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Employee engagement software platforms help businesses boost engagement while improving the employee and customer experience.
Employee engagement software platforms like Achievers are often software-as-a-service (SaaS) platforms that are chosen by HR departments and implemented — with HR’s guidance — by managers, IT, the C-suite, and other members of the organization.
Eighty percent of senior-level business leaders recognize that employee engagement is critical to achieving their objectives, and companies with highly engaged employees are 21 percent more profitable and 20 percent more productive. However, two out of every five employees (41%) say they will definitely job hunt in 2024, with an additional 24% saying they aren’t sure yet. Start engaging your employees and turn to data insights with the right employee engagement software.
What is an employee engagement software platform?
An employee engagement software platform is a type of technology application that organizations use to increase employee job satisfaction, improve engagement, drive performance, and retain top talent. The purpose of these platforms is to help employees learn and adopt the culture of their organization and to foster a better, more productive work environment — one that not only improves employee satisfaction, but also drives key business outcomes.
What makes a good employee engagement software platform?
A good employee engagement software platform is one that fits easily into the flow of work, so you’ll want to ensure that it integrates with existing key systems, such as: performance management systems, HR management systems (HRIS, HCM, HRMS), your productivity and communications systems (Zoom, Teams, Slack, etc.), your cloud-based work operating system (Microsoft Office, SharePoint, Google Workspace, etc.), and other customer management software.
It’s also imperative that your employee engagement software includes:
- Communication functions
- Notification system
- Training tools
- Recognition and rewards incentives for employees
- Survey and feedback tools
- Performance evaluation system
What are the benefits of employee engagement software platforms?
Employee engagement software platforms provide employees with ways to easily and consistently connect with their peers and manager, receive recognition, redeem rewards, and provide their feedback.
Benefits of an employee engagement software platform include improved:
- Engagement
- Performance
- Retention
- Job satisfaction
- Innovation
- Business outcomes
Top 20 employee engagement software platforms to help your organization
1. Achievers
Achievers is an employee engagement platform designed to help business and HR leaders establish a culture of recognition within their organizations. It does this by allowing all employees, not just the managers, send, track, and view achievements, awards, thank-yous, work anniversaries, and more from within the platform.
The user-friendly interface on mobile and desktop allows employees to easily recognize colleagues from anywhere they work – whether in-office, remote, or on-the-go. Employees can redeem their points for anything they can think of through a vast rewards marketplace with over 3 million options, including merchandise, travel experiences, swag, gift cards, and more.
With the highest active usage in the industry, the Achievers platform drives engagement with frequent recognition as the strategic engine – all complemented by modern tools like employee feedback, digital connection, automated years of service celebrations, and more.
Best software features:
- Social (non-monetary) recognition
- Points-based (monetary) recognition
- Expansive rewards marketplace
- HRIS/HCM integration
- Pre-built workplace app integrations
- Open API integration
- Always-on chatbot for employee feedback
- Digital feedback toolkit of polls, quizzes, surveys, and forms
- Digital employee connection tools
- Custom celebration and service anniversary cards
- Platform for mobile and desktop
Request a free employee engagement software demo
2. Workday
Workday is a provider of cloud-based software that specializes in applications for financial management, enterprise resource planning (ERP), and human capital management (HCM). Workday helps organizations manage payroll, benefits, HR, and employee data.
Best software features:
- Talent management
- Time tracking
- Recruiting
- Reporting and analytics
- Employee self-service
3. BambooHR
BambooHR is a technology company that provides human resources software as a service. The software assists organizations with many functions from the hiring to retiring of its employees, including recruitment, onboarding, payroll, benefits, and more.
Best software features:
- Applicant tracking system
- Employee benefits tracker
- Reporting
- Automation of workflows
- Centralizing employee records
4. Workleap
Workleap is a platform that helps managers understand how their teams are performing using employee surveying and feedback tools, recognition, OKRs, performance reviews, and more. These insights are used by leaders within the organization to build relationships with their teams and support their success.
Best software features:
- Performance benchmarking
- Social feedback portal
- Goal and challenge creation
- Peer recognition
- Reporting and dashboard
5. SurveyMonkey
SurveyMonkey is a cloud-based survey tool that helps users create, send, and analyze surveys. Users can email surveys to respondents and post them on their websites and social media profiles to increase response rate.
Best software features:
- Survey customization that includes:
- Branching/skip logic
- Branding
- Multimedia support
- Multilingual surveys
6. Vantage Circle
Vantage Circle is a global employee engagement platform that helps organizations create great workplaces using artificial intelligence and machine learning solutions that support HR functions such as: employee rewards and recognition, corporate wellness, employee feedback, and corporate perks and discounts.
Best software features:
- Cloud deployment
- Budgeting and allocation
- Data visualization
- Employee incentive management
- Data import and export
7. WorkTango
WorkTango is an employee engagement platform that enables meaningful recognition and rewards, offers actionable insights through employee surveys, and supports alignment through goal setting and feedback.
Best software features:
- API
- Activity dashboard
- Continuous feedback
- Customizable questions
- Customizable reporting
8. Fond
Fond is an employee engagement software program that allows employees to send points along with recognitions for a job well done, to their peers. It also facilitates recognitions major accomplishments, milestones, and more. Employees can use points accumulated to redeem for rewards and perks through the Fond platform.
Best software features:
- API
- Personalized service award catalogs
- Work anniversary tracking
- Alerts and notifications
- Employee management
9. SnackNation
Snacknation promotes productivity and employee wellbeing by delivering curated snack boxes directly to offices and remote teams. Offering a diverse selection of over 5,000 healthy and delicious snack brands, Snacknation includes options like jerky, granola, trail mix, chips, and dried fruit – catering to even the pickiest eaters.
Best software features:
- Customizable snack selection
- Custom note with each box
- Track deliveries
- Access invoices
- Budget setting
10. Seismic
Seismic is a software that provides AI-powered enablement, training, and coaching solutions enables sales and marketing teams to engage buyers and grow revenue. It provides continuous guidance to improve behavior, content, and skills to win more deals and deliver a better customer experience.
Best software features:
- Compliance management
- Presentation tools
- Lead management
- Content management
- Quotes (proposals)
11. Igloo
Igloo is a unified engagement platform that offers each employee group a tailored pathway to their own space in a central intranet, so everyone has the digital employee experience they need to engage and succeed. Igloo focuses on solutions for manufacturing, retail, and healthcare.
Best software features:
- API
- Internationalization
- Mobility
- Reporting and auditing
- Single sign-on
12. WeSpire
WeSpire is a cloud-based engagement software platform that empowers companies to design, communicate, and measure the impact of employee experience programs that improve social, environmental, and business outcomes. This SaaS platform uses behavior technology and data-driven analytics to streamline the process of creating campaigns and encourage participation.
Best software features:
- DEI assessment
- Employee recognition
- Goal setting/tracking
- Pulse surveys
- Negative feedback management
13. Culture Amp
Culture Amp is an employee experience platform that focuses on employee engagement, performance management, and employee development. The software helps organizations understand their employees, build high-performance teams, and develop their people using analytics and actionable tools.
Best software features:
- API 360 degree feedback software
- Activity dashboard
- Benchmarking
- Compensation management software
- Continuous feedback
14. Motivosity
Motivosity is an employee engagement platform for a single team, a department, or a whole company. The software uses gratitude and connectedness to help organizations create a more positive company culture that attracts and retains employees by making their work-lives better.
Best software features:
- Mix and match pricing
- Action Management.
- Activity Dashboard
- Career Development
- Competency Management
15. Nectar
Nectar is an employee engagement software that builds connections, creates comradery, and streamlines rewards. The platform bundles social recognition, rewards, employee discounts and swag management to nurture employee appreciation across an organization. With Nectar, employees and managers can publicly recognize each other based on core values, redeem rewards, and access discounts.
Best software features:
- Activity dashboard
- Employee portal
- Engagement tracking
- Feedback management
- Gamification software
16. Headspace for Work
Headspace empowers employees to prioritize their mental health by providing access to guided meditations, sleep support, coaching, therapy, and other mindfulness tools. From prevention to treatment and ongoing maintenance, employees receive a full spectrum of care – anytime, anywhere with on-demand support. Headspace fosters a more psychologically safe and welcoming workplace for employees all around the globe.
Best software features:
- On-demand mental health coaching
- Video therapy
- Meditation and mindfulness content
- Sleep support
- Focus tools
17. intelliHR
IntelliHR is an employee engagement software platform designed to cultivate a more engaged workforce. It offers a suite of tools to improve communication, collect feedback, and measure employee sentiment. Organizations can gain real-time insights into engagement by measuring eNPS scores periodically, allowing them to be proactive and take timely action.
Best software features:
- Continuous feedback
- Engagement surveys
- Centralized data management
- Automated reviews
- Goal tracking
18. UKG
UKG is a human capital management suite that offers HR, payroll, workforce management, employee connection capabilities, and more. This modern platform engages employees through digital communication tools like company-wide announcements, employee feedback, and a learning management system.
Best software features:
- Digital communication tools
- Employee feedback
- Learning management system
- Sentiment analysis
- Customizable reporting
19. Tinypulse
Tinypulse allows organizations to collect employee feedback with data-driven technology, creating a culture where employees feel heard and valued. Companies can choose from 300+ science-backed questions, pre-built templates, or custom questions to uncover valuable insights. Survey responses are 100% anonymous, encouraging employees to share openly and honestly.
Best software features:
- Question library
- Feedback management
- Pulse surveys
- 360 degree feedback
- Activity dashboard
20. Cooleaf
Cooleaf engages employees through their all-in-one platform with tools like pulse surveys, team recognition, reward programs, and employee programs. By leveraging integrated social feeds and community-building challenges, Cooleaf looks to foster stronger company culture helping employees feel more connected within the workplace.
Best software features:
- Employee recognition
- Employee rewards program
- Activity news feed
- Gamification software
- DEI assessment
Employee engagement software features
Employee engagement software can have many features, but a great UI, reporting, customer service, and scientific backing are essential features to look for in an engagement tool.
Great user experience
If software is easy to use, employees will be much more likely to engage with it frequently. An intuitive user interface makes it simple for employees to figure out how to recognize their peers, share their feedback, and redeem rewards without much training required.
Onboarding center
When a new employee is onboarded, it’s helpful to house all of their HR forms, digital paperwork, apps to download, training and reference materials in one place. The onboarding center introduces new hires to their company and role, and if an employee’s is a positive one, they’re more likely to feel engaged with their new organization and colleagues.
Usage analytics
Insight into how often your employees are interacting with the platform includes analytics on activation rates, monthly average usage, recognitions sent and received, etc. This is important information for program admins to understand if, when, and how the platform and program is being used by employees.
Real-time reporting
Engagement tools with dynamic dashboards quickly highlight departments or regions doing great work and pinpoint areas of the business that could use some help. When any employee initiative is launched, leaders can measure the difference in engagement and pivot as necessary.
Chat
Individual and group chat features within, or that integrates with, your platform is great for encouraging communication and connections. Team members can easily post questions about projects, rather than waiting for an email reply. It’s also great for connecting remote employees who don’t get a chance to have the in-office type of casual conversations throughout their work day.
Mobile support
Many teams work remotely, travel often, or work in the field, so it’s crucial for them to be able to participate in their engagement programs on the go. Mobile-friendly applications also usually have built-in multilingual functionality, which is critical for international organizations.
Notifications
Your employee engagement software platform should be equipped to send push notifications to your entire employee population. This is an important feature for company-wide announcements, instructions, or actions to take during emergencies. Ideally, you’ll also be able to see who has read the message— something that’s important when sending out safety notifications.
Performance management
Employee assessment and coaching tools, as well as channels for employees to comment on their professional development progress, is important. Following 1:1 meetings between managers and their team members, goals and KPIs can be entered into the platform, then monitored and measured as the employee works towards them. The coaching sessions that leverage this information should include actionable tips and suggestions to help the employee.
Exceptional customer service
A customer service team should be available to support program admins and the success of the program itself. Your employee engagement software provider should be eager to assist with user has questions, when a bug needs to be fixed, and when you need to brainstorm promotional campaigns to increase program activity.
Intuitive admin console
Configuring permission settings, groups, integrations, and reporting should be straightforward out of the box. Administrators should have the flexibility to customize the solution to fit the goals of their organization. It’s crucial to choose a partner that will be by your side every step of the way to ensure a smooth implementation process.
Employee surveys
Surveys play an important role for measuring and improving employee engagement. Some employees may be hesitant about approaching their managers directly. Offer employees a variety of ways to provide their feedback, including anonymous employee surveys, to help identify areas of improvement for the company.
Backed by science
Employee engagement software should be supported by science, credible institutions, and thorough research. Relying on tested and true solutions ensures that you’re taking effective action rather than wasting time and effort. The Achievers platform is backed by its research and insights arm, the Workforce Institute, which provides key data and thought leadership to keep Achievers’ solution rooted in workforce science.
Start your employee engagement journey today
Picking the right employee engagement tool can be overwhelming, but this is not the time to stall. Today’s CHROs and executive HR leaders believe that employee engagement platforms that leverage data, build interconnectedness, and drive engagement are more important than ever before. All employees want is to feel valued, to be heard, and to do meaningful work. As stated by Cecilia McKenney, SVP and Chief Human Resources Officer at Quest Diagnostics, “it’s very important that we define and invite employees to be part of this evolving partnership–this employer employee partnership.”
The best employee engagement software platforms emphasize recognition and feedback in order to tackle employee criticism, celebrate employee achievements, and help their employees feel connected to their organization’s mission and values. Achievers Listen and Achievers Recognize do just that, together encompassing all aspects of a winning employee engagement program.
Using a single provider for multiple aspects of engagement also maintains consistency in messaging and insights, consolidates programs, and it guarantees you VIP service for the entire platform. And Achievers enables providers to integrate with other employee engagement software platforms like Igloo Software, Workday, and WeSpire.
Reach your highest potential when it comes to employee engagement by requesting a demo of Achievers Listen or Achievers Recognize today.
*Information and pricing in this blog post was sourced from each vendors website
Employee engagement software platforms FAQ
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