strengths with evidence-based, data-driven recommendations to enhance the employee experience and drive better outcomes
- Receive personalized guidance and real-time advice to help employees achieve their goals at work and in life
- Quickly build surveys, explore intelligence across all employee experience topics, and spend less time on logistics, so you can focus on providing leaders, managers, and experts with actionable insights that create real impact
- Leverage Advanced Analytics for Engage to uncover predictive connections between employee feedback and business performance, supporting informed decision-making
- Rely on the security and dependability of a world-class professional services organization
Mo
Mo – award-winning engagement software empowers busy managers to motivate their teams, foster a sense of belonging, and boost key metrics in just six months.
- Boost your company culture by celebrating everyday successes
- Foster team belonging and accountability all on one platform
- Tailor your engagement strategy with the features that matter most
- Utilize the right engagement tools, beyond just surveys
- Empower your managers to drive business growth
- Transform employee insights into tangible actions
Leena
Leena AI’s generative AI-powered employee engagement software helps you listen to your employees, take real-time action, predict attrition, and retain top talent, all while shaping a category-defining organizational culture.
- Always ask the right questions with Leena AI’s diverse range of surveys, including pulse surveys, quick feedback surveys, eNPS surveys, hybrid workplace surveys, diversity & inclusion surveys, and more
- Make feedback an integral part of your business strategy
- Broadcast company-wide announcements and notifications
- Collect employee feedback on those announcements
- Quickly assess employee sentiment on new initiatives
- Establish a successful employee listening program to transform the employee experience
- Create impactful surveys with access to business-validated question banks
- Leverage survey data with leadership insights and focus groups
- Strengthen internal capabilities with training and action planning workshops
Performyard
Performyard – A ready-to-use employee engagement software that helps you refine your organization through anonymous engagement surveys and reporting, fostering a culture of energized employees.
- Track employee sentiment with the anonymous PerformYard Engagement Survey, focusing on the seven key factors most closely linked to performance
- Monitor sentiment through a visual dashboard that allows you to track changes over time and view responses by employee cohort
- Dive into anonymous feedback from different employee groups to pinpoint the actions your organization should take to enhance specific engagement factors
Performyard
Performyard – Customizable and flexible performance management software trusted by 2,500+ HR professionals.
- Join our discount marketplace, offering hundreds of products at reduced prices. Reward exceptional work with Hero Points that can be redeemed for what matters most
- Support your people in becoming their best selves, financially, physically, and mentally. Share expert advice and useful tools for all aspects of life, because work is just one part of the bigger picture
- Measure team happiness with monthly employee engagement surveys and gather valuable anonymous feedback
- Easily track how each individual and team is contributing to broader business goals, goal alignment made simple
- Boost workplace energy with peer-to-peer recognition, everyone loves feeling appreciated
Flair
Whether your employees are in traditional offices or working remotely, Flair’s engagement tools help them stay connected with their company and teammates.
- Keep employees informed about company updates, upcoming vacations, and more
- Empower staff to share their career goals and create a path toward success
- Streamline the process of gathering and analyzing employee feedback
- Make it fun and recognize individuals or teams for their hard work and achievements
Lattice
Lattice – Gather feedback, unlock AI-driven insights automatically, and implement programs that boost productivity and retention.
- Drive action and measure your impact with real-time, continuous insights into employee engagement
- Leverage feedback from onboarding and exit surveys to prevent regrettable attrition and enhance long-term employee retention
- Regularly assess your company’s employee experience using the Employee Net Promoter Score and quickly gauge sentiment with a single question
- Use in-depth engagement surveys and industry benchmarks to make data-driven decisions that enhance your company culture
- Lattice AI automatically analyzes survey results and open-ended feedback, providing key driver analysis, comment trends, and actionable recommendations as soon as your survey is completed
15five
Engage by 15Five provides HR leaders with science-backed insights into what’s driving engagement and guides where to take action to improve engagement, performance, and retention.
- Using simple surveys and advanced Machine Learning, 15Five aligns your data with insights from over 600,000 surveys to identify key areas for improvement, resulting in more effective action plans
- 15Five’s Predictive Impact Model leverages AI to highlight which survey statements and groups to focus on, precisely predicting where to act for maximum impact
- With up to 98% confidence, 15Five shows you exactly where to prioritize your efforts and provides the tools to track progress through to completion
- Customizable and flexible, you can send surveys to the entire organization or targeted groups. Use our best-practice templates and science-backed surveys to measure engagement, manager effectiveness, DEI initiatives, eNPS, and more!
Terryberry
Transform engagement with Terryberry’s all-in-one platform, the only end-to-end solution that combines recognition, wellness, surveys, and swag.
- Foster a strong culture with value-driven recognition, comprehensive wellness, and open communication
- Go beyond gifts, offer rewards that make employees feel connected to your company’s greater mission
- Measure the effectiveness of your engagement strategy with employee surveys, 360 feedback, and analytics to ensure progress
Peoplehum
Peoplehum – A comprehensive suite of employee engagement tools designed to connect, collaborate, measure, and optimize engagement, delivering an exceptional employee experience.
- Say goodbye to traditional memo writing and make announcements effortless
- Connect, recognize, and celebrate your employees on mobile, web, or chatbot, while fostering a culture of teamwork and excellence
- Build a culture of open communication and feedback on an employee engagement platform that amplifies the voices of your most valuable asset – your people
- Break down silos and geographic barriers, collaborate in real-time with your team, organize ideas, and turn them into action
Sogolytics
Sogolytics – Foster a work culture that benefits both employees and the bottom line through meaningful employee engagement.
- Truly engage your employees by identifying the strengths and weaknesses of your key engagement drivers, and deliver experiences that make a real impact
- Gain deeper insights into employee feedback by using Natural Language Processing to decode open-text responses and uncover nuanced perspectives
- Connect with your employees at the right time and through the right channels
- Ensure every voice is heard with SogoConnect, our integrated ticketing platform that helps flag critical tickets, send automatic updates, and resolve each query effortlessly
- Make data-driven decisions with customizable, ready-to-use reports, tailor each report to your specific needs, with features that highlight key insights and help secure stakeholder approval
What makes a good employee engagement software platform?
Ease of Use: The platform should be intuitive for both employees and managers, ensuring quick adoption and smooth usage without a steep learning curve.
Real-Time Feedback: It should allow for frequent pulse surveys and instant feedback mechanisms to gather employee sentiment regularly, not just once a year.
Data Analytics and Insights: The platform should provide actionable data, including trends and insights that help managers identify areas for improvement and make informed decisions.
Customization: It should allow for customization in surveys, reports, and features to suit the unique needs of the organization.
Employee Recognition: Built-in tools for peer-to-peer recognition and rewards can help boost morale and foster a positive workplace culture.
Mobile Accessibility: The software should be accessible on mobile devices, ensuring employees can engage from anywhere, especially in remote or hybrid work environments.
Integration: Seamless integration with other HR systems like performance management, payroll, or learning management tools helps streamline processes.
Confidentiality and Security: Ensuring that employee feedback is anonymous and the platform is secure is essential for fostering trust and honest communication.
Actionable Recommendations: A great platform doesn’t just collect data, it should provide suggestions on how to address issues and improve engagement.
Scalability: It should be able to grow with your company as you add more employees or expand your engagement initiatives.
The emergence and growth of employee engagement software
The emergence and growth of employee engagement software has been driven by several key trends and shifts in the modern workplace.
Shift Toward Employee-Centric Workplaces: As organizations began recognizing the direct correlation between employee satisfaction and productivity, the focus shifted from top-down management to creating a more inclusive and supportive environment for employees.
Technological Advancements: With the rise of cloud computing, mobile technology, and big data analytics, companies began to develop and adopt software platforms that could easily collect real-time feedback, analyze trends, and provide actionable insights.
Remote and Hybrid Work: The global shift toward remote and hybrid work environments accelerated the need for digital solutions to engage employees who were no longer in the office every day. Engagement software allowed managers to maintain a pulse on their teams, even from a distance, ensuring that employees felt connected and valued.
Focus on Data-Driven Decisions: HR departments increasingly sought to use data to make more informed decisions about how to improve engagement. Employee engagement software enabled HR professionals to gather consistent feedback and measure engagement metrics over time, leading to more data-driven strategies for enhancing the employee experience.
Rise of the Employee Experience Movement: Companies began recognizing that engagement wasn’t just about motivation or productivity, it was about the entire employee experience. Employee engagement software evolved to include features like recognition tools, performance management integration, and wellness support to ensure a holistic approach to engagement.
Personalization and Customization: As employee needs and preferences evolved, so did engagement platforms. Modern solutions began offering customizable features that allowed companies to tailor surveys, feedback mechanisms, and communication channels to their unique culture and goals.
Integration with Broader HR Ecosystem: As organizations increasingly relied on HR technology stacks, engagement software started to integrate with other HR tools like performance management systems, learning and development platforms, and payroll solutions, creating a seamless experience for both employees and HR teams.
Today, employee engagement software continues to grow, adapting to new workplace trends and increasingly relying on artificial intelligence, machine learning, and advanced analytics to provide deeper insights and even more personalized engagement strategies.
A few challenges and mistakes to avoid when evaluating employee engagement software
When evaluating employee engagement software, there are several common challenges and mistakes to avoid.
Not Defining Clear Goals and Objectives
One of the biggest mistakes companies make is not having clear objectives for what they want to achieve with employee engagement software. Without clear goals, it’s difficult to evaluate whether the software is delivering the results you need. Before diving into software selection, take the time to define what success looks like. Are you aiming to increase engagement scores, improve employee retention, or foster better communication? Having specific, measurable goals will help you assess whether the tool is effective in meeting your needs.
Overlooking User Experience
User adoption is crucial for any engagement software. If the platform is difficult to navigate or unintuitive, employees will quickly disengage. It’s essential to test how easy the software is to use before making a decision. Involve both employees and managers in the evaluation process to get feedback on user-friendliness. A cumbersome interface or too many complex steps can lead to low engagement and poor participation in surveys or feedback processes.
Focusing Only on Features, Not on Integration
While the features offered by employee engagement software are important, focusing only on them can lead to overlooking one critical factor: integration with other systems. If the software doesn’t easily integrate with your existing HR, payroll, or performance management systems, you may face challenges down the line. Look for a platform that can sync with other tools you already use, such as your learning management system (LMS) or employee benefits platforms. Integration helps centralize data, streamline workflows, and save time.
Ignoring Data Privacy and Security
Employee engagement software collects sensitive data, such as feedback, performance reviews, and satisfaction scores. It’s critical to ensure that the platform complies with data privacy regulations (like GDPR or CCPA) and follows strong security practices to protect employee information. Failing to address these concerns could lead to data breaches or non-compliance penalties. Always inquire about how the software stores and protects data before making your final decision.
Neglecting the Importance of Real-Time Feedback
Some engagement software solutions offer only periodic surveys, such as quarterly or annual reviews. While these can be useful, relying solely on them misses out on the opportunity for real-time feedback. Without frequent check-ins, it’s harder to detect issues as they arise or track day-to-day changes in employee sentiment. Seek platforms that enable continuous feedback, such as pulse surveys, so that you can take immediate action if problems arise or if employees need support.
Underestimating the Need for Customization
Every organization has its unique culture, challenges, and goals. A “one-size-fits-all” approach to engagement doesn’t work in most cases. If the software doesn’t offer customization options for surveys, reporting, or even the user interface, it may not resonate with your employees or align with your company’s specific needs. Customization helps make the software more relevant and can increase engagement. Make sure the platform allows you to tailor it to reflect your company’s values and priorities.
Failing to Focus on Actionable Insights
Some employee engagement tools simply gather data without providing clear, actionable insights. It’s essential that the platform you choose offers insightful analytics, not just raw data. After gathering employee feedback, the software should help you understand underlying trends, pinpoint specific pain points, and offer recommendations for action.
Not Involving Leadership in the Evaluation Process
It’s easy to focus only on HR or managers when selecting engagement software, but leadership involvement is crucial for the success of the software. Senior leaders should be part of the process to ensure that the chosen software aligns with company-wide goals and that it’s integrated into the overall employee experience strategy. If leadership isn’t on board, it could lead to poor adoption or insufficient support for driving engagement initiatives across the organization.
Overlooking Employee Feedback on the Platform
You might be evaluating software from an HR or management perspective, but employee buy-in is essential. If the software doesn’t address employee preferences or if it isn’t seen as valuable to them, participation will suffer. Before finalizing a decision, get feedback from a cross-section of employees.
Neglecting Ongoing Training and Support
After selecting your engagement software, you may think the job is done, but the real work has just begun. Ongoing training and support are key to ensuring that employees and managers know how to fully utilize the platform. Many software solutions provide an initial onboarding phase, but ensuring continued education and support will maximize the software’s impact. Without this, employees might not leverage the full potential of the platform, and you could miss out on valuable insights.
Frequently asked questions I found during my research FAQ
What exactly is employee engagement software, and why is it important?
Employee engagement software helps businesses measure, manage, and improve employee engagement, which is a key factor in overall organizational performance. These tools gather feedback from employees through surveys, provide real-time insights, track satisfaction, and can foster communication and recognition among teams. Engaged employees are more productive, loyal, and likely to stay with the company, which is why using such software has a direct impact on your bottom line.
How do I know if employee engagement software will work for my company?
Employee engagement software works best when there’s clear alignment between the software’s capabilities and your company’s culture, goals, and employee needs. To determine if it’s the right fit, consider your company size, objectives, and the challenges you’re looking to address, such as high turnover, poor communication, or low morale. You can also run a trial to test the platform’s effectiveness and gather feedback from employees on whether it resonates with them.
What features should I prioritize when selecting employee engagement software?
Focus on features that align with your core needs. Commonly prioritized features include:
- Survey tools for gathering employee feedback (both pulse surveys and in-depth assessments)
- Real-time feedback capabilities, to encourage ongoing communication
- Analytics and reporting tools for tracking trends and generating actionable insights
- Recognition and rewards systems to boost morale and motivation
- Goal setting and performance management tools to align employee efforts with company objectives
- Integration capabilities with existing HR tools (payroll, learning systems, etc.) to ensure a smooth user experience
How do I measure the success of employee engagement software?
The success of your chosen software can be measured by looking at several key performance indicators (KPIs), such as:
- Employee participation rates in surveys and feedback programs
- Changes in employee engagement scores (e.g., satisfaction, motivation, and loyalty metrics)
- Improvements in retention rates, especially in teams with previously low engagement
- Increased communication and feedback loops between employees and managers
- Behavioral changes such as higher productivity, innovation, and collaboration You should also gather qualitative feedback from employees to understand how the software is affecting their daily experiences.
What is the typical cost of employee engagement software?
Costs can vary significantly depending on factors such as the size of your organization, the software’s features, and the vendor’s pricing model. Generally, software is priced per user (per employee) or on a tiered subscription basis. Some providers offer basic versions for smaller companies or startups at lower rates, while larger organizations may pay higher costs for advanced features and customization options. Be sure to consider long-term ROI (e.g., reduced turnover and increased productivity) when evaluating costs.
How do I ensure high adoption and participation from employees?
- Involve employees in the selection process: Get their input to ensure the platform resonates with them.
- Ensure simplicity and ease of use: The software should be intuitive and accessible.
- Provide adequate training and support: Help employees understand how the software can benefit them and how they can use it effectively.
- Tie software usage to tangible outcomes: Show employees how their feedback can lead to changes and improvements.
How does employee engagement software improve employee retention?
Engagement software provides a platform to identify and address issues before they lead to turnover. By regularly gathering feedback and offering opportunities for employees to express their concerns, companies can act on problems early, whether they’re related to workload, team dynamics, or management styles. Engaged employees who feel heard and valued are more likely to stay with a company, leading to higher retention rates and lower recruitment costs.
Can employee engagement software improve overall company culture?
Yes, the right software can contribute to a positive company culture by fostering open communication, recognition, and continuous feedback. By creating an environment where employees feel connected to the company’s mission, leadership, and their colleagues, engagement software strengthens company culture. Features like peer recognition programs, goal alignment, and employee well-being initiatives also contribute to building a supportive, values-driven culture.
Will employee engagement software help with remote or distributed teams?
Employee engagement software can be particularly valuable for remote or distributed teams. Many platforms are designed with mobile accessibility in mind, so employees can engage from anywhere. Tools like pulse surveys, feedback loops, and recognition features help remote workers stay connected and feel included in the company’s culture, which can sometimes be a challenge in dispersed teams. You can also track the engagement of remote workers specifically, ensuring that any issues unique to them are addressed.
How do I ensure that feedback collected through the software leads to real change?
- Act on the feedback: Create clear action plans based on survey results and feedback.
- Close the feedback loop: Regularly communicate back to employees about what has been done or is being done in response to their feedback.
- Monitor and track progress: Use the software’s analytics tools to measure the impact of changes made and gather further feedback.
- Engage leadership: Ensure senior management is committed to addressing concerns and driving changes based on employee input.
Is it necessary to involve HR in the selection and implementation process?
Absolutely. HR plays a critical role in the success of employee engagement software. They’re often responsible for managing the platform, gathering feedback, analyzing results, and driving actions based on insights. Involving HR from the start ensures that the software aligns with your organization’s HR strategies and that proper training and support are available throughout the adoption process.
Key takeaways
Choosing the right employee engagement software is a strategic decision that can significantly impact your organization’s culture, productivity, and overall success. It’s not just about selecting a tool but about integrating it into your company’s approach to fostering a positive, engaged workforce.
To make the most out of the platform, focus on understanding your specific needs, whether that’s improving communication, boosting morale, or reducing turnover.