15 Best Employee Engagement Software Tools in 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.
.png){kind=logo}
Employee engagement software allows you to continuously gauge the health of your company’s culture via employee surveys that gather feedback on all sorts of topics and issues. The ultimate goal behind these platforms is to boost employee morale, satisfaction, and retention.
In this guide, we evaluate the top engagement platforms to help you find the best solution for your needs and budget. We outline key features, advantages, drawbacks, and pricing options. Whether you're a small business or a large corporation, read on to discover which products can increase engagement across your organization.
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.
Bonusly
Deel
Motivosity
Leapsome
Officevibe
Quantum Workplace
Reward Gateway
Culture Amp
Kudos
Empuls
Assembly
WorkTango
Mo
SurveySparrow
Need Help? Talk to an HR Software Advisor!
Tell us more about your company & an HR Software Advisor will help you find the right software
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.
.png){kind=tracking}
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.
Among Bonusly’s 3000+ customers are Hulu, InVision, SurveyMonkey, Headspace, and more.
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.
- 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.
- 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
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.
- Limitation of exchange partners for some specific regions.
- Some partners require fees for the exchange of rewards such as "PayPal".
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.
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.
They have sought to improve their service, implement new tools such as Analytics and Dashboards, and also include new partners to exchange rewards.
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.
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.
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 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.
Over 15k businesses use Deel including Nike, Shopify, Redbull, and Zapier.
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.
We use it to track our contractors, pay their invoices, collect W9s. As our EOR, it allowed us to bypass the financial and time costs with establishing a subsidiary overseas. It keeps us in compliance with international labor laws, includes global payroll, offers benefits/participates in local social welfare programs and ultimately retains key employees we would have lost as 1099 contractors.
I like that the process and layout is very similar regardless of which product and service you use from them - quite intuitive. It supports employers ability to maintain compliance by listing out requirements and flagging missing items or expired items. Lastly, being able to file 1099s digitally is a luxury I hadn't had previously. A total time saver.
We implemented Deel initially as a way to pay our onshore 1099 contractors, track their contracts and contact information outside of our HRIS. After two years, we had a new problem to address and changed our Deel platform to include an EOR. We had offshore contractors that we wanted to bring on as full-time employees to retain them and ensure compliance with the IRS. The change was seamless and the EOR is intuitive, informative and our offshore employees have been satisfied with the service from their end.
I think there is room to improve the connection between employer and the EOR service representatives in that a dedicated point-of-contact that is in house with Deel and not an international partner. Another consideration for EOR is having to pay a month's salary deposit up front for payroll is not ideal for cash flow. Lastly, I would love to see more employee and contractor features that you might find on a traditional HRIS because I believe it would be a better and more enriched experience for them.
For 1099 contractor management, oftentimes you use an ERP or accounting SaaS which has limitations. Deel bridges the gap between accounting SaaS/ERPs and an HRIS. For EOR, Deel is middle of the road in value. It is a great option for smaller OPEX budgets, but there are other EOR companies who offer more desirable features and better in-house service partners.
Consider the number of contractors or employees you would need for the upfront and annual costs to be justified. Whether or not you are familiar with global payroll, consider how much compliance support you need or is desirable for you. Lastly, consider whether you are up to converting your local currency to the international currency. Deel does not currently offer this in the employee profile, they only show the employee's local currency.
There is better customer service and help tutorials. Further, I have found there is an increase in the amount of educational materials available through Deel in order to stay current on contractor and global payroll trends and compliance.
I have known it to be used by HR and Finance professionals alike. Payroll administrators, regardless of where they fall organizationally, will find this tool beneficial. I believe organizations where these contracts or payrolls are relatively straightforward can benefit. Running payroll and paying invoices takes 10 mins or less per pay period.
I believe complex and large organizations may not find Deel to be scalable to their needs. At volume, Deel is not the best for tracking or reporting. For smaller teams, these features are acceptable and function appropriately.
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'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.
Chick-fil-A, A&B, Bosch, KPMG, Fujifilm.
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.
I use Motivosity on a daily basis, as it is a part of my routine and habit. Here are some key workflows I use it for:
Every morning, I check the social feed to see the recognitions that my colleagues and managers have sent and received. I like to read the comments and reactions, and join the conversation by adding my own.
Throughout the day, I send and receive recognitions, points, and badges for the work that I do and the work that others do. I try to align the recognitions with our core values and goals, and be specific and sincere in my messages.
Every week, I redeem my points for gift cards, perks, or donations. I like to treat myself or others with something that I or they enjoy, or support a cause that is cared about.
Every month, I review the analytics and reports that Motivosity provides. I like to see the impact of recognition on my performance, engagement, and retention. I also like to see the trends, patterns, and insights of the recognition and rewards activities.
Some of the main reasons why I like Motivosity are:
It helps me feel appreciated and valued by my colleagues and managers for my work and contributions.
It allows me to redeem my points for gift cards, perks, or donations that I enjoy or care about.
It integrates with my other tools such as Slack, Microsoft Teams, and ADP making it easy to access and use.
My organization bought Motivosity because we wanted to improve our employee engagement and retention. We had a problem with low morale, high turnover, and lack of recognition among our staff. We needed a tool that could help us create a culture of appreciation and motivation in our workplace.
I have personally used Motivosity for about six months, and I have seen a positive change in our workplace culture. I feel more appreciated and valued by my colleagues and managers. I also enjoy recognizing and rewarding others for their work. I think Motivosity is a great employee engagement platform that helps us achieve our goals and grow as a team.
Some of the main ways that Motivosity can improve or I wish it were different are:
It could offer a free trial for the upper tiers, so that potential customers can evaluate the features and benefits of the platform before purchasing.
It could improve the Android app, so that it is more stable and reliable, and has the same functionality and user experience as the iOS app.
It could provide more direct support options, such as chat, phone, or email so that customers can get faster and better assistance for their questions, issues, or feedback.
Motivosity is different from its competitors in a couple of ways. Here are some of the main differences and how it stacks up:
Motivosity has a unique feature called MVTV, which is a live stream of recognition that can be displayed on TVs, monitors, or screensavers. This feature enhances the visibility and impact of recognition in the workplace. I have not seen this feature in any other platform, and I think it is a great way to celebrate and inspire employees.
Motivosity has a flat pricing model that charges per user per month regardless of the number of users. This makes it easy to budget and scale the platform as the organization grows. Most of the other platforms have tiered pricing models that charge different rates based on the number of users or features. I prefer Motivosity's pricing model because it is affordable, transparent, and easy to use.
Employee engagement software is a type of tool that helps organizations measure and improve the engagement and satisfaction of their employees. When buying this type of tool, people should think about the following criteria:
The tool should offer features and functionality that match the organization's goals and needs for employee engagement. The tool should also be easy to use, customize, and scale.
It should have a high user adoption and feedback rate which means that most of the employees who are invited to use the tool actually use it regularly and provide feedback on their experience. This indicates that the tool is engaging, fun, and valuable for the employee.
Lastly, the tool should have a transparent and affordable pricing model that fits the organization's budget and expectations. The tool should demonstrate a clear and positive return on investment (ROI), which means that the tool helps the organization achieve its desired outcomes, such as improved performance, retention, and culture.
I have noticed two ways in which Motivosity has changed or evolved over time to meet users needs:
It has introduced new features and functionality to enhance the user experience and provide more value to the customers. For example, some of the recent additions are MVTV, a live stream of recognitions that can be displayed a number of ways; ThanksMatters Card which is a Visa card that allows users to use their Motivosity Bucks anywhere Visa is accepted; and 1 on 1's, a tool that helps managers and employees have effective and meaningful conversations.
Motivosity has expanded the integrations and partnerships to make it easier for users to access and use the platform from different platforms and tools. For example, some of the recent integrations and partnerships are Microsoft Teams, a chat and collaboration tool that allows users to send and receive recognitions, points and badges from within the app; Covver, a swag provider that allows users to redeem their points for branded merchandise; and Sweeteners, a perk provider that allows users to redeem their points for discounts and deals.
Motivosity is suitable for teams of all sizes, from small startups to large enterprises, across various industries and sectors. It is especially beneficial for remote or hybrid teams, as it helps them stay connected, engaged, and motivated.
Motivosity might not be a good fit for users or organizations that:
Prefer more customization and flexibility for the recognition and rewards features, such as creating their own badges, points, or gift cards.
Require more direct support or contact options from the Motivosity team, such as chat, phone, or email, for their questions, issues, or feedback.
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 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.
Over 1,500 companies use Leapsome, including Mercedes Benz, Spotify, Trivago, Eventim, and Babbel.
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.
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 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.
WeTransfer, Dyson, Bose, PayScale, and Trivago are some of their 8,000 Officevibe customers.
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.
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.
- It allows you to build as many teams as you would like.
- It is clear on its anonymity policy so that team members feel comfortable sharing honest feedback.
- It allows you to conduct custom surveys on any topic.
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.
- It does not have a Performance Management feature, which other similar tools do. For the price point, I would expect more features.
- It does not have industry benchmark data for specific questions, which is something our ELT was hoping to see.
- 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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’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 is used by over 10,000 companies, including Fossil Group, DSW, BKD, and Getty Images.
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.
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
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 has over 4000 customers, including Ikea, McDonald's, Unilever, and Heineken.
- 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.
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.
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 is used by over 6500 companies, including SoulCycle, Canva, McDonalds, Etsy, and Bombas.
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 has been a great tool in my work as an HR Consultant. I primarily use Culture Amp to streamline employee reviews and track employee engagement. Culture Amp's system and support team guide you through every step of the implementation process. It is fantastic for tracking employee goals. Culture Amp also provides survey templates that are easy to follow.
- Culture Amp is easy to set up.
- Culture Amp has an intuitive system.
- Culture Amp supports large organizations seamlessly.
My client purchased Culture Amp after rehauling the employee experience post-covid. I have been using the platform since then.
- Culture Amp has outdated terminology on occasion.
- It can take a lot of time to sort through what surveys are applicable to you.
- Setting up multiple users can take time.
Culture Amp is one of the better HRIS/Employee Feedback tools available. I would recommend it to 90% of their competitors.
Employers should consider the time it takes to properly analyze an effective survey before purchasing Culture Amp. If you are unfamiliar with the 360 process, it can be a learning curve.
Culture Amp has consistently maintained high marks among my clients based on their evolving to users’ needs.
Public-facing, growing organizations (particularly after M&A or high employee turnover).
Small businesses that are not culture-focused.
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’ 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 is used in over 80 countries. Some of their customers include KidsPeace, Kronos, DHL, Chewy.com, and Make A Wish.
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.
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 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 has over 1,000 global customers, including Prodevans, Magzter, KPIT, Quixy, and more.
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.
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.
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.
Coca-Cola, Quest Nutrition, Nesco Resource, HelloTech, Amazon
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 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.
Simple, fast platform. Easy set-up and free trial version prior to transition to paid version. Easy implementation and great reporting options and support.
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.
Coins expire if not used in time. UX could be more user-friendly. Larger tiered allotments would be a great improvement.
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.
There have been consistent upgrades to the platform and Assembly is very open to feedback and suggestions.
Assembly is ideal for small and mid-market organizations.
Assembly would not be a good fit for large/enterprise organizations.
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’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.
Over 1,000 companies use Worktango’s solutions, including Kia Motors, HUB International, Rexall, and Accruent.
WorkTango pricing is calculated based on each customers' needs. For more information, we recommend booking a demo with their Sales team.
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.
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’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 counts over 58k users using its platform, including SGN, The O2, NHS, Aspen, William Hill, and SHL.
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.
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’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 has over 100,000 customers, including Xerox, Godrej, Honda, Opera, and Grand Thornton.
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.
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 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’s customer base includes Hubspot, Spotify, American Red Cross, Clearbit, Pendo and more.
- 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.
We use 15Five on a regular basis to support our employee engagement and performance management efforts. We have established a regular cadence of use, with weekly check-ins and quarterly goal-setting and progress reviews.
During weekly check-ins, employees share updates on their progress and any challenges they may be facing, while managers provide feedback, support, and recognition. This helps to keep everyone on track and fosters a culture of transparency and accountability within the organization.
We also use 15Five for regular one-on-one meetings between managers and employees, which are scheduled and tracked through the platform. This has made it easier to ensure that all employees are receiving the support and feedback they need to be successful in their roles.
The goal-setting and tracking features of 15Five are also key parts of our workflow. We set quarterly goals and track progress in real-time, allowing us to make adjustments and provide support as needed. This has helped to increase employee motivation and productivity, while also providing a clear framework for performance evaluation.
Finally, we use 15Five for feedback and recognition, which allows employees to receive feedback from their managers and peers, as well as gives them the opportunity to recognize their colleagues for their contributions. This has helped to foster a positive and collaborative culture within the organization.
Overall, 15Five has been an essential tool for supporting our employee engagement and performance management efforts. By using the platform regularly and leveraging its customizable features, we have been able to improve communication, transparency, and accountability across the organization.
I like 15Five for the following reasons:
- Efficient and Effective Performance Management: With 15Five, it is easy to set and track goals, provide regular feedback, and recognize employee achievements, making the performance management process more efficient and effective.
- Improved Communication and Collaboration: 15Five provides a platform for employees to share their thoughts and ideas with managers, and for managers to communicate more effectively with their teams, leading to better collaboration and alignment.
- Analytics and Insights: The platform offers data and insights on employee engagement, satisfaction, and performance, allowing HR managers to make informed decisions and track progress over time.
Our organization decided to purchase 15Five for several reasons, primarily to address the pain points we were experiencing in the areas of employee engagement and performance management. We made the purchase in March 2021, and I have used it since then.
Specifically, we were struggling to keep track of employee goals, progress, and feedback in a streamlined and organized manner. This was leading to missed opportunities for recognition and development, as well as a lack of transparency between employees and their managers.
We were also facing challenges with regular check-ins and one-on-one meetings, as it was difficult to keep track of schedules and ensure that all employees were receiving the support and feedback they needed.
The key benefits of 15Five for our organization have been significant. With the platform, we are now able to track employee progress and provide feedback in real time, which has increased transparency and accountability across the organization. Regular check-ins and one-on-one meetings are now streamlined and easy to schedule, which has improved communication and support for our team.
Additionally, the platform's customizable features have allowed us to tailor the software to meet our specific needs, which has increased our efficiency and productivity. Overall, 15Five has been an invaluable tool for improving employee engagement, performance management, and organizational growth for our medium-sized organization.
While I find 15Five to be a valuable tool, there are a few areas where I feel it could improve:
- Limited Customization: While 15Five offers a range of features, the platform lacks the ability to fully customize certain features, such as the types of questions that can be asked in weekly check-ins, which may not meet the specific needs of all organizations.
- User Interface: Although the platform is easy to use overall, the user interface could benefit from some enhancements, such as more intuitive navigation, clearer labeling of features, and improved search functionality.
- Integrations: While 15Five offers some integrations with other HR tools, such as Slack and Zapier, I would like to see more options available to further streamline HR processes and improve overall efficiency.
I find that 15Five stands out from its competitors in several ways. Compared to similar tools, 15Five offers a more comprehensive platform for performance management, feedback, and employee engagement.
One of the key advantages of 15Five is its emphasis on regular check-ins and continuous feedback, which helps to foster a culture of open communication and transparency between managers and employees. The platform also offers a range of features for goal-setting, recognition, and feedback, all of which are essential components of a strong performance management program.
In terms of user experience, 15Five's platform is intuitive and easy to use, with a clean and modern design. It also offers a range of integrations with other HR tools, such as Slack and Zapier, which makes it easy to streamline HR processes and improve efficiency.
Compared to other tools I have used in the past, I find that 15Five is more user-friendly and offers more comprehensive features for performance management and employee engagement. I particularly appreciate the regular check-ins and the ability to track progress on goals over time, which helps to ensure that employees are aligned with organizational objectives and are continuously improving. Overall, I prefer 15Five because of its user-friendly interface, comprehensive features, and emphasis on regular feedback and communication.
I would recommend that people consider the following criteria when buying a performance management tool like 15Five:
- Features: Look for a tool that offers a range of features for goal-setting, performance tracking, feedback, and recognition, as well as any other specific needs that your organization may have. It's important to assess which features are most important to your organization and ensure the tool you choose has them.
- User Experience: It's important to choose a tool that is easy to use and navigate for both managers and employees. A good user experience can encourage adoption and regular usage, helping to maximize the tool's effectiveness and ROI.
- Customization: Look for a tool that allows for some degree of customization, such as the ability to add custom questions or fields, as this can help to tailor the tool to your organization's unique needs.
- Integrations: Consider whether the tool integrates with other HR software or systems that your organization uses, such as ATS or payroll software, as this can help to streamline HR processes and improve overall efficiency.
- Pricing: Finally, it's important to consider the cost of the tool and whether it fits within your organization's budget. While cost is an important factor, it's also important to remember that the tool you choose will have a significant impact on your organization's performance management processes, and investing in the right tool can yield significant ROI over time.
I have seen that 15Five has continuously evolved over time to meet the changing needs of its users. Some of the notable changes and improvements I have observed include:
- Increased Customization: 15Five has introduced more customization options for users over time, such as the ability to create custom questions, customize performance review cycles, and add custom fields.
- Enhanced Integrations: The platform has expanded its integrations with other HR software and systems, such as ATS and payroll software, to provide a more streamlined experience for users.
- Enhanced Analytics and Insights: 15Five has added more advanced analytics and insights over time, providing users with more data and insights into employee performance and engagement, as well as actionable recommendations for improving performance and engagement.
- Improved User Experience: The platform has made several improvements to the user experience over time, such as more intuitive navigation, clearer labeling of features, and improved search functionality, to make it easier for users to find what they need.
- Expanded Features: 15Five has expanded its features over time to provide users with more options for goal-setting, feedback, recognition, and more. For example, they have added features such as High Fives, Objectives, and 1-on-1s to further enhance the platform's capabilities.
Overall, I have seen that 15Five has continuously evolved and improved over time to meet the needs of its users, which has helped to make it a valuable tool for performance management and employee engagement in many organizations.
I would recommend the following types of organizations use 15five,
- Small to medium-sized businesses that want to establish a more formalized performance management process without adding significant administrative overhead.
- Remote or distributed teams that need a tool to facilitate regular check-ins, goal-setting, and progress tracking.
- Organizations that prioritize employee engagement and want to create a culture of continuous feedback and improvement.
- Companies that are experiencing rapid growth and need a scalable system to manage performance across a large number of employees.
- Human resources departments that want to streamline performance reviews and track employee development over time.
With my overall experience with 15five, these types of organizations would not be recommended to use 15five,
- Organizations that do not prioritize regular feedback and communication: If an organization does not value or prioritize regular check-ins and feedback, 15Five may not be the right tool. The success of the platform relies on consistent use and engagement from both managers and employees.
- Organizations with a highly rigid performance management process: Some companies have very structured performance management processes that are not easily customizable. In these cases, the flexibility of 15Five may not align with the organization's existing procedures.
- Small teams or individuals: While 15Five can be useful for small teams, it may not be the most cost-effective solution for very small organizations or individual users who do not require a platform for tracking and managing employee performance.
- Organizations with limited technology infrastructure: 15Five is a cloud-based platform, so organizations without reliable internet access or those that have strict data privacy requirements may not be able to use it.
- Companies in highly regulated industries: Organizations in highly regulated industries such as healthcare or finance may have specific compliance requirements that 15Five does not meet. In these cases, a more specialized solution may be necessary.
Benefits of Employee Engagement Software
There’s a lot to gain from employee engagement software. Most notably, these tools enable you to:
- Make employees feel heard: Employee engagement software provides an outlet for employees to anonymously share their opinions, voice out any concerns about the workplace and work culture, and propose suggestions for improvement. When employees feel heard and their feedback is taken into account, it leads to less turnover and higher productivity.
- Craft and deploy surveys like an expert: There’s no need to reinvent the wheel. The best employee engagement platforms are built on solid research, which often includes the input of IO psychology experts. They also often come with a host of ready-made survey templates you can deploy in minutes, with recommendations on what to ask, when to ask it, and how often.
- Automatically analyze and uncover employee sentiment patterns: One problem with traditional employee engagement surveys is that it can take a long time to analyze all the feedback gathered, and a lot of what is uncovered relates broadly to the employee experience but lacks actionable next steps. The best employee engagement tools can analyze feedback as it comes and give you a comprehensive understanding of employee sentiments, preferences, and areas for improvement.
- Continuously perform culture health: Most employee engagement platforms use pulse surveys to gather small amounts of data in frequent intervals. These surveys ask only one or two questions, keeping the pressure low and the response rate high. By establishing a consistent feedback loop, you can identify trends, address concerns before they grow into systemic problems, and adapt strategies to maintain a healthy work environment.
- Do a lot more than surveys: Oftentimes, employee engagement platforms bundle up their offerings with other solutions in the employee experience tech space, such as employee recognition and performance management software. Having all of these tools integrated into one platform reduces tech fatigue for your team and is easy on your budget too.
Common Mistakes When Buying and Using Employee Engagement Platforms
- 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. Employee engagement experts Mallory Herrin and Tracie Marie agree here, and Marie's experience has borne this out. She reminds us in no uncertain terms that engagement software cannot replace the power of a human connection.
- Unreasonable expectations of adoption: Affecting a company-wide change will take time. Simply put, inspiring behavioral 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.
- 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.
- 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 choose not to follow it), you can orchestrate a successful rollout with good planning and reasonable expectations. From 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 Employee Engagement Software
- Employee surveys: Employee surveys are a fundamental capability of employee engagement software. These include pulse surveys for regular sentiment check-ins, eNPS (Employee Net Promoter Score) surveys to measure loyalty and satisfaction, and more in-depth annual or quarterly surveys. Sophisticated survey builders make it easy for HR teams to craft customized question sets while choosing from preset expert-validated templates.
- Anonymity settings: The best employee engagement platforms allow admins to configure anonymity settings on a per-survey basis. For example, demographic data collection can be toggled on or off. Respondents can also opt to submit written commentary anonymously with no identifying details. Setting the right anonymity parameters helps drive survey participation and enable tracking of trends for different subgroups.
- Automated distribution: Employee engagement tools allow you to configure surveys to be sent out either via email or other internal communication apps to pre-defined audience segments at the time and frequency of your choosing. There are often automated nudges and reminders, too, which further alleviate manual intervention, freeing admins and HR teams to focus on reviewing results and implementing strategies to enhance employee engagement.
- Real-time analytics: With the help of artificial intelligence and user-friendly dashboards, employee engagement software helps you analyze employee feedback and visualize key metrics like eNPS and satisfaction scores. Trends can be segmented across teams, locations, or any custom attributes captured, allowing HR professionals and leaders to respond promptly to emerging trends or critical issues.
- Reporting: Employee engagement software typically offers robust reporting tools. You can auto-generate and share reports for stakeholder audiences showcasing response rates, trends, and insights over time. You can also tailor reports by including or excluding sensitive groups and export results into various formats such as PDF and CSV.
Questions to Ask in Demos with Employee Engagement Software Vendors
- How does your platform measure and track employee engagement? What metrics and analytics does it provide?
- How customizable are the surveys and feedback tools? Can I tailor questions and flows to my organization's specific needs?
- What methods does the platform use to gather employee feedback (e.g., surveys, pulse polls, open text, etc.)?
- Does your system integrate with our current HRIS, payroll, or other platforms?
- What types of participation tracking does it offer (e.g., survey response rates, event attendance, etc.)?
- What kinds of real-time feedback capabilities does it have? Can employees provide input anytime?
- What types of employee segmentation and filtering options are available? Can I analyze data by role, team, location, etc.?
- How are the results and data visualized? What dashboards, reports, and insights can I access as an administrator?
- Does your platform provide action planning tools and follow-up workflows based on feedback results?
- How do you ensure data security and compliance with regulations? What is your security and privacy protocol?
- What type of support, training, and account management do you provide?
- Can you explain the implementation process? How long does rollout typically take?
- What are the pricing models available? Are there options to scale up or down as needed?
- Can I see a demo tailored to our specific use cases and needs?
Employee Engagement Software FAQs
What is employee engagement software?
Employee engagement software provides tools to gather employee feedback through surveys and pulse checks, facilitates internal communications and social connections, and enables managers to coach employees and analyze engagement metrics. By leveraging data and analytics, employee engagement software identifies areas for improving the employee experience and sparks action to nurture a highly engaged, satisfied workforce.
What is the difference between employee engagement and employee recognition?
Employee engagement refers to the level of enthusiasm, connection, and commitment an employee has toward their organization and its goals. An engaged employee is one who is fully involved in and enthusiastic about their work. In contrast, employee recognition is about acknowledging employees for their efforts and contributions. Forms of recognition include praise, rewards, awards, and appreciation events.
How do companies use employee engagement software?
Employee engagement software serves various purposes within an organization to improve the employee experience. Human resources teams conduct regular surveys through the software to monitor engagement levels and pinpoint problem areas. Managers utilize it to check in with their direct reports, provide coaching, and recognize achievements. The software also facilitates company-wide communications from leadership to all employees, as well as social connections between peers.
When is the best time to use employee engagement software?
Our community expert, Christina Moran, emphasizes that there’s no exact headcount or development phase to buy employee engagement software. The right time depends on your company’s unique 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.”
Final Advice on Buying Employee Engagement Software
The best employee engagement software is a game changer for organizations looking to supercharge their workplace experience and decrease employee turnover. There are no silver bullets when it comes to disengaged employees or having perfect insights into what’s going on with your business. However, this is a great place to start.
If your company needs a better way to start gathering employee feedback or is simply looking for ways to improve culture, then our suggestion is to start by getting demos with 2-3 of the top employee engagement software companies in order to figure out the details around how this would work within your organization. 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.
