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16 Best Employee Engagement Software Tools in Q1 2024

The best employee engagement software reviewed and rated by our HR tool experts. You’ll find pros & cons, user reviews, expert insight, pricing details & more below.

Huda Idris
Written by
Huda Idris
Technical writer, B2B software advisor, and marketing strategist
Contributing Experts
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Last Updated: Feb 05, 2024
TOP
Employee engagement through rewards and recognition
Bonusly
4.1
Popularity Score
4.8
User Score
4.2
Product  Score
Visit Website
TOP
Employee engagement through rewards and recognition
Bonusly
4.1
Popularity Score
4.8
User Score
4.2
Product  Score
Learn More
TOP
Employee engagement from pre-hire to offboarding
SurveySparrow
4.1
Popularity Score
4.3
User Score
4.0
Product  Score
Visit Website
TOP
Employee engagement from pre-hire to offboarding
SurveySparrow
4.1
Popularity Score
4.3
User Score
4.0
Product  Score
Learn More
TOP
Simple Yet Powerful for Global Teams
Deel
4.4
Popularity Score
4.6
User Score
4.5
Product  Score
Visit Website
TOP
Simple Yet Powerful for Global Teams
Deel
4.4
Popularity Score
4.6
User Score
4.5
Product  Score
Learn More
Over 3 million HR leaders trust our advice

Introduction to Employee Engagement Software

Browsing for excellent employee engagement software? You've come to the right place.

All too often, we find that companies don’t realize they need an employee engagement tool until  it’s too late. Although this is a multi-faceted and complex topic, we have found the right employee engagement platform is critical to support your company’s efforts to keep productivity high and attrition low.

In this guide, we cover the entire landscape of employee engagement solutions. We start with a brief history to provide context, then we share the results of our research and experience. We hope to give you an end-to-end understanding so you can make a confident and informed decision on what to buy. But first, we share a list of some of our favorites and few words about how we decide who's the best among the best.

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Employee Engagement Tools

Bonusly

: Employee engagement through rewards and recognition

SurveySparrow

: Employee engagement from pre-hire to offboarding

Deel

: Simple Yet Powerful for Global Teams

Motivosity

: Employee experience suite + performance & development

Kudos

: Great Features for People Analytics

Officevibe

: Generous Free Plan, Manager-Oriented

Quantum Workplace

: Feature-rich & Enterprise-focused

Reward Gateway

: Notable for its 24/7 Customer Support

Leapsome

: Links Engagement with Compensation & Learning

Culture Amp

: Excellent for Strategic Coaching

Empuls

: Lets Teams Make their Own Intranet

Assembly

: An Affordable Tool with a Free Plan

WorkTango

: Remarkable Pulse Survey Capabilities

Mo

: Multilingual Employee Engagement Platform

15five

: Best for Regular Check-ins & Team Kudos

Our Criteria: Here's How We Chose The Employee Engagement Tools

To select the best employee engagement software, we combine insights from product demos with user feedback, the knowledge of industry experts, and the experience of our in-house team. We think the features distinguishing great engagement software from good ones are ease and anonymity of use, reporting and analytics, and automation.

  • Ease and anonymity of use: The best employee engagement platforms make it easy for employees to take surveys and share their feedback regularly from different devices. Tools that integrate with Slack, MS Teams, and email scored particularly high in our selection process. We’ve also spent extra time looking for tools with anonymity settings, which ensure you’re getting the most honest and actionable feedback from your employees.
  • Reporting and analytics: The most effective employee engagement software allows you to track engagement metrics, identify trends, and gain insights into employee sentiment. Reports can be generated to measure progress, spot areas of concern, and inform decision-making.
  • Automation: We only select employee engagement tools that support a scheduled cadence for collecting employee feedback and seamless automation processes that disseminate that information to HR teams and execs through email and/or dashboards.

Our selection criteria prioritize what we believe is best for our readers. For an in-depth look at how we do that, read this article about our editorial guidelines.

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Compare the Employee Engagement Tools

Popularity Score
Best for
Key Differentiator
Pricing
Free Trial
Customers
Users Score
Product Score

Bonusly

Most Popular
4.1
Remote/hybrid recognition platform for all-size companies
Focused on small wins to drive positive culture
Starts at $2.70/user/month
Yes
3,300+ companies
4.8
4.2

SurveySparrow

Most Popular
4.1
Growing companies and enterprises.
Engagement surveys throughout the employee lifecycle
Custom Pricing
Yes
100,000+ companies
4.3
4.0

Deel

Most Popular
4.4
Teams of all sizes, best for global SMBs
Full-suite of HR tools in addition to engagement
Starts at $49/month
No
15,000+
4.6
4.5

Motivosity

Most Popular
4.1
Suitable for teams of all sizes, best for mid-market
Employee-driven recognition
Starts at $4/user/month
No
N/A
4.7
4.6

Kudos

Most Popular
4.1
Teams of 500+ dedicated to gathering deep insights
Consulting services offered in addition to engagement
Custom Pricing
No
N/A
4.8
4.2

Officevibe

Most Popular
4.0
Companies of all sizes, free version for small teams
Generous free plan, manager-oriented platform
Starts at $3.5/user/mo
Yes
8,000+ companies
4.3
4.1

Quantum Workplace

Most Popular
4.1
Data-loving mid-sized and large enterprises
Dedicated support, feature-rich & enterprise-focused
Custom Pricing
Yes
10,000 + companies
4.5
4.0

Reward Gateway

Most Popular
4.1
Companies of all sizes seeking additional features
All-in-one employee engagement
Starts at £6/user/month
Yes
N/A
4.3
4.4

Leapsome

Most Popular
4.3
Flexible packages support teams of all sizes and budgets
Relates commitment to compensation and learning
Custom Pricing
No
1,500+ companies
4.8
4.7

Culture Amp

Most Popular
4.1
Global companies, especially tech, HR, finance sectors
Ideal for coaching on strategy development
Starts at $3 employee/mo
Yes
6,000+ companies
4.6
4.2

Empuls

Most Popular
4.1
People-first SMBs
Empowers teams to create social intranet
Starts at $3/user/month
No
1,000 + companies
4.6
4.2

Assembly

Most Popular
4.1
Mid to large orgs best match for full feature set
Flexible rewards platform with high adoption
Starts at $2.80/employee
Yes
N/A
4.7
4.1

WorkTango

Most Popular
4.2
works for any size, best for SMBs in knowledge work
Powerful platform for engagement
$8000 minimum annual fee
No
1,000+ companies
4.5
4.4

Mo

Most Popular
4.1
Companies of all sizes looking to drive engagement
Engagement through rewards and recognition
Starts at $2.70/user/month
No
N/A
4.9
4.4

15five

Most Popular
4.0
Mid-size and up orgs focused on feedback
Enables staff feedback across all departments
Starts at $10/user/month
Yes
3,500 companies
4.6
4.2
Phil Strazzulla
HR Tech Expert, Harvard MBA, Software Enthusiast

Need Help? Get Custom Recommendations for Employee Engagement Tools

Talk to An Advisor

Detailed Reviews of the Best Employee Engagement Software

Bonusly

Visit Website
Bonusly
Learn More
Popularity Score
4.1 / 5
User Score
4.8 / 5
Product Score
4.2 / 5

Why we picked Bonusly

Bonusly helps you engage employees, celebrate their wins, and hear their thoughts on improving company culture. It does this through peer recognition, integration with team communication tools, analytics, and more.

PROS

  • Modern, easy-to-use UI that’s available in multiple languages.
  • Employees can recognize one another with GIFs, points, and more. 
  • Its social-media-style spreads recognition across teams/departments.
  • Employees can redeem points for gift cards and other tangible rewards.
  • There’s a 14-day free trial you can use to test the waters.
  • Intuitive user interface.
  • Available in German, English, French, and Spanish.
  • Supports Android and iOS.
  • Discounts for nonprofit and education organizations.
  • 14-day, full-featured free trial.

CONS

  • The analytics and reporting functionality is limited in customization and scope.
  • The rewards catalog lacks experiential options and is focused on gift cards instead. 
  • Employees outside the U.S. have reward caps and fewer options.
  • Some technical issues like downtime, user imports, and redemption bugs may be experienced from time to time.
  • The starter plan is for small businesses that cap out at 50 users.
  • Analytics and reporting features are relatively underdeveloped.
  • The reward catalog lacks in-person experience and physical goods, and options and focuses on gift cards, cash, or donations.
  • Unused bonus funds don’t roll over: users use it or lose it.
Bonusly Employee Engagement Solutions dashboard screenshot

Bonusly Review

Bonusly aims to improve employee engagement through frequent, meaningful peer-to-peer recognition and rewards. Employees can choose from over 1,200 gift cards across popular vendors, redeemable in over 200 countries. There are abundant options for apparel, food and beverage, travel, and more to match individual preferences. Bonusly also enables companies to offer unique branded swag using an AXOMO integration. Employees can browse and order items right from the Bonusly platform.

For those who prefer cash rewards, Bonusly points are redeemable for PayPal, Visa gift cards, and prepaid Mastercards. You can also create customized experiential rewards like lunch with the CEO, tickets to local sports games, additional PTO, and more. For employees passionate about certain causes, rewards can be redeemed as donations to over 50 integrated charities.

Beyond rewards redemption, Bonusly helps you put appreciation on auto-pilot through features like automated awards for milestones and integrations with HRIS platforms for automated birthday and anniversary recognitions. 

Peer recognition is also simplified through Bonusly. There’s only a few steps to do it: employees receive a monthly allotment of points valued from $10-$20 to recognize fellow team members, then it’s as simple as choosing the recipient, points amount, reason, and optional hashtags or GIFs. To top it all off, all recognition shared around is showcased on a public feed, spreading and amplifying the positive vibes further.

Bonusly Customers

Among Bonusly’s 3000+ customers are Hulu, InVision, SurveyMonkey, Headspace, and more.

Bonusly Pricing

Bonusly has 3 plan that costs as follows when billed annually: 

  • The Core plan costs $2.70 per user per month for up to 50 users. This plan is best suited for small businesses. 
  • The Pro plan costs $4.50 per user per month and provides more reporting, permissions, and integration capabilities for larger teams. 
  • The Custom plan gives access to all of the platforms’ features, plus premium customer service and implementation support for big businesses. Pricing is determined based on the number of users and features needed.

Best For

Bonusly serves companies in different verticals. As for company size, Bonusly is typically used by companies between 50-5,000 employees.

Bonusly in action
Reviewer's Rating
10/10
  • I use the flow of recognition through values to acknowledge colleagues for their positive actions
  • I use the points exchange flow to receive rewards from partners.
  • I use the dashboards to identify the recognition among my team and know where I stand in comparison to my colleagues
  • the reports and dashboards are useful to identify which values I have received the most recognition for and which I have received the least recognition for.
  • We can use the management flow to adjust the registrations and be able to give extra bonuses to employees if a specific policy is applied that allows this action.
What do you like about this tool?
  • I really like the possibility to recognise colleagues and use the gifs which make everything much more fun.
  • I like to change the rewards for several possible vendors
  • I really like to see the Dashboards that indicate the best-placed teams globally.
  • They have a cool interface and are very easy to work with
Why did your organization buy this tool, and how long have you used it for?

We had been looking for a tool that could reinforce our values through recognition and rewards and thought to give Bonusly a try.

Having been using it for over a year now, I can say that it provides a relaxed environment for recognition and appreciation of our internal actions. It promotes satisfaction with the possibilities of exchanging rewards for benefits among several suppliers of major brands and franchises.

It also helps our employees feel at ease to express their feelings of appreciation and gratitude regarding projects or small actions that require formal recognition.

What do you dislike about this tool?
  • Limitation of exchange partners for some specific regions.
  • Some partners require fees for the exchange of rewards such as "PayPal".
How is this tool different than their competitors?

I think Bonusly is something very unique. I don't see many vendors with similar products and the biggest difference is the integration with other products such as Slack.

What Instructions should people think about when buying this type of tool?

People buying this type of tool should check if it:

  • is practical and easy-to-use tool.
  • generates engagement between employees.
  • has good customer service support.
  • has a global performance and with very good partners to exchange rewards.
  • is flexible so that Human Resources can adapt it to their reality in terms of points provided to employees.
How has this tool changed or evolved over time to meet users needs?

They have sought to improve their service, implement new tools such as Analytics and Dashboards, and also include new partners to exchange rewards.

What specific type of user or organization is this tool very good for?

I see Bonusly suitable for companies with a young audience, as it is a tool that uses many gifs and emojis, which generally appeals to this type of audience.

I also see it for companies seeking to create greater engagement and recognition within employees.

What specific type of user or organization would this tool not be a good fit for?

Companies with very traditional processes and people who do not adapt to online tools for recognition.

Companies with bureaucratic and archaic methods may not adapt to the tool.

SurveySparrow

Visit Website
SurveySparrow
Learn More
Popularity Score
4.1 / 5
User Score
4.3 / 5
Product Score
4 / 5

Why we picked SurveySparrow

SurveySparrow can help you boost employee engagement through pulse surveys, assessments, and automated feedback workflows that provide actionable insights from pre-hire to offboarding.

PROS

  • SurveySparrow has an intuitive and user-friendly interface.
  • Users like the ability to customize survey questions, design, flow, and logic per their needs. 
  • Integration with CRMs, marketing platforms, and collaboration tools allows for more process automation, seamless data syncing, and workflows. 
  • Responsive customer support. 
  • You can translate surveys in over 50 languages. 
  • There’s a 14-day free trial, no credit card required.

CONS

  • Starting at $19 per user per month, SurveySparrow's pricing is on the expensive side, making it out of reach for startups and small businesses. That said, you can try their newly released employee engagement and recognition solution, ThriveSparrow, for just $3 per user per month. 
  • The extensive features make the initial learning curve steep, especially for beginners. 
  • The reporting feature could use some improvement, with users reporting issues with extracting, analyzing, and compiling survey data like text responses into reports.
  • A few users reported experiencing technical issues like surveys crashing or not loading properly. There were also spam filtering limitations that allowed fake responses.

SurveySparrow Review

SurveySparrow’s employee engagement solution helps you gather and act on employee feedback, from even before they’re hired and throughout their journey with your company. Right from the start, SurveySparrow helps attract top talent through engaging video survey forms that simultaneously collect the information you need and showcase your company culture. Once new hires join, you can ensure their onboarding goes smoothly by sending feedback surveys and providing the resources they need.

One of the things we were impressed with is SurveySprarrow’s ability to auto-send pulse surveys regularly. These short, routine surveys give real-time data on how satisfied employees feel regarding their work, benefits, company culture, and more. You can then dig into SurveySparrow's reports to glean actionable insights and make data-driven improvements.

When it's time for an employee to move on, SurveySparrow's exit surveys provide closure by uncovering the reasons behind their departure. This valuable feedback lets you address any issues to boost retention company-wide.

With its focus on actionable data, automated workflows, and integrated recruiting-to-offboarding feedback features, SurveySparrow is definitely worth checking out if you’re in the market for a suite with a host of employee engagement features. They’ve also recently launched a dedicated employee engagement and peer recognition product called ThriveSparrow, with affordable pricing plans businesses of all sizes can use and derive value.

SurveySparrow Customers

SurveySparrow has over 100,000 customers, including Xerox, Godrej, Honda, Opera, and Grand Thornton.

SurveySparrow Pricing

For individuals

  • Basic: $19 per month (billed annually) for a single user and 2,500 responses per year.
  • Starter: $39 per month (billed annually) for a single user and 15,000 responses per year.

For teams:

  • Business: $79 per month (billed annually) for up to 3 users and 50,000 responses per year.
  • Professional: $249 per month (billed annually) for up to 5 users and 100,000 responses per year.

Best For

SurveySparrow’s engagement solution is best suited for growing companies and enterprises.

SurveySparrow in action
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Deel

Visit Website
Deel
Learn More
Popularity Score
4.4 / 5
User Score
4.6 / 5
Product Score
4.5 / 5

Why we picked Deel

While Deel is best known for global payroll, they have expanded into a comprehensive system enabling HR teams to manage and engage international employees and contractors.

PROS

  • You can offer employee benefits through Deel, as well as other perks such as discounts at known service providers.
  • The Slack integration allows the creation and deployment of pulse surveys to increase engagement.
  • Getting paid through Deel is fast and easy. Payments arrive on time without delays.
  • Deel's interface has a modern design and is fairly easy to navigate.
  • Users praised Deel's customer support for being responsive and quick to resolve issues.
  • It’s completely free to get started with Deel’s HR offering.
  • One of the best features of Deel is its customer service. They offer 24/7 in-app support and the fastest-in-class onboarding speed of 2-3 days. Users get access to local payroll experts in each jurisdiction, and support is available for contractors facing challenges setting themselves up as an LLC.
  • Integrates seamlessly with common platforms like Quickbooks, Bamboo, Greenhouse, and more. They also offer custom integrations to automate and sync processes.
  • Self-service approach; tech-enabled features so customers can jump in quickly and easily. Our user researchers found it quite easy to set up: the identity verification process consistently took less than 24 hours, and in some cases, it took mere minutes.
  • Automated invoices, which are a breeze to do as long as they’re in English, both on the company and the contractor or employee’s side.

CONS

  • Pulse surveys are offered through the Slack plug-in, and aren’t built into Deel.
  • The HR offering isn’t as developed as specialized HRIS/HCM solutions.
  • Deel's fees and exchange rates are high compared to other platforms.
  • The 30-day withdrawal deadline is inconvenient; many users would prefer for Deel to function as a wallet.
  • There currently isn’t a mobile app for Deel; users can only access it through the web version.
  • Despite being a global platform, Deel’s debit card feature is only available in a few countries.
  • You can’t edit some of Deel’s contract clauses.
  • Some of Deel’s best and most powerful services, like onboarding automation, appear to be add-ons, which might be too costly for some companies
  • There is little to no flexibility when it comes to altering their contracts or service agreements, so many changes would require an addendum.
  • There is a $5 fee per payout
  • As far as we’ve seen, it’s not possible to generate invoices in another language.

Deel Review

Deel was designed with distributed teams in mind, which is evident in its flagship global payroll offering, but also in their continuous rollout of features that foster connections and engagement among remote employees. The "Connections'' tool enables 1:1 and group interactions to build relationships like those formed organically in an office.

Integrations like Slack make employee engagement initiatives accessible right within familiar workflows. Pulse surveys delivered via Slack see higher response rates. Surveys can also create interest-based Slack groups to connect employees around shared hobbies/topics beyond work projects.

It's impressive to see the employee experience capabilities Deel has built out, considering the company started by solving a different need - global payroll. The focus on relationships, networking, and engagement really caters to the needs of distributed, remote-first teams.

Deel Customers

Over 15k businesses use Deel including Nike, Shopify, Redbull, and Zapier.

Deel Pricing

Deel’s pricing varies according to the tools you need. It is structured as follows:

  • Contractors: Starts at $49/contractor/month covering payroll and compliance in 150+ countries.
  • EOR: Starts at $599/month for hiring employees without local entities in new countries
  • Global Payroll: Multi-country payroll for existing entities in 100+ countries. Contact sales.
  • Deel HR: The plan packs features for you to automate HR admin and reporting for any worker with a global HR system. Pricing starts from $0. That’s right, it’s completely free to start using this plan.
  • Immigration: Visa sponsorship in 25+ countries. Contact Sales for a customized quote.

Best For

Companies of all sizes can use Deel’s solutions to pay employees on time, offer benefits and engage them, wherever they may be.

Deel in action
Reviewer's Rating
8/10

We used Deel as a payment processor for our international employees. The system is customizable to pay contractors on a weekly, bi-weekly or semi-monthly basis. We were able to pay some contractors weekly, and another group semi-monthly. The system also allows for you to submit payments on behalf of the contractor or out of their usual payroll cycle in an off-cycle payroll. Reimbursements could be paid out by the use of the off-cycle payroll. They could be paid immediately after approval by the admin or included in the next payroll cycle run.

What do you like about this tool?

I liked the customization of contracts. I liked that our contractors could manage their funds after they were available. It was very easy to get help and a solution through their chat feature or by phone with a representative.

Why did your organization buy this tool, and how long have you used it for?

We were in search of an international HRIS tool to employ our international contractors and full employees temporarily. We chose Deel due to the ease of onboarding, customization, and 0 dollar up front cost to onboard our international contractors. We used the platform on a weekly basis to onboard and pay our contractors for 6 months. I especially liked that once a contract ended we could still pay out hours via an off-cycle payroll. This was helpful if a contractor missed a timesheet submission deadline. Another benefit to the platform that our contractors favored was the ability to withdraw their funds in their currency of choice; or split payments into various currencies. Once timesheets were approved and processed from an administrative perspective, funds were available, in most cases within 24hrs to the contractors Deel account.

What do you dislike about this tool?

As we were considering hiring international employees we could only do so by paying upfront cost before onboarding them, this was not ideal for us. I did not like that I couldn't set a semi-monthly rate for a few of our contractors. Onboarding manager wasn't easy to reach for quick questions when onboarding contractors.

How is this tool different than their competitors?

The management fees were lower and contractors had more control over their funds.

What Instructions should people think about when buying this type of tool?

If you are hiring contractors or employees and how many. Have a solid understanding of what countries they are located in, as this affects the management fee. Also, management fees are paid each payroll, which could get costly, so be sure the contractor or employee is aware of their pay schedule.

How has this tool changed or evolved over time to meet users needs?

We only used this tool for about 6 months and did not see any significant changes during that time.

What specific type of user or organization is this tool very good for?

Remote first companies with employees or contractors across the world.

What specific type of user or organization would this tool not be a good fit for?

None

Motivosity

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Motivosity
Learn More
Popularity Score
4.1 / 5
User Score
4.7 / 5
Product Score
4.6 / 5

Why we picked Motivosity

Motivosity’s product is changing every time we see it! We like that their employee Net Promoter Score survey (eNPS) goes out on the cadence you choose, and their feature-rich platform combines community, recognition and rewards, and employee insights.

PROS

  • Motivosity’s friendly UI is easy to use both for employees and employers.
  • Surveys are customizable and you can compare results to industry benchmarks. 
  • The built-in reporting provides insights on attrition, top employees, and manager coaching needs.
  • Employees can access this system from their phones, desktop, and apps they are in at work such as Teams/Slack
  • One platform that combines rewards, recognition, employee engagement, and more
  • Built in reporting with insights around potential attrition, most recognized employees, managers that need coaching, etc.

CONS

  • The mobile app doesn’t currently cover the employee survey tools.  
  • Integrations with tools like Slack and MS Outlook can be buggy, especially concerning notifications. 
  • There are no free trials at this time.
  • Only has dollar (not points) based rewards.  Their research shows dollars is more effective, but many companies want points.
  • Some users claimed sometimes it can be a bit buggy connecting to Slack to notify people that an appreciation came through.
  • It would have broadened the number of gift card options for users to choose from.
  • There could have been an easier way to integrate the software with swag stores. For now, you have to transfer funds to a card and then link that card with the swag store, which slows down a bit the process to cash in funds.
Motivosity - one of the best employee engagement software - dashboard screenshot

Motivosity Review

Motivosity's employee engagement solution makes it easy to regularly gather feedback from employees and turn insights into action. We like how customizable their eNPS pulse surveys are, which yield rolling employee satisfaction data. This enables you to identify trends, compare results to industry benchmarks, and make better decisions to improve engagement.

You can build surveys for specific teams and departments, or have them made for organization-wide distribution. To ensure high participation rates and the least amount of friction in gathering employee input, Motivosity seamlessly integrates polling within the systems your employees already use. 

Motivosity also helps companies understand and reduce regrettable turnover through aggregated exit interview insights. You can analyze trends in why employees leave to pinpoint areas for improvement. The platform further enables leaders to act on employee feedback with automated, easy-to-understand dashboards. 

To sum up, we think there’s a lot to love above Motivosity. Its feedback-to-action loop can effectively help you stay on top of employee concerns and needs, which ultimately leads to higher retention. It’s also an easy-to-use platform that scales according to your needs.

Motivosity Customers

Chick-fil-A, A&B, Bosch, KPMG, Fujifilm.

Motivosity Pricing

Motivosity’s pricing starts from $2 per user per month (billed annually) for their base module per user per month. Recognition & Rewards, Manager Development, and Employee Insight are offered as add-ons, each starting from $2 per user per month.

Best For

Motivosity is best suited for mid-sized companies with 100-3,000 employees aiming to improve employee experience. However, companies of all sizes can benefit from its offering.

Motivosity in action
Reviewer's Rating
8/10

Motivosity for management and leadership development has been a major area we employ. We use this to facilitate one-on-one and small group meetings between supervisors and their teams. It's been extremely helpful in getting everyone to participate and as they can add agenda items and plan in advance.

Performance has improved as a result because staff receives guidance on problem-solving and prioritizing work from their supervisor and they receive acknowledgment afterward. Also, the leadership team can see the reports on how often these meetings are happening and get a sense of how well our supervisors are performing.

We also use the recognize feature to reward the daily achievements and allow staff to recognize coworkers. Great work that often went unacknowledged or just was easily forgotten/overlooked now gets the attention it deserves. We found that everyone responds to this feature and that these small, regular acknowledgments tied to tangible monetary and gift rewards have really increased overall employee motivation and satisfaction and made doing great work rewarding and fun for our staff. We also set it up to make sure major events like an anniversary are not missed.

We also benefit from the surveys and feedback that leadership can see as insightful and data-driven reporting. It has been critical in getting information that was mainly anecdotal, unpredictable, and sporadic in the past. We use this for departing employees' exit interviews and to track turnover. Handling and understanding employee turnover had been overly informal and a bit chaotic before this feature, but we use the exit interviews and data to get a better picture of areas we need to focus on.

What do you like about this tool?

It improved employee morale and performance by offering ways for them to connect better with coworkers and supervisors and allowed ongoing, regular, and routine recognition rather than just major things like salary increases and promotions.

Leadership has gained a better sense of how our management is performing and increased the effectiveness of our supervisors at every level.

It's given us valuable data about how our staff are performing, employee turnover, and management performance in reports.

Why did your organization buy this tool, and how long have you used it for?

We were concerned about employee engagement given the fact that a large number of employees were remote, and we have multiple worksites. Both factors created a sense of disconnect among the staff from both the company and their co-workers. It seemed to be harming employee morale and, consequently, employee productivity.

We were also very concerned about increased interpersonal conflict, declining employee retention and feedback that generally indicated dissatisfaction. We were also looking for a way to provide ongoing recognition and to attain ongoing feedback, because annual reviews and occasional surveys were not enough, and were not incorporated into the day-to-day culture.

We've used motivosity for about a year and a half. In that time, we've seen improvements in all these areas.

What do you dislike about this tool?

We were not thrilled with the customer support regarding questions about billing and technical errors.

The system seemed to have some technical issues and was sometimes really slow or even would crash.

Though it met our needs, there do appear to be products on the market that have more features for around the same cost.

How is this tool different than their competitors?

Having used a few similar products, I think Motivosity does a better than average job creating personalized connections between coworkers and social media-like content for staff members and was very good at fostering a sense of empowerment by management to the employees.

It allows for employees to recognize each other, not just management recognizing employees as is typically the case. Also, the user interface is very straightforward, intuitive, easy to navigate, and easy to use.

What Instructions should people think about when buying this type of tool?

A tool like this will very likely increase employee engagement and increase performance and retention, but people should consider the costs involved both in the product and in monetized rewards and recognition to staff.

Once you institute such rewards, taking them away may be poorly received by staff. Also, it requires leadership to support and endorse the efforts to use this product and without that, it may not be effectively deployed, especially if you do not have full participation.

How has this tool changed or evolved over time to meet users needs?

From my understanding, they have refined the features to focus better on reporting and on management development.

What specific type of user or organization is this tool very good for?

Remote workers will especially benefit. It helps to replace some of the personal bonding and connection that usually happens through in-person interactions.

Organizations, where there is infrequent staff interaction, will also find a lot of benefits in both the sense of personal connection and regular recognition that can be lost when workers are not physically near each other often.

What specific type of user or organization would this tool not be a good fit for?

An organization that highly values a top-down style of relationships may find that they don't value the degree to which employees are empowered to give feedback and recognition.

Kudos

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Kudos
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Popularity Score
4.1 / 5
User Score
4.8 / 5
Product Score
4.2 / 5

Why we picked Kudos

Though it primarily focuses on employee rewards and recognition, Kudos has expanded its platform with features for understanding and driving engagement, including sentiment surveys, detailed analytics, incentive campaigns, and more.

PROS

  • Kudos’ interface is quite intuitive, making recognizing coworkers very easy.
  • Employees like the ability to reward and appreciate peers.
  • Employees can earn points to redeem for gift cards and prizes.
  • Unique, company culture-oriented features are present all across the platform, such as in the way they approach analytics, or on the actual Culture Accelerator module. 
  • Excellent relation of mobile / desktop functionality. You basically get all the bells and whistles on both versions.

CONS

  • The monthly point limits to award others can be restrictive.
  • The system can be buggy at times, especially when redeeming points for rewards.
  • The gift card options are somewhat limited, especially for local brands.
  • There is no free plan or free trial.
  • Unless you get a demo and start exploring the tool with the help of an insider, we’d say it’s somewhat hard to get a good idea of what features are like, how they work, and even what they do, just from their website alone. 
  • From our research, we could gather that the points system and how this works can get a bit confusing for some users.
Kudos Employee Engagement Platform dashboard screenshot

Kudos Review

Kudos’ platform packs several modules aimed at improving employee experience. For starters, it lets you create and deploy anonymous Sentiment Surveys, enabling employees to safely provide feedback and giving you reliable insights to identify issues within the current workplace culture. All of these insights, along with trend analysis, are neatly displayed in the Kudos Dashboard.

Going beyond surveys, Kudos can help you create a culture of appreciation through its user-friendly peer recognition tools. Employees can send customizable Kudos cards to colleagues to highlight appreciated actions, from individual contributions to team efforts.

You can also use the platform to delight employees with all sorts of rewards, including merchandise, events, travel, charities, gift cards, and even custom rewards. Kudos’ rewards system is point-based, which means you give employees points as incentives, and they get to choose to redeem their accumulated points for. For the most part, we’ve found the point value assigned to rewards fair, without added fees.

Another stand-out module you’ll find within Kudos is its Culture Accelerator. Through it, you can create specialized campaigns to incentivize behaviors aligned with your company’s values and objectives. All of these campaigns can be customized to reflect your company brand and messaging, and if you need any help, you can work with a Kudos Program Designer to ensure your campaigns hit the mark.

If you’re a mid-to-large company looking to elevate employee engagement through data-backed insights and values-driven recognition strategies, we think Kudos checks all the boxes and is highly worth checking out.

Kudos Customers

Kudos is used in over 80 countries. Some of their customers include KidsPeace, Kronos, DHL, Chewy.com, and Make A Wish.

Kudos Pricing

With a minimum requirement of 500 employees, Kudos offers pricing starting at $3.25 per user per month. The actual cost varies based on factors such as the number of users and the contract length.

Best For

Kudos is best suited for companies with large teams, from 500 to thousands of users in practically any country and industry.

Kudos in action
Reviewer's Rating
7/10

I use Kudos on a daily basis as it is added to the company Slack and on the general chat channel. It is categorized in different leaderboards based on a variety of criteria like company's values, culture, most number of kudos received, and most number of kudos given by someone.

What do you like about this tool?

It is a fun way to keep everyone engaged and make the employees feel valued for helping each other out. You can accumulate points that can be redeemed for money. It also makes recognizing people easy and builds a culture of help and collaboration.

Why did your organization buy this tool, and how long have you used it for?

My organization bought Kudos to implement an employee recognition system, which was quick and fun. It was a way to acknowledge people for the little things they did on a regular basis and not have to wait till the Performance reviews.

What do you dislike about this tool?

I wish it could also include the contract employees. I can’t think of any negatives of using the app. Maybe it can have more emojis to include in more activities.

How is this tool different than their competitors?

I have not used any other similar tool, I used Kudos and it did exactly what the team was looking for.

What Instructions should people think about when buying this type of tool?

They should understand that this tool is not to replace any formal reviews or engagement activities. It is merely to supplement and extend the engagement among the team and highlight quick wins to create positivity

How has this tool changed or evolved over time to meet users needs?

I have not seen much changes during my time of usage

What specific type of user or organization is this tool very good for?

I think a technically savvy workplace is important and would be the best scenario to use the tool

What specific type of user or organization would this tool not be a good fit for?

Organization where not much technology is used on a regular basis and/or if the employees are out if the field mostly, it may not be the best option, as people are not on the same channels to recognize each other.Field sales, construction etc are some industries

Officevibe

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Officevibe
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Popularity Score
4 / 5
User Score
4.3 / 5
Product Score
4.1 / 5

Why we picked Officevibe

Officevibe is laser-focused on pulse surveys to help managers gain insights into teams' performance and just rolled out a recognition feature — Good Vibes. The platform has a scalable model and a generous free plan with all core features, making it a go-to option for both SMBs and large businesses.

PROS

  • Officevibe is easy to use and set up. The platform also has a free plan with a feasible set of employee engagement features: automated pulse surveys, custom surveys, feedback, 1-on-1s, goals & OKRs, and recognition a team of up to 10 users can use.
  • Officevibe puts effort into ensuring that feedback is truly anonymous without the manager or anyone with higher access being able to guess who submitted what response by requiring a minimum of 5 responses sent in before the survey manager can access the anonymous feedback.
  • Officevibe has a peer-to-peer recognition feature, allowing your employees to praise one another for outstanding work.
  • Officevibe built-in surveys cover a wide range of topics.
  • Officevibe’s 14-day free trial lets users try all the Officevibe features without asking for their credit card info.
  • Several users shared that Officevibe’s integration with Slack brought convenience for employees and improved their survey completion rates.
  • Officevibe is easy to use and has a free plan that a team of up to 10 users can use. 
  • To ensure that feedback is truely anonymous, without the manager, or anyone with higher access being able guess who submitted what response, a minimum of 5 responses need to be sent in before the survey manager is able to access the anonymous feedback.
  • The platform has a feature for peer-to-peer recognition, giving your employees the ability to praise one another for outstanding work.

CONS

  • Personalized onboarding is available for 100+ users. A dedicated success manager is available for 500+ users.
  • Resetting or adjusting OKRs has some limitations, some users noted.
  • The Good Vibe lets employees do peer-to-peer recognition that only Good Vibes recipients, senders, and team managers can see. There has yet to be an option for public praise.
  • Some users found the 1-on-1 templates and scheduling clunky.
  • Some users have reported that Slack integration sometimes malfunctions.
  • Officevibe does not include a complete performance management solution among their offerings. They have an OKR tool that lets you set goals but there isn’t a mechanism in place to track those goals or conduct performance reviews.
  • There currently isn’t a mobile app that managers and employees can use on the go.
Officevibe Employee Engagement App dashboard screenshot

Officevibe Review

Officevibe is a cloud-based platform that focuses on employee engagement and manager growth. It allows managers to measure employee satisfaction through automated pulse surveys and anonymous feedback, then provides guidance on improving the work environment and culture. In line with those efforts, the employee engagement platform features agency-wide and team reporting so client-based businesses can spontaneously track and compare engagement across clients, departments, and managers.

Lately, the platform has rolled out some new features for manager-to-employee and peer-to-peer recognition. Good Vibes recognition is a simple feature that enables employees to recognized and being recognized for their great work in the form of e-cards. It also provides managers with a report on driving recognition, what’s being celebrated most, and who is at their absolute best.

Officevibe Customers

WeTransfer, Dyson, Bose, PayScale, and Trivago are some of their 8,000 Officevibe customers.

Officevibe Pricing

Officevibe has four plans. When billed annually, these are charged as below:

  • Free: This plan is free for 1 team with up to 10 users.
  • Essential: This plan allows unlimited teams and costs $3.5 per user per month.
  • Pro: Designed for larger teams, this plan costs $5 per user per month.‍
  • Business: This plan has custom pricing for companies with over 500 users. Contact Officevibe’s Sales team to get a quote.

Best For

Officevibe focuses on employee engagement, recognition, and OKR management, making it a nice option for medium and large-sized businesses. However, small teams can also benefit from Officevibe’s free plan, which is available for up to 10 users.

Officevibe in action
Reviewer's Rating
8/10

I use Officevibe several days a week. I am the admin of the tool for our organization, so I am the one who manages teams and adds new employees to the program. We use the tool to report on each manager's team, as well as on department ratings, and all-company ratings. We also use the tool to send out any company-wide surveys, including our yearly Employee Engagement survey. Team members engage regularly with Good Vibes recognition.

What do you like about this tool?
  1. It allows you to build as many teams as you would like.
  2. It is clear on its anonymity policy so that team members feel comfortable sharing honest feedback.
  3. It allows you to conduct custom surveys on any topic.
Why did your organization buy this tool, and how long have you used it for?

We bought this tool for our organization because we take employee feedback very seriously. We have been using the tool for 3 years. I have been using it as a regular employee for 2 years and as an HR professional (admin of the tool) for 1 year. It allows you to get regular feedback (at whatever frequency you prefer) and allows you to put team members into teams so that managers can get team-specific feedback. It also allows you to give "Good Vibes" so that any team member can provide recognition to their peers.

What do you dislike about this tool?
  1. It does not have a Performance Management feature, which other similar tools do. For the price point, I would expect more features.
  2. It does not have industry benchmark data for specific questions, which is something our ELT was hoping to see.
  3. It currently does not integrate with our HRIS, which I mostly fault to the HRIS but it means I have to manually add all of our members and put them on teams.
How is this tool different than their competitors?

I have not personally used comparable tools but I have done demos with others. I think this tool is very clear (more so than competitors) on its anonymity policy which is very important to our employees. I also think Good Vibes is a fairly unique feature that our team heavily uses and appreciates.

What Instructions should people think about when buying this type of tool?

People should consider what features they need the tool to have. This tool does not have performance management, which is something that many similar tools do. They should also consider pricepoint. Officevibe is a high price point for the limited number of features. Overall, I think it is a great tool, just hard to justify the price considering it is lacking a crucial feature (performance management) that we will need soon.

How has this tool changed or evolved over time to meet users needs?

Officevibe has launched new features throughout our time using it and I know it is currently working on others. Good Vibes was a feature that was added due to requests, and it has been a great addition to the tool. It also has an amazing Customer Support system, where you can answer your own questions or if you can't, they are very prompt at responding.

What specific type of user or organization is this tool very good for?

It is very good for large organizations that want specific team feedback. It is also good for teams that have a large budget for employee engagement metrics.

What specific type of user or organization would this tool not be a good fit for?

It is probably not a good fit for a small company or a start-up due to its price point. However, I do think any company could benefit from the tool.

Quantum Workplace

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Quantum Workplace
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Popularity Score
4.1 / 5
User Score
4.5 / 5
Product Score
4 / 5

Why we picked Quantum Workplace

Quantum Workplace’s platform is expert-designed and comprehensive. Its validated survey, expansive benchmarks, and action-oriented tools make it a powerful solution for measuring and improving employee engagement.

PROS

  • Easy to use and intuitive interface; you can find what you’re looking for and still see the most important items pinned on top.
  • You can personalize surveys, make them from the best practices templates, or build them entirely from scratch.
  • You can share, review recognition with your teammates in a social newsfeed format, and make it as detailed and scheduled or as succinct and impromptu as you please.
  • Ever-present customer service team. Many users have complimented them on their responsiveness.
  • Easy to use, the user interface is intuitive, you can find what you’re looking for and still see the most important items pinned on top. 
  • The option to personalize surveys, make them from the best practices templates, or build entirely from scratch.
  • The ability to share and review recognition with your teammates in a social newsfeed format. What’s great is that you have the option to make it as detailed and scheduled or as succinct and impromptu as you please.
  • An ever-present customer service team. Many users have complimented on their responsiveness.

CONS

  • The platform lacks anonymity options, with feedback being visible to peers/colleagues.
  • Navigation can be confusing at times, particularly when trying to find past goals/feedback.
  • The platform could benefit from more customization options, like adding more details when updating goals or customizing feedback questions.
  • Many users have expressed their issues with canceling, rescheduling, and the inability to schedule 1-on-1s on short notice. 
  • Some users have found the goals feature to be a little confusing to understand because of its extensivity. 
  • This is a rather unprecedented one, but we found many users wishing for more vibrant colors for the platform.
Quantum Workplace (one of the finest employee engagement company) dashboard screenshot

Quantum Workplace Review

Quantum Workplace’s employee engagement software is easy to navigate and is highly flexible in terms of customizations. You can design surveys using the platform's library of validated, research-backed questions that employ a standardized Likert scale to ensure high-quality results. Open-ended questions are also integrated to gather examples of what employees think your company should start, stop, or continue doing.

Once survey data is collected, the built-in reporting and analytics provide insights into overall trends as well as breakdowns by team and demographic. Additionally, Quantum Workplace provides unparalleled benchmark data from over 10,000 organizations to add context to results.

Beyond measurement, the platform enables you to take action on engagement data through features like the action planning library, personalized employee engagement reports with recommendations and lightweight one-on-one tools for managers. The platform also makes it easy to collect data through multiple access options like desktop, kiosk, and SMS text surveys. This allows you to reach every employee, including dispersed and deskless teams.

There are lots of neat automation in place: the automated invitations and reminders significantly reduce survey administration work for HR teams, while the AI-powered Narrative Insights quickly analyzes employee comments to uncover themes, sentiments, and sensitive topics needing follow-up.

With easy-to-interpret analytics, robust benchmarking data, and built-in action planning features, we think Quantum Workplace has got what it takes for you to be on top of employee experience. If you’re looking to reliably measure and improve employee experience, Quantum Workplace’s offering is worth considering.

Quantum Workplace Customers

Quantum Workplace is used by over 10,000 companies, including Fossil Group, DSW, BKD, and Getty Images.

Quantum Workplace Pricing

Pricing is not disclosed upfront, but you can get it after booking a demo.

Best For

Quantum Workplace's employee engagement platform is ideal for medium to large businesses that require advanced engagement and analytics capabilities.

Quantum Workplace in action
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Reward Gateway

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Reward Gateway
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Popularity Score
4.1 / 5
User Score
4.3 / 5
Product Score
4.4 / 5

Why we picked Reward Gateway

Reward Gateway stands out for combining employee engagement surveys, recognition features, reward options, communication tools, wellness guidance, analytics, and more in a single solution.

PROS

  • Easy to use for both the employees and the admin users.
  • Remarkably good customer support thanks to their 24/7 help desk team and multiple communication channels.
  • Varied rewards, including products from Amazon, customizable ecards, and experiences.
  • You can purchase modules separately if you prefer.
  • Integration includes HRIS, directory, authentication apps, and collaboration tools. There’s also an open API.
  • Remarkably good customer support due to their 24/7 help desk team and multiple communication channels
  • Varied rewards including products from Amazon, customizable ecards, and experiences
  • You can purchase modules separately if you prefer it

CONS

  • The “Reward Gateway for Small Business” version is only available for companies in the UK, Australia, and Ireland.
  • The platform’s free trial is only available for the Reward Gateway for Small Business version.
  • The reporting feature isn’t very easy to navigate, according to some users.
  • Several users noted they had poor experiences using the mobile app to access discounts provided by employers. The app also hasn’t been updated since Dec 9, 2022.
  • Users are unable to change employee profiles or create new recognition themselves but have to rely on customer support.
  • No free trial
  • The “Reward Gateway for Small Business” version is only available for companies in the UK and Australia
A guy using Reward Gateway's workforce engagement software on a laptop

Reward Gateway Review

Reward Gateway provides a robust yet user-friendly employee engagement solution that can help you boost morale, retention, and productivity. It centers on employee surveys, including its proprietary four-question Engaged Index that benchmarks engagement. You can use this Index to identify at-risk areas for turnover and presenteeism, then conduct follow-up surveys on specific topics to dig deeper. Surveys can be created from existing templates or customized as needed.

A major advantage of Reward Gateway is how effectively it turns survey insights into impact. The platform makes acting on feedback easy with digestible analytics tied to engagement drivers. Leadership teams can clearly see potential areas for investment and how interventions may influence key metrics like retention. This proves the ROI on employee engagement spend and lends credibility when proposing new programs.

All in all, there’s a lot to like about Reward Gateway as an employee engagement software solution. It offers versatile survey options, an easy-to-understand yet robust scoring system, powerful segmentation, and actionable analytics. Companies looking to boost engagement and improve culture through data-driven insights would do well to shortlist Reward Gateway.

Reward Gateway Customers

Reward Gateway has over 4000 customers, including Ikea, McDonald's, Unilever, and Heineken.

Reward Gateway Pricing

  • For companies under 100 employees and are based in the UK, Ireland, or Australia: It costs £6 (around $7.5) per employee per month for an annual subscription.‍
  • For companies with 100+ employees: Undisclosed pricing. You will have to get in touch with their team to get the quote.

Best For

Rewards Gateway can be used by companies anywhere, though they do cater to U.S., UK, Ireland, and Australia-based companies best.

Reward Gateway in action
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Leapsome

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Leapsome
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Popularity Score
4.3 / 5
User Score
4.8 / 5
Product Score
4.7 / 5

Why we picked Leapsome

Leapsome is highly flexible; you can choose to build on its best-practice surveys and questionnaires developed by psychologists or customize everything — from questions to timelines and anonymity settings.

PROS

  • Leapsome is feature-rich and easy to use.
  • Through anonymous surveys, managers can collect honest feedback to understand employee sentiment.
  • Users appreciate how Leapsome centralizes feedback and reviews in one place.
  • The notifications and reminders ensure tasks aren’t neglected.
  • The visual charts, graphs, and analytics in Leapsome help you understand feedback and performance data.
  • Leapsome is quite feature-rich; the platform packs modules for employee onboarding,  learning management, engagement, performance management, goals tracking and much more. 
  • The majority of users find Leapsome’s UI to be friendly and easy to navigate.
  • There are lots of third party integrations options to choose from, including Slack, which many users appreciate. 
  • The platform has transparent pricing, and you only pay for the modules you need.

CONS

  • Users can’t include images or files in feedback.
  • Leapsome’s wide range of features does mean a learning curve and lengthy implementation.
  • There isn’t a mobile app for quick access on the go.
  • Free trials require a sales demo to access.
  • There is currently no way to post or upload an image or file into your feedback.
  • Since Leapsome can do so many things, you may need some time to get used to it. The implementation process can also take some time. 
  • There currently isn’t a mobile app that users can download and access Leapsome quickly on-the-go. 
  • Free 14-day trials are available but you need to book a demo with the sales team first to sign up for one; you can’t do so on your own. 
Leapsome Employee Engagement Management Software dashboard screenshot

Leapsome Review

Leapsome offers a host of features dedicated to measuring and improving employee engagement. Through easy-to-create surveys featuring pre-made templates based on scientific research, you can regularly collect anonymous or identified feedback from your employees and gain valuable insights.

Among the Leapsome features, what stood out for us is its advanced sentiment analysis. Using AI and machine learning, the software can analyze open-ended survey responses to uncover hidden insights and common themes. It automatically scores the sentiment of qualitative feedback to reveal how employees truly feel. This level of analysis provides the actionable data you need to tackle the biggest engagement challenges.

Leapsome also enables the segmentation of survey results by factors like tenure, team, and manager. By spotlighting correlations between engagement drivers and performance or turnover, you can develop targeted strategies for improving the culture at your organization. Selective sharing options allow managers to view trends and feedback relevant to their teams without compromising anonymity.

With its focus on survey customization, automated deployment, advanced analytics, and anonymous follow-up dialogues, Leapsome combines comprehensive feedback collection with the tools to turn insights into positive action. If you’re seeking to measure employee experience and make positive changes to workplace culture, we think Leapsome is worth checking out.

Leapsome Customers

Over 1,500 companies use Leapsome, including Mercedes Benz, Spotify, Trivago, Eventim, and Babbel.

Leapsome Pricing

Leapsome’s pricing depends on the number of your employees, the modules you want to use, and the length of your contract. Its modular pricing starts from $7 per user per month when billed annually. To get a detailed quote, contact Leapsome’s sales team. You can also test out Leapsome free of charge for a full 14 days - no credit card required.

Best For

Leapsome can be used by companies of all sizes across different verticals.

Leapsome in action
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Culture Amp

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Culture Amp
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Popularity Score
4.1 / 5
User Score
4.6 / 5
Product Score
4.2 / 5

Why we picked Culture Amp

Culture Amp boosts engagement through dozens of ready-made and customizable surveys, powerful analytics, and integration capabilities. To top it all off, the platform is supported by a group of data experts focused on everything relating to engagement.

PROS

  • Culture Amp has an intuitive, easy-to-navigate interface.
  • You can choose from multiple survey templates or create your own. 
  • Upon survey completion, the platform gives you insights into employee sentiment via heatmaps, trendlines, and benchmarks.
  • You can set goals and track their progress seamlessly.
  • You get useful reminders about different things like tasks, reviews, and 1:1s.
  • People science team
  • Tons of engagement surveys

CONS

  • Customization options for reviews and ratings are limited.
  • The platform features a text-heavy design that lacks visual elements like charts.
  • It takes time to understand the platform’s full capabilities.
  • The pricing isn’t publicly disclosed and can only be obtained after booking a demo.
  • Their people science plus offering is not available for very small companies
  • Enterprise clients might find that they lack some of the integrations and customizations a bigger team needs.
Our reviewer took Culture Amp's Employee Engagement Solution dashboard screenshot during the demo

Culture Amp Review

Culture Amp provides organizations with an effective system to regularly pulse their workforce, dig into key drivers of engagement, and take proven steps to create a thriving culture.

One of Culture Amp's greatest strengths is its library of 40+ customizable survey templates designed by experts in organizational psychology. You can leverage these prescriptive questionnaires to glean actionable insights around engagement, inclusion, onboarding, company events, and more. The software also benchmarks results against over 1 billion survey responses, allowing you to understand your engagement levels compared to top-performing companies. 

Another feature worth highlighting is Culture Amp’s Retention Insights, which gives you early warning signs around employee flight risks. It doesn’t stop there though, Retention Insights also gives you suggestions on what you can do to bring these employees around. 

The insights Culture Amp gives you aren't just comprehensive for leadership - they empower each employee to feel heard while driving change at an individual level. Both managers and employees appreciate the customized reporting and focused recommendations that translate feedback into clear steps forward. The platform is thoughtfully designed for each stakeholder, providing leaders with a birds-eye view of engagement while giving teams and individual employees visibility into areas requiring their input. This connectivity fosters a culture of accountability at all levels.

Culture Amp Customers

Culture Amp is used by over 6500 companies, including SoulCycle, Canva, McDonalds, Etsy, and Bombas. 

Culture Amp Pricing

Culture Amp has three modules - Engage, Develop, and Perform. The pricing isn’t fixed and is calculated based on the modules, number of user seats, and features you need. Contact the Culture Amp sales team for pricing details. 


Best For

Culture Amp serves growing and large companies best, regardless of industry and location.

Culture Amp in action
Reviewer's Rating
10/10

I utilized Culture Amp for employee engagement surveys. The workflow allowed for direct links sent via email with data pulled directly from our HRIS as well as links and QR codes for employees without email access.

Post survey, the platform also provided action planning guidance and built-in training solutions with life labs. Culture Amp linked with our HRIS, Ceridian, and was able to provide a great demographic breakdown while maintaining the confidentiality of the survey. It also had a great sentiment tool for all free text reporting so you were able to analyze if it was a positive or negative comment with themes rather than read every single comment submitted.

What do you like about this tool?
  • The end user experience from employees' end on computers, tablets, and phones was top-notch.
  • Data analytics were clear, easy to use/export, and provided clear trending vs previous years or industry benchmarks.
Why did your organization buy this tool, and how long have you used it for?

I utilized Culture Amp at a previous employer for 2 years before switching organizations. We migrated to this platform from a paper employee engagement survey.  Culture Amp provided great transition, resources, and tools to be successful in a manufacturing environment where many employees did not have access to a personal computer or e-mail. The end user interface was a huge selling point.

The backend side of the platform is also very strong. I loved the data analytics and how much you could compare data year over year. Culture Amp also stood out against competitors with their post survey support in the form of suggested action items and personalized training items. I loved this program so much that I immediately shared them as a vendor option with my new organization.

What do you dislike about this tool?
  • There was no way to combine smaller participating groups for combined engagement data. 
  • Additional modules were great (performance) but expensive compared to the current platform. 
  • They had great exports for PowerPoints but I wish the templates could be customized.
How is this tool different than their competitors?

I loved how Culture Amp tied in with our HRIS for demographic and contact information and was super user-friendly both as the end user and admin. The platform is advanced in ease of use compared with other platforms.

What Instructions should people think about when buying this type of tool?

End user experience should be top of mind as if the system is complicated to access or use employees will not participate in surveys.

Ease of understanding data analytics and custom access/reports is a must. This platform is able to have custom results mass exported/delivered to leaders

How has this tool changed or evolved over time to meet users needs?

It continuously adds benchmark data, training modules, and improved action items for survey results.

What specific type of user or organization is this tool very good for?

Organizations that need data split by site, function, and/or leader are a great fit for Culture Amp. Also, organizations that need flexibility on how users interact with the system (mobile, tablet, computer), etc., would benefit from the platform.

Lastly having an HRIS is great for system integrations but organizations can also upload user data by spreadsheet so it is not a full requirement.

What specific type of user or organization would this tool not be a good fit for?

 It is an expensive platform so if you have a limited budget this may not be a great fit.

Empuls

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Empuls
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Popularity Score
4.1 / 5
User Score
4.6 / 5
Product Score
4.2 / 5

Why we picked Empuls

Empuls’s engagement solution lets you run a variety of surveys, including Pulse, eNPS, and 360 Feedback surveys. All surveys are customizable and can be anonymized so your employees feel at ease giving honest feedback.

PROS

  • Empuls features a modern UI that’s easy to navigate. They also offer plenty of self-help articles to help you get started.
  • The platform is quite comprehensive, with tools covering employee communication, engagement surveys, recognition, rewards, and analytics.
  • Employees are able to participate in surveys on the go with the help of Empuls’ mobile app available on both iOS and Android devices.
  • Their affordable and tiered pricing ensures companies of different sizes can try out the tool and scale it up or down as needed. They also offer a 30-day free trial that anyone can sign up for.
  • Empuls features a modern UI that’s easy to navigate. They also offer plenty of self-help articles to help you get started.
  • The platform is quite comprehensive, with tools covering employee communication, engagement surveys, recognition, rewards, and analytics.
  • Employees are able to participate in surveys on the go with the help of Empuls’ mobile app available on both iOS and Android devices.
  • Their affordable and tiered pricing ensures different size companies can try out the tool and scale up or down as needed. They also offer a 30-day free trial that anyone can sign up for.

CONS

  • A few users find the options for rewards rather limited. Several of them are specifically wishing for the inclusion of more Amazon gift cards viable in their countries.
  • Employees cannot share their points with each other at this time.
  • Once you assign a sub-domain, you cannot change it later.
  • Several users have experienced performance speed issues with Empuls’ mobile app.
  • There is no monthly billing option.
  • A few users find the options for rewards rather limited. Several of them are specifically wishing for the inclusion of more Amazon gift cards viable in their countries.
  • Employees cannot share their points with each other at this time.
  • Once you assign a sub-domain, you cannot change it later.
  • Several users have experienced performance speed issues with Empuls’ mobile app.
Empuls Employee Engagement Management Tool dashboard screenshot

Empuls Review

Empuls provides organizations with a host of tools to listen to, diagnose, and act on employee feedback to boost engagement. Central to its offering are anonymized pulse surveys which can help you elicit honest input. You can customize these surveys or choose from existing templates, thoughtfully created in partnership with HR experts at SHRM.

Another powerful tool is Empuls’ simplified eNPS surveys, which help you identify brand promoters, passives, and detractors with a single score. The detailed classification, coupled with guidance on how to engage each segment, enables you to convert detractors and passives into loyal promoters.

Once feedback is in, Empuls makes it easy to diagnose problem areas through cross-linkage insights between engagement, performance, culture, and more granular analytics. The platform detects interconnections that highlight priorities for improvement. These data-backed insights inform Empuls’ Act phase, where you are given action plans and change management recommendations tailored to addressing each engagement obstacle.

The ability to capture feedback across the employee lifecycle is another thing we like about Empuls. Right from onboarding to exit interviews, Empuls’ conversational surveys help you uncover how employees feel at each touchpoint. These staged insights along with data from pulse and 360-degree surveys, allow you to craft targeted strategies that elevate the experiences of your employees.

Empuls Customers

Empuls has over 1,000 global customers, including Prodevans, Magzter, KPIT, Quixy, and more.

Empuls Pricing

Empuls’ modules are sold separately. Below is how much each module costs, billed annually:

  • Reward and Recognize: $3 per employee per month.
  • Surveys: $3 per employee per month.
  • Social Intranet: $1 per employee per month.
  • Perks and Benefits: $2 per employee per month.

Best For

While Empuls offers several competitive features for every business, it’s most suitable for small to medium-sized businesses who want to build a people-first environment.

Empuls in action
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Assembly

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Assembly
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Popularity Score
4.1 / 5
User Score
4.7 / 5
Product Score
4.1 / 5

Why we picked Assembly

With an adoption rate of over 90%, Assembly is a rewards and recognition platform that also allows you to customize and send out all sorts of engagement forms and receive actionable feedback.

PROS

  • Explore the platform for free, no need for a credit card or demo
  • Great set of features for the price point
  • Make your own rewards and even set up a points system with automated incentives
  • You have the option to go with a month-to-month plan or a long-term contract. For the latter, you can reach out to their team for a custom deal if it’s a larger team. However, keep in mind that the minimum agreement is 12 months. 

CONS

  • Coins and points do expire, so sometimes they’ll expire by the end of the month before you can use them, although you get more the next period.
  • SSO is only included with some plans. For others, it can be purchased as an add-on.
Our reviewer took Assembly's Employee Engagement Platform dashboard screenshot during the demo

Assembly Review

Assembly started out as an employee rewards product and rapidly grew into a comprehensive platform that facilitates employee engagement, project management, and performance management. 

Thanks to customizable forms and workflows, companies can use Assembly to send pulse surveys, conduct routine standups and 1:1s, track progress, automate employee recognition, and much more. 

To put it in numbers, Assembly sees around 90% of employees use it on a monthly basis which is evidence that companies are successfully using it to build stronger cultures with more engaged employees.

Assembly Customers

Coca-Cola, Quest Nutrition, Nesco Resource, HelloTech, Amazon

Assembly Pricing

Assembly has four plans that are priced as follows:

  • Starter: Limited to 10 members, the Starter plan is free of charge and is designed for small teams that are interested in employee recognition.
  • Lite: For $2.80 per member per month, billed annually, the Lite plan is designed for teams that want to maximize their employee engagement. This plan is limited to 50 members.
  • Standard: For $4.50 per member per month, billed annually, the Standard plan packs all the necessary features for businesses to amplify cross-functional engagement, without any limits on the number of members on board. 
  • Premium: Designed for large organizations that need a custom and unique program, the Premium plan can accommodate unlimited members. Contact Assembly’s Sales team for a price quote.

Best For

Assembly can be used by companies of all sizes across different verticals.

Assembly in action
Reviewer's Rating
9/10

Assembly is such a fantastic platform for sharing gratitude with your colleagues, across the organization as a whole, as well as internally and externally between departments. It is straightforward, easy, and fun to use! This tool is especially good for nurturing culture across a remote team. The integration with Slack makes it seamless for the team to use and engage with, and Assembly engages senior leadership with ease.

What do you like about this tool?

Simple, fast platform. Easy set-up and free trial version prior to transition to paid version. Easy implementation and great reporting options and support.

Why did your organization buy this tool, and how long have you used it for?

In the age of remote, work-from-home, and hybrid models, and all of the inherent challenges it presents, Assembly has allowed us to continue to celebrate business culture and monetize the value of success within our organization. We are able to easily recognize team members and their accomplishments so that those ambiguous moments can become tangible for the entire company to see. Acknowledgements of birthdays, anniversaries, work anniversaries etc. are seamlessly built in, never to be forgotten or overlooked. Coins can be exchanged for gifts, donated to charity, traded in for company-branded gifts, or cashed in for rewards. Our engagement rate is over 90% on the Assembly platform and we are very excited to see how they can continue to evolve its value proposition.

What do you dislike about this tool?

Coins expire if not used in time. UX could be more user-friendly. Larger tiered allotments would be a great improvement.

How is this tool different than their competitors?
What Instructions should people think about when buying this type of tool?

When considering any employee recognition platform, functionality and reporting should always be heavily weighted in the final decision. Recognition platforms go hand-in-hand with engagement surveys; some platforms do not offer this feature or offer. Limited version of this feature. Mobility and accessibility are primary concerns, especially where remote and global teams exist. Also, goal/challenge creation, tracking and attainment features are wonderful enhancements to include.

How has this tool changed or evolved over time to meet users needs?

There have been consistent upgrades to the platform and Assembly is very open to feedback and suggestions.

What specific type of user or organization is this tool very good for?

Assembly is ideal for small and mid-market organizations.

What specific type of user or organization would this tool not be a good fit for?

Assembly would not be a good fit for large/enterprise organizations.

WorkTango

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WorkTango
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Popularity Score
4.2 / 5
User Score
4.5 / 5
Product Score
4.4 / 5

Why we picked WorkTango

WorkTango helps you measure engagement and collect actionable feedback easily and confidentially. You can leverage its real-time dashboards and analytics to understand employee sentiment, empower managers to act, and drive positive organizational change.

PROS

  • You can run unlimited surveys, available in over 20 languages including English, Spanish, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, and Korean.
  • You can use WorkTango’s research-backed and statistically validated assessments, or create your own.
  • Anonymous Conversations enable managers to acknowledge and respond to open-text survey comments while protecting employee anonymity.
  • You can compare your engagement survey results to internal and external benchmarks.
  • Open-text responses can be summarized with Natural Language Processing (NLP). It can also bring the most used terms front and center in a word cloud.
  • Unlimited surveys available in English, Spanish, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, and Korean.
  • You can add modules as you go and these will be charged on a prorated basis.

CONS

  • There isn’t a monthly billing option. You have to pay by year.
  • All plans require a minimum commitment of 12 months.
  • Free trials aren't available at this time.
  • Billing is only done annually and all plans require a minimum agreement for a 24-month subscription (see our FAQs for more and their pricing page for full details).
  • Several users have complained about the rewards redeeming process being not very intuitive.
WorkTango Employee Engagement Software dashboard screenshot

WorkTango Review

WorkTango’s Surveys & Insights module is all about helping businesses measure and improve employee engagement. We like that users can customize and deploy an unlimited number of surveys to gather feedback across the entire employee lifecycle. Survey creation is made even easier with WorkTango’s library of expert-designed questions, ready to be used as needed.

Once responses are collected, WorkTango's dashboards and reporting features kick in. The sophisticated analytics help identify key themes and trends from both quantitative data and open-ended comments. Features like the Sentiment Cloud summarize the overall positive and negative sentiment within employee feedback, while easy benchmarking shows how your company compares to other players in your industry. These insights are presented through highly visual, easy-to-grasp dashboards tailored to different roles.

But WorkTango isn't just about measuring engagement. The software offers predictive recommendations and suggested actions based on survey results. Leaders can then turn these recommendations into accountable action plans with progress tracking. For developing leaders' capabilities, WorkTango even suggests relevant learning resources to build skills in areas needing improvement. It’s overall, a very well-thought-out platform.

WorkTango Customers

Over 1,000 companies use Worktango’s solutions, including Kia Motors, HUB International, Rexall, and Accruent.

WorkTango Pricing

WorkTango has three modules:

  • Employee Surveys & Insights: Pricing starts from $8,000, billed annually.
  • Recognition & Rewards: Pricing starts from $8,000, billed annually.‍
  • Full Employee Experience Platform: Pricing starts from $10,000 billed annually.

Best For

Although WorkTango can be used by any company size, from SMBs to Fortune 100 enterprises, their 1000+ customers are predominantly mid-sized to large companies.

WorkTango in action
Reviewer's Rating
8/10

We used WorkTango regularly for engagement surveys, pulse checks, surveys following development events, for onboarding and so on. We used it to get feedback from our employees on specific events as well as general engagement feedback. We also used it for pulse surveys to get more insight into particular topics.

What do you like about this tool?

It's really easy to use in terms of setup of surveys and adding and deleting employees. You get results instantly with many ways to view the data and drill down. Their support is really good as well - knowledgeable and responsive.

Why did your organization buy this tool, and how long have you used it for?

I used WorkTango in a previous role, and used it for about 4 years. We bought it because we were looking for a better way to conduct employee engagement surveys, and WorkTango helped us do that in a way that was completely customizable. We did annual surveys as well as regular pulse checks. With WorkTango we could see participation rates throughout the survey periods and got results instantly. The tool provides some analysis and different ways to cut data (department, tenure, etc.).

What do you dislike about this tool?

The exporting of results isn't perfect - it got better while we were using it but we still had to manually create certain views to share the results we wanted with our executive. The trending feature, which is great overall, doesn't work if you change the wording of a question in any way, so if you want to reword a term the trending doesn't work.

How is this tool different than their competitors?

I had always used companies to run engagement surveys and it was a less intuitive process and the results took weeks if not months to get. WorkTango makes it easy and instant.

What Instructions should people think about when buying this type of tool?

Think about how often you want to use it and how to make the most of it. If you do one survey a year it's likely not worth it. Make sure you're comfortable interpreting results as well. The system does some of that but you need to be able to analyze responses and determine why things might be surfacing. And don't buy this type of tool if you're not going to do anything with the results.

How has this tool changed or evolved over time to meet users needs?

WorkTango was very responsive to our suggestions for features or improvements. During the 4 years we used it there were some upgrades or changes, as well as one significant upgrade that addressed a lot of things and made the tool better, especially in terms of how data is displayed and exported.

What specific type of user or organization is this tool very good for?

Great for HR teams and people with little to a lot of technical savviness.

What specific type of user or organization would this tool not be a good fit for?

Very small organizations wouldn't benefit from this as it relies on a certain number of responses to maintain anonymity.

Mo

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Mo
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Popularity Score
4.1 / 5
User Score
4.9 / 5
Product Score
4.4 / 5

Why we picked Mo

Mo drives morale and engagement through its easy-to-understand rewards system, peer nominations, and an AI Assistant that ensures appreciation never falls through the cracks.

PROS

  • The UI is user-friendly, and the majority of users like the wide range of vouchers they can provide using the platform.
  • The platform automatically nudges employees to recognize one another’s achievements if they haven’t sent recognitions in a while.
  • Mo’s pricing is publicly shared and quite reasonable compared to similar solutions.
  • Users can access the platform in 12 languages.
  • Android and iOS mobile apps are available for on-the-go access.
  • Mo’s UI is easy to navigate, and users seem to appreciate the varied choice of gift cards they can offer through the platform.
  • The platform’s pricing is transparent and reasonable compared to similar solutions in this space, 
  • Mo is available in 12 languages and growing.

CONS

  • Mo currently only integrates with Slack and Microsoft Teams.
  • The availability of customer support is limited to weekdays from 9 AM to 5 PM GMT.
  • There aren’t free trials or free plans that you can sign up for at this time.
  • Mo currently has limited integrations (only Slack and Microsoft Teams)
  • The customer support hours are limited to weekdays, 9 AM - 5 PM GMT. 

Mo Review

Mo’s platform takes on employee engagement through meaningful rewards and recognition. At its core, you’ll find Moments and Boosts - which are simple yet effective features engineered to fuel morale. Managers can easily create Moments to praise team or individual accomplishments, pairing the shout-outs with gift cards or custom rewards. Boosts, on the other hand, are automations that ensure day-to-day kudos are never forgotten.

We appreciate Mo’s attention to different preferences through its varied and customizable reward options. We also like how straightforward their rewards program is; if a user puts in $5 to recognize someone, the recipient gets $5 to redeem. Having a clear dollar value to rewards is great for a few reasons: it’s simpler for users to understand (as opposed to confusing point-based systems), and it also makes budget tracking infinitely easier.

Mo also promotes inclusiveness in its peer-to-peer nomination features, which give employees the ability to actively recognize one another. This not only makes employees feel more empowered but also contributes to a positive and supportive company culture.

To complement its core offering, Mo recently introduced its AI-powered Assistant tool, which provides customized recommendations on actions leaders can take to boost engagement further. For example, it will automatically remind managers of upcoming employee milestones like birthdays and work anniversaries. Or if someone hasn’t given praise to a deserving co-worker in a while, the Assistant will gently prompt them to send some appreciation.

Mo Customers

Mo counts over 58k users using its platform, including SGN, The O2, NHS, Aspen, William Hill, and SHL.

Mo Pricing

Mo’s offering is available over three plans. When billed annually, the pricing for each plan is as follows:

  • Appreciate: This plan is designed for small teams who are new to recognition software. It costs $2.25 per user per month and includes features that allow you to acknowledge achievements, celebrate birthdays, anniversaries, and more.
  • Engage: Priced at $4.5 per user per month, this plan includes everything in the Appreciate plan and additional features such as the ability to nominate individuals for awards and grant rewards, access advanced reporting and insights, and integrate with third-party platforms.
  • Transform: Tailored for large companies, the Transform plan has personalized pricing. It encompasses all the features available in the other plans, along with rewards and recognition program design, advanced security measures, premium support, and implementation services.

Best For

Companies of all sizes can use Mo to drive employee engagement through rewards and recognition.

Mo in action
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15five

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15five
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Popularity Score
4 / 5
User Score
4.6 / 5
Product Score
4.2 / 5

Why we picked 15five

15Five provides administrators with access to assessments that collect employee feedback on topics including working from home, diversity, and inclusion. The questions are science-backed and anonymous, giving employees a safe space to provide detailed and candid answers.

PROS

  • 15Five helps HR leaders run their performance programs from start to finish and make talent decisions based on a 360-degree view of each employee.
  • With the help of visual dashboards, HR leaders can access colorful and easy-to-comprehend insights that will make their talent decisions easier.
  • The platform is fairly easy to use, comes with a mobile app, has transparent pricing, as well as a 14-day free trial so users can try before they buy.
  • 15Five helps HR leaders run their performance programs from start to finish and make talent decisions based on a 360-degree view of each employee.
  • With the help of visual dashboards, HR leaders can access colorful and easy-to-comprehend insights that will make their talent decisions easier.
  • The platform is fairly easy to use, comes with a mobile app, has transparent pricing, as well as a 14-day free trial so users can try before they buy.

CONS

  • Some users reported experiencing difficulty creating new objectives or connecting existing objectives to parent objectives in the objectives section.
  • When you create an engagement survey using 15Five's template, you can only choose from a selection of pre-made categories rather than creating your own.
  • The out of the box integration options are quite limited, and a Zapier integration used to be available but is now sunsetted. As an alternative, 15Five does have a public API for users to plug in custom tools, but that requires a bit more work.
  • Some users reported experiencing difficulty creating new objectives or connecting existing objectives to parent objectives in the objectives section.
  • When you create an engagement survey using 15Five's template, you can only choose from a selection of pre-made categories rather than creating your own.
  • The out of the box integration options are quite limited, and a Zapier integration used to be available but is now sunsetted. As an alternative, 15Five does have a public API for users to plug-in custom tools but that requires a bit more work.
15five employee engagement software dashboard screenshot

15five Review

15Five makes it easy for companies to regularly collect feedback from employees and gain insights to improve engagement. The platform is user-friendly and features a big library of expert-designed, science-backed templates on critical areas like manager effectiveness, engagement, DEI initiatives, and eNPS.

You can choose to deploy surveys to all employees or targeted groups in just two clicks. The surveys are designed to be completed in six minutes or less on any device so you get the highest completion rates possible. As for questions, these surveys dig deep to uncover things beyond basic satisfaction, such as how employees really feel about important topics like burnout, diversity, remote work, and more.

Once feedback is collected, you can analyze it at the company, department, or team level. You can also slice and dice the data to identify strengths and pain points among different demographics. Comparing survey responses over time or benchmarking against industry averages is also possible through 15Five. Furthermore, its customizable dashboards allow you to see all uncovered trends and patterns at a single glance. The HR Outcomes Dashboard, in particular, does a good job of analyzing engagement alongside key performance indicators, showing you how morale impacts retention, productivity, and more.

Besides the platform’s built-in analytics capabilities, which we think are already great, you can seek the expertise of 15Five’s team for additional support. Their advisors and coaches can help you interpret results and create targeted engagement strategies. They can also coach managers at your company to improve their leadership skills based on feedback.

Overall, we think 15Five’s employee engagement solution is quite solid and delivers on what it promises, i.e., taking the guesswork out of employee listening. It gives you the data and human insights needed to understand your people, drive engagement, and improve workplace culture.

15five Customers

15Five’s customer base includes Hubspot, Spotify, American Red Cross, Clearbit, Pendo and more.

15five Pricing

  • Engage $4 per user per month for access to all the engagement features, including surveys, analysis, and AI-based insights.
  • Perform: $10 per user per month for access to the performance, OKR, and goal management features.
  • Total Platform: $16 per user per month for access to everything 15Five has to offer.

Best For

15Five is suitable for growing companies and enterprises wanting to ensure that they're getting feedback from all corners of the organization.

15five in action
Reviewer's Rating
10/10

For feedback on my current role. We use 15five weekly, on Fridays we must answer the questions provided by our manager and we submit high 5’s to peers if any of us have done something good, we show appreciation. I personally love to check weekly the responses from other peers or who is getting appreciation. I think that helps to motivate everyone!

What do you like about this tool?
  • I like it because it helps us with accountability, we can support and appreciate our coworkers. We can communicate easily. I like it overall.
  • It’s a great tool to keep track of the performances of employees.
  • I like the fact I can create objectives and goals to work on
Why did your organization buy this tool, and how long have you used it for?

Our organization saw a need to have this tool because it helps to track our employees and their progress. As you can provide feedback to your manager or peers, there is transparency in the process and the employees can be heard. We have used this tool for over a year and it has impacted us in a positive way. When our employees feel appreciated, we see better results, we can show appreciation weekly and it’s noticed by everyone in the company.

What do you dislike about this tool?
  • Well, I would say sometimes employees like privacy and as shown to everyone on the appreciation piece, some people might not like it.
  • Also, the responses to questions, are not anonymous, and sometimes people won't be honest to the fullest, fearing they would lose their job.
How is this tool different than their competitors?

It's the first time I use a tool like this. So, I can’t really comment on the competitors.

What Instructions should people think about when buying this type of tool?

They need to think about how this tool will improve the culture, and environment and also understand that the business will be impacted in a positive way as the employees are being heard. If someone has an idea, they can communicate via 15five.

How has this tool changed or evolved over time to meet users needs?

It has helped me to share my thoughts on how I feel or for any new ideas that can help the business.

What specific type of user or organization is this tool very good for?

Any company wanting to give feedback and appreciation to employees.

What specific type of user or organization would this tool not be a good fit for?

For a company that is not focused on its employees.

Benefits of Employee Engagement Software

The key benefits of employee engagement software are improvements to employee experience, access to real-time data for actionable insights, ability to create a focused strategy, holistic talent management, and increasedemployee performance.

Improve Employee Experience: By learning what they care about and representing their perspectives on the company culture, HR teams can build trust and a sense of belonging with each individual and the company. This is the foundation of a positive employee experience.

Trust building starts with the first contact with a recruiter and continues throughout the employee lifecycle. Benefits manifest at every step– when employees feel heard, and their concerns are addressed, it leads to less turnover and higher productivity.

To learn more, check out this article about employee engagement featuring our friend and engagement expert, Hallie Bregman.

Gather Real-Time, Actionable Insights: Unlike an annual survey, most engagement platforms use pulse surveys to gather small amounts of data in frequent intervals. These low-pressure samples ask only one or two questions and have high response rates. Pulse surveys offer real-time input on real-time issues, and the swift turnover turns data into actionable insights that can be deployed immediately.

Focused Strategy: Most employee engagement programs include a built-in playbook for engagement strategy. This is a massive bonus for HR teams who are (probably) already doing a lot (too much?) and don’t have the resources to drive this initiative with the focus it deserves.

The built-in playbooks are built on solid research, which often includes the input of experts in Industrial and Organizational Psychology (IO). You can expect companies in this space to follow best practices for surveys: what to ask, who to ask, how to ask, and how often.

Holistic Talent Management: An employee engagement platform provides a holistic view of your company across the entire employee lifecycle. They give the People Operations team and functional leaders a means to examine and de-bug cultural issues before they become systemic predicaments. This benefit, in particular, requires a mindset that may benefit from more context than we can fit in this article. We encourage you to read more about holistic talent management in this article: 31 Effective and Actionable Employee Engagement Ideas.

Increase Employee Performance: Though performance management platforms are available as standalone tools, some engagement platforms include performance management features. This feature adds the ability to assess the effect of employees' efforts toward company goals and how these efforts compare to their peers.

Pro Tips on Employee Engagement Software

Common Pitfalls When Buying and Using Employee Engagement Platforms?

1. Unreasonable Expectations of Impact: To be effective, the platform must work alongside a distinctive, authentic, and positive company culture. The software can supplement your efforts, but it won't “fix” company-wide problems with engagement. Herrin and Marie agree here, and Marie's experience has borne this out. She reminds us in no uncertain terms that software cannot replace the power of a human connection.

2. Unreasonable Expectations of Adoption: Affecting a company-wide change will take time. Simply put, inspiring behavior change is difficult. After working in an environment that could have been more attentive to their engagement, employees are sometimes distrustful of initiatives that promise brighter days. The process of winning over the skeptics can’t happen overnight, but it can happen. The right time to start, whether with engagement software or other means, is now.

3. Underestimating the Slow Pace of Implementation: Like the plodding, uphill struggle of behavior change, implementation can also move at a painfully sluggish pace. To make it as easy as possible, choose a platform with an open API and/or partnerships with tools you already use. Consider your HR tech stack and daily communication tools: both must be seamlessly connected to your new tool to ensure a seamless transition.

4. Trying to do Too Much, Too Fast: Be conservative and methodical about your rollout game plan. Some vendors offer assistance with this process, but if yours doesn't (or you chose not to follow it), you can orchestrate a successful rollout with good planning and reasonable expectations.

In our experience, creating a schedule with a regular cadence that introduces features slowly is best. We’ve also found it helpful to take feedback from departments across the organization about the rollout order: the insight of your leadership and individual contributors is a massive asset.

The Business Case Behind Employee Engagement Platforms

Employee engagement software allows companies to have a better understanding of the health of their organization. These solutions give People and HR teams more insights into what is working and what needs to be fixed. When used right, employers can reap benefits by increasing the productivity of their workforce and by studying losses caused by employee attrition. Plus, we all got into HR in the first place to help people have a better experience at work, right?

We’ve designed this Excel-based calculator to help you think through the basic ROI from using the best employee engagement solutions. We highly suggest you use the video below to understand best how to use this spreadsheet.

We also have a page on our site dedicated to HR Tech ROI calculations if you want to check it out.

Key Features of the Best Employee Engagement Software

Here are some of the features that should be a “given” for any tool in the marketplace.

  • Easy, Daily Engagement: This tool should be effortlessly embedded wherever your teams “talk.” Whichever email or internal comms platform you use, be sure your employee engagement tool fits right in. In addition to being there for the office chit-chat (and please don’t undervalue casual conversation, whether virtual or in person!), some vendors include a dashboard for daily activities, status checks, and up-to-date info. These can be highly customized or generalized depending on team needs.
  • Encouragement: Some platforms include performance management and goal-setting features, which are great! But be mindful of when and how you use features like these. While a thriving team will appreciate tools like talent assessment, coaching, and feedback, a team in a slump needs a little TLC before the talent show.
  • Peer Recognition: While performance management and goal-setting must be applied with care, our experience says it’s best to apply peer-to-peer recognition liberally! Employee recognition is a staple of engagement. Though employee recognition software is a platform unto itself, elements of this highly effective tactic should be built into your engagement software selection.
  • Employee Surveys: Designed for lightweight deliveries and swift returns,  frequently-deployed “pulse surveys” can net a significant effect from small servings. They can also focus on topics like “uh, what just happened?” which is helpful for situations where the follow-on is “something needs to be done.” We love these surveys because they are, on the employee end, very low effort, and on the HR end, uniquely and highly informative.
  • Collaborative Spaces: Whether for work or play, virtual or in-person, employee engagement platforms can create “spaces” where people connect. They are sometimes built to mimic the look and feel of social media, so workers are naturally drawn to spend time getting to know each other inside and outside of work topics.

What Do You Ask During a Demo With an Employee Engagement Software Vendor?

When the time comes, you’ll want to understand key concepts regardless of your industry or specific use case. We have had great luck with these questions and suggest you ask them all!

1. What is the core philosophy behind your employee engagement solution?

Some vendors are focused on employee health, others on company health. Some started by operationalizing OKR tracking, others employee recognition. Find the vendor that best aligns philosophically with your organization. You’ll find their product manifests their beliefs in what the most critical aspects of culture are.

2. Do you have these features that we need?

While feature parity exists across many of these vendors, you should keep a list of key must-have features. Ask if they are available or when they will become available.

This is unusual, but we recommend speaking to the customer service rep you’ll be working with. This person will play a massive role in implementing and adopting the platform, so you must have a good rapport.

We recommend this because there are a remarkable number of reviews of employee engagement platforms that specifically mention customer success managers. Given the delicate nature of engagement and change management, it’s no surprise that this person can make or break a customer’s experience.

We’ve done it ourselves, and you should too. It’s not as awkward as it sounds!

3. How does your employee engagement software leverage AI?

AI-enabled products are everywhere, but how the technology is used for employee engagement can vary widely. You should ask how AI is part of the current product and how (or if) the team thinks about using AI to improve their product over time.

HR tech has a complex history with sentiment analysis, the computational understanding of “affective states of subjective information.” This emerging field of AI will likely play an increasingly important role in assessing expressions of emotion, including engagement.

4. Do you have guidance on the rollout?

Ask the vendor for their take on best practices for the rollout, specifically on internal communication. They are experts; their input is precious even if you use another company’s product.

Pro tip: As you introduce your team to the tool, also introduce them to the “why?” behind the decision to use it. Make it clear that they are why. The goal is to improve their work experience by checking in and voicing their concerns.

Between those of us at SSR with experience in rolling out engagement software (on teams of all sizes across the globe), this sentiment meets with universal head nodding.

5. Do you have partnerships or notable integrations with communication tools like Slack or Teams? 

Ask all the tech questions! Get to know their capabilities (Open API? Partnerships?) and specifics of their product (Web-based? Mobile apps?). Ask about information security too, and if you’re unsure what to ask, talk to your IT team, engineers, or other techy folks on hand about  multi-factor authentication (2FA) and OAuth.

Specifically, ask if your team will have to log into their system to use it. If yes, you may want to consider removing this vendor from your list.

Many factors contribute to workplace stress, including the cumulative annoyance of multiple minor stressors, like creating a profile and managing login information for yet another tool. Avoid this by using a platform that has streamlined integrations.

6. How do you manage visibility and permissions?

Understand the who, what, when, where, and why of visibility on employee feedback. This information should be highly privileged, anonymized by default, and carefully provisioned.

Don’t shy away from asking highly specific questions about minuscule elements of the product's features. The sales rep you speak with should know this product inside and out!

Employee Engagement Software FAQs

What is employee engagement software?

Employee engagement software aims to boost job satisfaction and retention by emphasizing the worker's involvement in company culture and the goals of workers with the organization's mission and culture.

Simply put, this software aims to inspire workers to improve performance. If the link between engagement and performance is unclear to you, it may be helpful to picture the initiatives in action. This article on employee engagement strategies to inspire your workforce can help you do just that.

What is the difference between employee engagement and employee recognition?

Employee recognition is a culture and performance-building method that praises the exceptional performance of individuals. It is one of the many components that affect employee engagement, which is the entire scope of emotional connection employees feel to their employer.

There are software platforms for each; in many cases, one will contain elements of the other. But keep this in mind: employee recognition software can benefit the company’s overall engagement strategy but should not be used as a substitute for engagement software. The opposite is also true: employee engagement software should not be used in place of employee recognition software. 

If you feel like we just asked you an SAT question, or if the subject of employee rewards and recognition is of particular interest to you, our blog covers these topics (and many more) in depth. Take a break from the SAT prep with this fun read: nearly 300 ideas for employee award titles.

What are some use cases of employee engagement software?

Broadly, the use case for this software is the analysis of engagement across the employee lifecycle. Engagement starts with a recruiter's first “hello!” and continues to the exit survey. It can carry a new hire through onboarding and provide valuable insight for process improvement. Engagement data and KPIs are interrelated and can be measured and analyzed with these platforms. I would even argue that an employee's engagement can outlast the duration of employment so that it can defend or debase a company’s reputation.

The use case for employee engagement software is also apparent at the company level. This tool  is crucial for shaping strategic recommendations and generating actionable steps that encourage engagement. This can improve organizational culture, enhance retention, and increase overall productivity.

When is the Best Time to Use Employee Engagement Software?

Choosing the right time to buy and use this tool takes time and effort. Moran emphasizes that there’s no exact headcount or state of company development, but the right time will be connected to your company’s needs.

She recommends being on the lookout for signs that indicate widespread disengagement. This can include decreased productivity, absenteeism, and complacency.

She adds, “Like with any software purchasing decision, the software should make your life better, easier, and higher-performing in the realm it’s being added to. It should be an enhancement, a value-add, not just an accepted cost.”

Our collective experience at SSR is in keeping with this wisdom.

Our staff has seen a slight trend toward waiting too long. We’ve seen startups blocked by tight budgets, enterprise companies who moved too slowly, and executive buy-in is challenging at any size. But here’s one more trick about timing gleaned from our real-world experience: the “best time” window might be narrow, but it opens and closes slowly.

Last Words on Buying Employee Engagement Software

Some of us have learned the hard way that this is different from the kind of choice you can make (or roll out) alone! Put together a team exclusively focused on selecting and implementing this software.

A cross-functional buying committee is a small team assembled to speak to the needs of the departments they represent. In addition to the benefit of their perspectives, their collective knowledge, skills, and “weight” will help secure the budget you need to support the program.

Equally important is the personal connection to their divisions, amplifying the sense of safety and trust needed for a successful implementation.

Final Advice

There is no silver bullet for engagement or crystal balls for insight, but the right employee engagement software can do the work of some serious magic. Take your time, and remember to use the wisdom of your buying committee! We recommend scheduling product demos with at least three companies.

Whether looking for a better way to gather employee feedback or exploring new ways to support a thriving culture, employee engagement software will do the trick. See examples of an employee engagement action plan (complete with templates!) if you’re too excited to wait for the new software.

We hope this article will help you prepare and that you’ll take your next steps with confidence. Good luck!

About Us

  • Our goal at SSR is to help HR and recruiting teams to find and buy the right software for their needs.
  • Our site is free to use as some vendors will pay us for web traffic.
  • SSR lists all companies we feel are top vendors - not just those who pay us - in our comprehensive directories full of the advice needed to make the right purchase decision for your HR team.

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