Welcome to the future of workplace engagement. Gone are the days of disinterested employees confined to their cubicles, longing for Friday to arrive. In today’s corporate landscape, organizations understand the significance of employee engagement as the catalyst for success.
A Gallup study found that, “employee engagement in the U.S. saw its first annual decline in a decade — dropping from 36% engaged employees in 2020 to 34% in 2021”
So, what can you do to keep your team engaged?
Fortunately, technology has unlocked incredible opportunities for fostering employee engagement. From pulse surveys that capture valuable insights to interactive platforms that ignite team spirit, the realm of employee engagement has blossomed into a digital garden of opportunities.
This article will explore the 11 most remarkable employee engagement software options. Let’s dive in!
What Features Should You Check for in an Employee Engagement Software?
When choosing the right employee engagement software, there’s a lot to consider. But fear not!
We’ve got you covered with a straightforward checklist of what to look for. No complicated jargon, just straightforward guidance to help you find the perfect software for your organization’s needs.
You should keep in mind the following:
- Seamless integrations: Make sure the employee engagement software you opt for plays nicely with your existing systems and tools. You want software that works seamlessly alongside your current HR software and communication channels.
- Actionable data: Employee data is your best friend for improving engagement. Look for employee engagement tools that provide robust analytics and reporting features. Data will help you visualize survey results, uncover trends and make data-driven decisions.
- User-friendly interface: Who doesn’t love easy-peasy navigation? An ideal employee engagement software should have responsive and easy-to-use dashboards. Keep an eye out for platforms that prioritize simplicity without sacrificing functionality.
The 11 Best Employee Engagement Software to Use in 2024
Whether you are a team leader or HR professional with a burning desire to revolutionize your workspace, this list is for you! It will help you decide the best employee engagement software to transform your organization into a hub of productivity, collaboration, and, most importantly, employee satisfaction.
1. ClickUp
Easily our top pick, ClickUp is one of the best employee engagement software offerings with critical features for hiring, onboarding, and developing employees. It provides many HR templates, including employee engagement surveys, standard operating procedures (SOPs), performance reviews, action plans, and more.
Beyond being a stellar HR and employee engagement software, ClickUp is a complete project management tool where you can interact and collaborate with the rest of your team anytime, anywhere.
ClickUp best features
- All-in-one platform: ClickUp is a centralized hub for all your team management needs. Whether project management, task tracking, document sharing, or remote collaboration, ClickUp brings everything together in a seamless and intuitive interface—no more hopping between different tools
- Action plan template: ClickUp has an employee engagement action plan template that helps you identify and address employee issues or double down on strategies to improve workplace engagement
- Survey template: With ClickUp, you can create employee engagement surveys and get actionable employee feedback that can help improve your overall employee experience
- Workspaces: ClickUp lets you create, join, and switch between multiple workspaces with unique team use cases. Workspaces are the highest level of the ClickUp storage hierarchy. Workspaces are made up of spaces containing folders filled with task lists
- Views: Offering 15+ customizable views like lists, boards, calendars, and more, ClickUp lets you visualize tasks, projects, and workflows in your preferred format
ClickUp limitations
- Some views are not available on mobile
- Not all employee engagement features are in the free plan
ClickUp pricing
- Free Forever
- Unlimited: $7/month per user
- Business: $12/month per user
- Enterprise: Custom pricing available – if you need software to keep your employees engaged, contact ClickUp sales to help set up when you are ready.
ClickUp customer ratings
- G2: 4.7/5 (6,700+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.7/5 (3,600+ reviews)
2. WorkTango
Formerly called Kazoo, WorkTango is a comprehensive employee experience platform for engaging, inspiring, and retaining employees. The platform is easy to navigate and customizable to your team’s needs.
With WorkTango, you can access tools for celebrating employee achievements, listening to and addressing their concerns, and setting clear team priorities.
WorkTango best features
- Employee feedback surveys and insights
- Employee recognition, incentives, and rewards tool
- Goals and continuous feedback for employee development and success
- Integrations with your favorite HR platforms and collaboration tools
WorkTango limitations
- Users really wanted an executive summary document after completing surveys for more actionable insights
- Somewhat limited for HR teams needing a more robust performance management tool with knowledge hub features
WorkTango pricing
Contact WorkTango for pricing.
WorkTango customer ratings
- G2: 4.5/5 (500+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.9/5 (120+ reviews)
3. Nectar
Nectar is an employee recognition platform that uses monetary and societal incentives to improve employee retention. The app helps teams recognize commendable work, foster community, promote core values, and redeem rewards.
Nectar centers around boosting employee morale and building a connected remote team, leading to reduced employee turnover. It also uses gamification to engage employees by encouraging them to shout out their colleagues and facilitating custom challenges like wellness activities, feedback surveys, and more.
Nectar best features
- Integrates easily with your Human Resources Information system (HRIS) solution
- Analytics show how often employee recognition is given or received
- Automated work anniversaries to boost company culture and the employee experience
- Scheduled birthday shout outs for better employee communication
- Free trial available
Nectar limitations
- Limited or completely unavailable in some countries
- Occasional slow report generation
- Limited native integrations
Nectar pricing
- Standard: $2.75/month per user
- Plus: $4/month per user
Nectar customer ratings
- G2: 4.7/5 (3,300+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.8/5 (280+ reviews)
4. Awardco
Similar to Nectar, Awardco believes that giving rewards in the workplace will provide a happier environment for employees and encourage them to do their best work. The platform offers an incentive program where employees can trade the reward points they receive for any gift item that they like from Amazon.
Awardco best features
- Recognize feature for praising colleagues
- Automated employee milestone celebration to boost employee engagement
- Lifestyle spending accounts to engage employees with more worthwhile gifts
- Employee engagement system integrations with key tools like Slack, Microsoft Teams, Workday, and more
- Offline recognition via redeemable award codes
Awardco limitations
- Some users found the user interface complicated
- There’s no archive feature to collect actionable insights
- HR teams on the go will miss not having a mobile version
Awardco pricing
Contact Awardco for pricing.
Awardco customer ratings
- G2: 4.8/5 (1300+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.9/5 (3800+ reviews)
5. 15five
15five refers to itself as a continuous performance management software. With relevant features like 360-degree performance reviews, OKR tracking, 1-on-1s, and pulse ratings, the platform builds efficient managers, engaged employees, and high-performing businesses.
You can also build a positive company culture with the app by using it to provide honest feedback on employee performance, conduct lifecycle surveys, access engagement analytics, and more.
15five best features
- Performance review templates
- Engagement insights on the employee experience
- Employee surveys
- 360-degree employee feedback
- Slacks, Teams, and Google integrations
- High fives for peer-to-peer recognition and appreciation for continuous feedback
- OKR (objective and key results) performance management training
15five limitations
- Some users raised concerns about the customer service compared to other employee engagement software tools
- Reviewers wished there was a milestones feature
- There’s no history or checklist of completed tasks
15five pricing
- Engage: $4/month per user
- Perform: $8/month per user
- Focus: $8/month per user
- Total platform: $14/month per user
15five customer ratings
- G2: 4.6/5 (1700+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.7/5 (870+ reviews)
6. Bonusly
Bonusly is an employee engagement solutions app that provides employee recognition and rewards, whether publicly or privately.
The platform reduces team friction and contributes to a healthy workplace culture by streamlining all manager and colleague praise into one straightforward system for employee recognition. Bonusly also helps HR teams set a standard of high performance management for other employees.
Bonusly best features
- Monthly allowances
- Bonus feed for a better employee experience
- Meaningful employee rewards – gift cards, cash, charitable donations, and more
- Interface helps maintain engaged employees
- Integrations with Slack, Okta, BambooHR, and more
Bonusly limitations
- Limited options for redeeming points
- No free employee engagement software option
- Complicated points feature that creates a steep learning curve—potentially hurting your employee experience
Bonusly pricing
- Core plan: $2.70/month per user
- Pro plan: $4.50/month per user
- Custom: Can be built to fit your needs
Bonusly customer ratings
- G2: 4.8/5 (1900+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.8/5 (1500+ reviews)
7. Fond
Recently acquired by Reward Gateway, Fond is an excellent tool for recognizing employees and rewarding their hard work. The employee engagement solution lets peers share positive feedback, access exclusive corporate discounts, and track employee trends.
With Fond, you can also use service awards to track work anniversaries and increase employee engagement.
Fond best features
- Corporate discounts
- Performance analytics
- Social recognition
- Service awards
- Reward points
- Highly customizable
- Family sharing
- Integrations and extensions
Fond limitations
- There are limited options for redeeming points
- The conversion between points and money wasn’t intuitive for some users
- Admins said the setup process took a fair bit of time
- No free version makes it difficult to test before you buy
Fond pricing
Contact Fond for pricing.
Fond customer ratings
- G2: 4.7/5 (2500+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.6/5 (200+ reviews)
8. Culture Amp
A top employee engagement platform, Culture Amp offers distinct features like 1-on-1s and OKR tracking to help you better understand employee sentiment, track progress, and drive optimal change for the company.
With Culture Amp, you can build an employee engagement program emphasizing team well-being and personalized learning.
Culture Amp best features
- Employee turnover prediction
- Ready-to-use survey templates
- Goal/OKR tracking
- Skills coach
- 1-on-1 conversations between managers and team leads
- Powerful analytics
- Multi-source feedback – peer feedback, manager feedback, and self-reflection
- Integrations
Culture Amp limitations
- Users found it tricky to navigate the pricing structure
- Culture Amp requires users to log in again each time they open the app
- Some users didn’t love the user interface for the reviews section and training modules
- The Shoutouts feature on Slack was a little complicated for some
- Some reviewers discovered the app slowed website performance
Culture Amp pricing
Contact Culture Amp team for pricing.
Culture Amp customer ratings
- G2: 4.6/5 (300+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.7/5 (70+ reviews
9. Outback Team Building
Outback Team Building is a corporate team building and training company for virtual and in-person work groups. The organization is not an actual employee engagement app, but it offers over 60 training solutions for teams and is recommended by more than 14,000 groups across North America.
If you’re unsure of where to start with employee engagement, Outback Team Building offers a free consultation session to help you decide.
Outback Team Building best features
- Virtual and in-person team-building activities
- Group training and development programs
- Free employee engagement guides
- Mobile app for iOS and Android
- Real-time leaderboard for team-building games/challenges
Outback Team Building limitations
- No pricing transparency makes it difficult to assess the cost-benefit ratio
Outback Team Building pricing
Contact Outback Team Building for pricing.
Outback Team Building customer ratings
- G2: Unavailable
- Capterra: Unavailable
10. SalesScreen
SalesScreen is one of the leading employee engagement solutions, and it’s dedicated specifically to sales teams. The software uses gamification and continuous feedback to recognize hard work, instill accountability and boost productivity.
SalesScreen best features
- Data visualization tools for tracking individual and team KPI metrics
- Coins and badges to reward employees
- Automated scheduling, 1:1 session guides, and scorecards
- Shout outs to celebrate wins and boost engagement
- Gamification features like leaderboards and team vs. team tournaments
SalesScreen limitations
- No free version
- Some users found the user interface complex
- Built specifically for sales teams, so this may not be the right app for everyone
- A small library of contest templates and images
- No private team chat
SalesScreen pricing
Contact SalesScreen for pricing.
SalesScreen ratings
- G2: 4.8/5 (150+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.5/5 (30+ reviews)
11. Karma bot
Karma is a popular and easy-to-use employee engagement tool that functions natively within Slack. Focusing on peer recognition and rewards, Karma helps to drive positive behavior and establish team culture in the workspace.
Karma best features
- Recognizing a colleague’s hard work is easy, direct and interactive with Karma. Users can award their peers “karma points” for good deeds on Slack which can be used to claim small rewards
- Managers have access to analytics and reports to track team performance
- Karma helps to create a transparent working culture with open-end communication for feedback and suggestions
- It allows customization of reward system and performance reports
- Integrates with other tools like Trello, Jira, and Github for seamless operations
Karma limitations
- User reviews suggest the tool is heavily reliant on Slack, which can limit Karma’s usage to Slack users only
- It does not support real-time engagement or surveys on employee satisfaction
Karma pricing
Karma has a free plan, and paid plans start at $30/workspace per month.
Karma ratings
- G2: 4.9/5 (30+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.6/5 (3 reviews)
ClickUp – Your Ultimate Employee Engagement Tool
ClickUp is a holistic employee engagement solution. With its key features and user-friendly interface, the app accounts for the entire employee lifecycle, transforming how teams collaborate, communicate, and achieve their goals.
It also seamlessly combines project management, task tracking, employee communication, talent management, collaboration, and document sharing – eliminating the need for multiple tools.
Ready to transform your engagement strategy and unlock the full potential of your team? Adopt ClickUp as your employee engagement system today!
Questions? Comments? Visit our Help Center for support.