Best 13 Employee Experience Platforms (2024)
The best employee experience platforms as per SelectSofware Reviews’ in-house HR tech team. Find pricing details, best practices, use cases and plenty of expert insight below.
Top Employee Experience Software
Employee experience software is growing in importance. Companies are now realizing that happier employees are more productive, stick around longer, and make a bigger impact on their business. Therefore, this “employee-first” culture has become a major talking point in business strategy.
Employee experience spans the range of the hire-to-retire pipeline. As a result, employee experience software is not simply engagement, rewards, or recognition tools. This SaaS category is defined as any software that improves employee experience.
This means there is a wide range of possible software solutions to enhance your employee experience initiatives. Below, we break down the best-in-the-biz HR technology to boost retention, streamline employee processes, reward, recognize, and engage your employees, and so much more!
To select the top employee experience platforms, our team evaluated dozens of tools based on comprehensive demos, expert interviews, user input, and hands-on testing. While the tools in this space vary in feature sets, we think the best ones emphasize communication and collaboration, culture and engagement, employee development, and most importantly, analytics to track all of the above.
- Communication and collaboration: The way employees communicate and collaborate can make or break employee experience. We prioritized tools with capabilities like company-wide announcements, team messaging, document sharing, and virtual meetings to facilitate and empower connection.
- Culture and engagement: Software can be of significant help in driving engagement and building a long-lasting culture of inclusion, belonging, and camaraderie in the workplace. We’ve made sure to include tools in this list with peer recognition, pulse surveys, and community-building features for you to realize this vision.
- Employee development: The best platforms make learning integral to the employee journey. We looked for built-in learning management systems and integrations with top LMS platforms to support continual skill building.
- Progress analytics: Robust analytics around survey responses, community engagement levels, and other metrics are crucial. This allows you to quantify employee engagement over time, identify problem areas, and continuously work on bettering the experience of your employees.
We are thorough in our research and only recommend effective products. To learn more about our methods, check out this article on how we evaluate HR tech vendors.
Workvivo
Motivosity
Leapsome
MeBeBot
Reward Gateway
WorkTango
eloomi
Spring Health
Bonusly
Empuls
Kudos
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Workvivo
Promoting workplace camaraderie is at the heart of Workvivo. It does it by allowing employees to recognize their coworkers' achievements by nominating them for awards. Employees can also provide feedback, share news and events, and add comments, kudos, and shout-outs.
PROS
- Workvivo integrates with the top payroll, HR, and communication apps like Slack, MS Teams, Zoom, etc. This makes it easy to connect with your team from within Workvivo's dashboard.
- Workvivo lets you share more than just text. You can share pictures, videos, and other media to enhance your personal and work events. It's like social media for organizations!
- According to online reviews and feedback, Workvivo offers excellent customer support. The company is always eager to make enhancements to its product, and they factor in suggestions from users on how to enhance the tool.
CONS
- Workvivo's desktop version doesn't support emojis, while the Android app doesn't support pictures. Because of this, you might have to alternate between using both apps for a single response.
- There is a chance that the mobile app of Workvivo will run slowly or lag at times. A user mentioned that some features of the app don't work at all, which is something that the technical team should work on fixing.
- Workvivo frequently sends emails notifying users about every single comment and activity in the campaign, which can be annoying for users. Some users complained that they do not need to receive notifications for every single comment and activity.
Workvivo facilitates two-way conversations and helps capture an organization’s pulse with polls and surveys. There’s a personalized activity feed that helps employees to interact with colleagues through posts, shoutouts, articles, etc. With the news and events features, you can share the latest company news and upcoming events – ensuring employees never miss an update again.
Workvivo helps employees feel they’re on the same team by connecting them to the company’s goals and values. Individual and team achievements can be recognized publicly using shoutouts, promoting peer recognition and rewarding achievements. There’s also a “people directory” that allows you to connect with colleagues across different teams and locations.
Workvivo's client list includes Kent, Amazon, Mercedes Benz, Stanford, and many other big names from diverse industries.
Workvivo offers custom pricing plans. We suggest you get in touch with their sales team for a price quote and to get answers to any questions you may have about the platform.
Best For
Workvivo is a great tool for companies looking to increase communication and productivity in their office with an intranet. Ideally, if you are a mid-sized company, you might find that Workvivo is right for you.
Motivosity
Motivosity has been expanding its focus to become an employee recognition and experience platform that can easily work for teams from 50 to 5,000. It encompasses a complete recognition tool encompassing internal communication, awards, rewards, insights, and a way to run all your programs in one place.
PROS
- It’s a very complete tool from the get-go, with its core module (Community and Connection) offering a very wide array of features.
- Then, expansions of the tool are available as separately priced add-ons, letting you manage employee rewards, wellness programs, employee engagement surveys, and analytics from the same tool.
- Has a social media feel that makes it intuitive to use.
- Motivosity is very transparent about their pricing and what you get with each module.
- Factoring all of the above, Motivosity is quite a good deal if you consider all the workflows it can handle for that price point.
- 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
- Although it’s improved over the years, we find the UI to be a bit heavy on the cognitive side. The platform does do a lot, so it can be a bit overwhelming when you first lay eyes on it. That being said, it doesn’t seem to stop people from using the tool, as 96% of employees use the system at least once a month.
- When it comes to rewards, these are limited to the dollar-based kind, it doesn’t support point-based systems.
- 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 is probably one of the most complete employee experience products out there. What started as a rewards and recognition tool, can now handle most aspects of what you would call employee experience. It makes sense for a company that, from the start, has made it its mission to help people be happier at work.
This expansion has been impressive to witness over the years, as we’ve been familiar with the tool since early on in their journey and have had several demos over the years. Our most recent one included a tour of the whole suite, starting from the communications hub but also going through the rewards and recognition module, which is more complete than ever and is now offered as an add-on.
Then, there are employee insights, which feature many types of surveys and metrics you can use to get an idea of how people feel and behave in the workplace. Although it can feel like too much at first, given the many options that you can point and click to, the UI is always improving. It’s also fairly easy to figure out once you locate the workflow you’re after. It also helps that you won’t start alone since implementation support is included with each plan.
Motivosity proudly serves a diverse range of esteemed customers, including Instructure, the University of Michigan, Cotopaxi, HealthEquity, DF Credit Union, and WGU among others.
Motivosity’s core product of Recognition and Rewards is $4 per employee per month. This includes all of their tools for internal communication, rewards, awards, milestones, social connection features, etc. For a comprehensive list of features included in each pricing option, refer to Motivosity's dedicated pricing page.
Best For
Motivosity is a versatile employee experience tool that caters to organizations of all sizes, from startups to large enterprises. Its strength lies in serving SMBs and mid-market companies. Their sweet spot is in the 75-750 headcount range, but they have customers from 25 employees to 25,000 employees.
I used Motivosity for employee engagement, which comprised a small portion of my weekly workflow. We primarily used it to increase connectivity among employees and promote appreciation and engagement. This was particularly relevant for our performance-driven roles in sales, customer service, and account management, where there was an emphasis on making extra efforts for better results. We used it in short intervals when team milestones were achieved or initiatives were launched.
- Motivosity has a user-friendly UI that makes employee engagement easy to understand.
- It is helpful for small businesses that lack a framework for employee engagement.
- Motivosity improves connectivity among employees in businesses with multiple locations.
I used Motivosity at a previous employer. I only had the opportunity to use it for about three months, as we needed a way to increase and manage employee engagement. Before implementing this system, we relied exclusively on survey-driven initiatives. Motivosity was intended to bridge the gap in these engagement initiatives and provide a more consistent way to foster engagement.
- Motivosity is too expensive for the features it offers; I believe there are cheaper options for enterprises looking to invest more in employee engagement.
- Some of Motivosity's fringe features can be confusing to use or lack clear use cases.
- Its reporting capabilities are not as advanced as many competitors.
Motivosity offers a very user-friendly UI that is easy for any employee to use and understand, unlike competitors that often require more administrative management to oversee user experience. It also has features that create community-like interactions, which is especially helpful for companies without other platforms for employee interaction, particularly remote or multi-location companies.
- How much are you willing to invest in employee engagement?
- How much do you already spend on engagement initiatives?
- What is the size of your business, and do you have multiple locations?
- How valuable are employee engagement and rewards for your type of company (e.g., sales-heavy roles)?
Motivosity has been investing in improving user experience, aiming to make it feel seamless for employees.
Motivosity is good for sales-driven or performance-driven organizations.
Motivosity is not good for large enterprises that need more robust and horizontally integrated systems.
Leapsome
Used by big brands such Spotify and Mercedes-Benz, Leapsome helps you understand your employees using surveys and gives you the insights you need to drive change. It's highly interactive and fully customizable.
PROS
- 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
- 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 has tons of functionality. By sending out pulse surveys, you’ll be able to check in on employee culture and mitigate any major issues before they start. The platform uses Natural Language Processing and Machine Learning to analyze open-ended response questions, providing your HR team with quantifiable data to make actionable decisions.
After receiving data from surveys, you can make use of Leapsome’s robust learning, 1:1, and team-building features to fix any shortcomings your employees pointed out.
- Spotify
- Babbel
- PayFit
Leapsome is priced based on a few factors: number of employees, feature set, and contract length. It starts at $7 per user per month billed annually. They offer a 14-day free trial to try before you buy, no credit card required.
Best For
Leapsome is a great choice for companies of all sizes.
MeBeBot
MeBeBot combines AI chatbots for quick question answering, pulse surveys to gather timely feedback, analytics for insights, and seamless integration into Slack, Teams, SharePoint to engage employees in their daily workflow.
PROS
- AI chatbot for 24/7 support and quick access to company knowledge
- It is easy to create pulse surveys to gather timely feedback
- Analytics and dashboards provide visibility into conversations and engagement
- Its conversational interface improves the employee experience
- Managers get custom insights from ToolBot
- Support is now offered in multiple languages
- No-code tool, easy to maintain. The customer portal makes it very straightforward to find and edit your knowledge base and keep the chatbot up to date.
- If an area of your knowledge center is in the works, we found it simple to set up placeholders for the entire topic.
- SOC-certified for data privacy
- 4-6 weeks implementation
- API availability
CONS
- No free trial or free plan.
- No mobile app for on-the-go access.
- Mainly helpful for companies that use Slack and/or Teams.
- Not a good match for companies with less than 250 employees
- Mainly aimed for companies that use Slack and/or Teams
- No multi-lingual support at the moment
MeBeBot is all about improving workplace communication, engagement, and culture. At its core is an AI-powered chatbot that provides employees with quick access to company knowledge, policies, and HR information. Employees can ask questions in natural language via chat and get answers instantly 24/7.
Beyond the chatbot, MeBeBot offers several capabilities to enhance the employee experience. Its pulse surveys allow you to gather feedback from employees in real time through simple conversational questionnaires. The surveys can be targeted and results analyzed to take action on emerging issues. For managers, MeBeBot has a dedicated ToolBot that provides coaching and tips personalized to the manager's team and challenges.
On the analytics side, MeBeBot gives administrators visibility into conversational metrics to optimize knowledge management. Features like conversation volume, response times, and topics analysis help improve the self-service experience. For reporting, MeBeBot offers live dashboards tracking utilization, user satisfaction, and content gaps.
From an integration standpoint, MeBeBot is designed as an app for Slack, Microsoft Teams, and SharePoint. This places support and engagement directly in the flow of work. The platform also offers APIs for customization and integration with HRIS, ITSM, and other workplace systems.
Ziff Davis, HireVue, Abrigo, CrowdStreet, Terminal, Massage Envy
MeBeBot is sold as an annual SaaS subscription license. The average pricing is $2.00-$5.00 per employee per month (tiered, based on the number of employees), and $250-1,000 per month for an AI Portal license. There are no implementation fees.
There’s no free trial, but employers interested in the tool should ask about the MeBeBot paid pilot program.
Best For
MeBeBot is best suited for growing companies, particularly in technology, finance, consulting, or similar industries.
Reward Gateway
Reward Gateway helps you build a tailored employee experience platform. Their implementation team will help you design a strategy that is unique to your business. Fancy an employee recognition system? You can get that and much more.
PROS
- 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
- No free trial
- The “Reward Gateway for Small Business” version is only available for companies in the UK and Australia
Reward Gateway is very well respected in the employee experience space. Through an engaging peer-to-peer recognition program, you’ll allow your employees to celebrate the wins with each other. As its name suggests, Reward Gateway offers many types of rewards for peer and managerial recognition, including gift vouchers and cashback offers.
- Samsung
- Orbis
- Five Star Bank
Each of Reward Gateway’s solutions are available for standalone purchase. However, price is not publicly available, so you must contact a sales representative. If you’re a UK or AU user, the company offers a Reward Gateway for Small Business plan which is £6 per employee per month.
Best For
Companies of any size will find a use case in at least one Reward Gateway module.
I use Reward Gateway on a weekly basis as part of our regular workflow for employee recognition and rewards. One of the primary ways we use the platform is through its peer-to-peer recognition feature, allowing staff to publicly acknowledge the hard work and achievements of their colleagues.
I also manage and distribute reward points that employees can redeem in place of other benefits to further engage them. Additionally, the analytics and reporting tools help us gauge employee engagement and assess the effectiveness of our recognition programs.
Overall, Reward Gateway has proven to be an essential tool in building a culture of appreciation within the organization.
Reward Gateway has an extremely user-friendly interface, making it easy for employees to navigate and access recognition tools. It offers a wide variety of custom rewards and discounts, which can be tailored to fit our team's preferences. The platform's robust analytics provide valuable insights into employee engagement, helping us continually improve our recognition programs.
Our organization implemented Reward Gateway to address significant challenges related to employee engagement and recognition. Before using this tool, we struggled with inconsistency in employee recognition and a lack of centralized resources for rewards, which negatively affected morale and motivation.
We sought a solution that would foster a culture of appreciation and make it easier for employees to recognize each other's contributions. Reward Gateway offers key benefits such as an easy-to-use peer-to-peer recognition platform, customizable reward options, and exclusive employee discounts.
I have been using Reward Gateway for over a year, and it has significantly enhanced our ability to celebrate achievements and maintain a positive workplace culture.
The search functionality for rewards is somewhat limited, making it difficult to quickly find specific items. The mobile application is less intuitive than the desktop version, which can hinder on-the-go recognition. While the reporting features are useful, they could benefit from more customization options for deeper analysis of engagement metrics.
Reward Gateway stands out because it offers a comprehensive employee engagement solution that combines recognition, rewards, and communication in one platform. While many tools focus solely on recognition or discounts, Reward Gateway integrates additional features such as employee surveys and company news, supporting a more holistic approach to engagement.
Compared to competitors like Bonusly and TINYpulse, Reward Gateway offers broader incentives through customizable rewards and a large-scale discount program. I appreciate how it nurtures a culture of appreciation while also keeping everyone informed of company news, which helps boost morale.
When choosing an employee engagement tool like Reward Gateway, consider functionality—ensure the platform has the features you need for recognition, rewards, and communication.
A user-friendly interface is important to ensure high adoption across the organization. The platform’s ability to be customized to reflect your company's culture and values is also crucial.
Additionally, check if the tool integrates smoothly with your existing HR systems to improve efficiency. Lastly, assess the vendor’s level of support to ensure you receive the necessary assistance during implementation and ongoing use.
Reward Gateway has evolved significantly, expanding its features to better meet user needs. Originally a simple recognition and rewards platform, it has grown to include engagement tools such as employee communication and surveys. The user interface has become more intuitive and accessible, driven by user feedback.
The platform now offers more customizable reward options and a broader range of discounts, catering to diverse employee preferences. Additionally, Reward Gateway has enhanced its analytics features, enabling organizations to track engagement metrics more thoroughly.
Reward Gateway is well-suited for mid-sized to large organizations where employee engagement and recognition are key components of corporate culture. It is ideal for companies looking to boost morale and retention through comprehensive rewards and recognition programs.
The platform is particularly beneficial for organizations with diverse workforces, as it offers customizable rewards and discounts to cater to different employee preferences. Companies seeking a tool that combines engagement features with communication capabilities will find Reward Gateway’s all-in-one approach valuable for creating a positive workplace environment.
Reward Gateway may not be the best fit for very small organizations with limited budgets or those that do not require an extensive recognition and reward program. Companies with highly specialized engagement needs may find the platform’s broader approach less suitable.
Additionally, organizations seeking a simple, low-cost tool focused solely on recognition, without integrated communication or analytics features, may prefer a more basic solution.
WorkTango
WorkTango's employee experience software includes goals, OKRs, recognition, conversations, employee surveys, feedback, and Incentives. Use this all-in-one tool to elevate your employee experience and by extension, company culture.
PROS
- Worktango has a simple and intuitive interface available in 9 languages.
- Coworkers can give public or private recognition in any direction, with or without reward points to celebrate one another’s efforts and achievements - viewable companywide in a social media-like activity feed.
- Robust dashboards and reporting fuel near real-time insights that are easily accessible to admins.
- Users appreciate the wide selection of reward options including: gift cards, charitable donations, physical items, swag, travel and more.
- Automated recognition ensures you never miss a milestone, sending prompt shoutouts for birthdays, work anniversaries, and other occasions.
- Simple implementation with ongoing and on-demand training sessions.
- Create custom incentives to reinforce your company’s objectives, programs, core values, or any positive actions.
- You can run unlimited surveys in over 20 languages with the flexibility to use WorkTango’s research-backed and statistically validated assessments, or create your own.
- 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
- Billing can only be done annually.
- 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.
If you want it all, WorkTango has it. People teams can leverage all of WorkTango's functionality to build a healthy employee experience. While it can be a challenge to have your employees adopt new software, WorkTango has tools to engage employees at all levels of your organization to drive platform adoption and engagement. Employees who actively use the WorkTango Recognition & Rewards platform stay at their company 2.8 years longer on average than inactive employees.
1000+ organizations have used WorkTango, including Kia Motors, HUB International and Rexall.
WorkTango's pricing isn't disclosed upfront. To get an estimate based on your business size and needs, we recommend scheduling a demo with their Sales team
Best For
Although WorkTango can be used by companies of any size, it is worth noting that small and medium-sized businesses make up the majority of their customer base.
Several times a year, I utilize Worktango to collect employee engagement data. This platform offers fantastic features enabling me to gauge employee sentiments regarding the company, their roles, and their managers. Once the data is gathered, it's meticulously organized to furnish leadership with insights into employee perceptions of the company's dynamics.
The standout features of Worktango that I appreciate are its robust analytics capabilities, particularly how it provides breakdowns for each demographic, department, and manager. The customer service is exceptional; they consistently demonstrate eagerness to assist me in optimizing tool usage, introducing new features, and ensuring I maximize the value of my subscription. I also find the points system for recognizing team members appealing, as it offers opportunities to earn gift cards and other rewards.
Our team has relied on Worktango for approximately a year, finding its points system particularly commendable. These points can be redeemed for various rewards, such as gift cards, fostering motivation and engagement. Additionally, Worktango's software has proven instrumental in enhancing decision-making processes, driving innovation, strengthening supplier or partner relationships, bolstering customer relations and service, and fostering internal operational efficiencies. Notable features include its robust role-based access mechanism and intuitive drag-and-drop platform for crafting tailored employee recognition campaigns. The platform also offers an excellent recognition and rewards tool, boasting easy implementation and AI-driven data analytics.
The system's export functionality is somewhat restricted and could benefit from additional options. While it's a modern platform, it's quite narrowly tailored to its own methodology. Integration between Worktango and Microsoft Teams lacks the intuitive ease required for seamless collaboration. While raw data is accessible, visualizing and leveraging it in its current form can be time-consuming, especially concerning usage data and the quality of feedback provided to employees. Certain navigational aspects could also be more user-friendly.
Among employee recognition and engagement systems, Worktango consistently secures a spot in the top two rankings. It offers competitive pricing and holds the second position for customer service responsiveness and ease of use.
When evaluating software options, businesses should prioritize factors such as ease of use, analytics capabilities, and cost-effectiveness. Additionally, companies should emphasize feedback mechanisms, goal alignment, people analytics, and lifecycle surveys in their decision-making process.
I’m unsure of how WorkTango changed or evolved over time.
WorkTango is ideal for small to medium-sized companies.
I cannot think of any companies for which WorkTango can’t be a good fit.
eloomi
Eloomi packs several tools that can help you deliver great employee experiences. You can use the platform’s onboarding module to transition new employees seamlessly into your team, boost productivity with 1:1 reviews, and build a healthy and positive company culture with continuous feedback surveys, rewards, and recognition features.
PROS
- Eloomi is easy to use and navigate, even for non-tech-savvy employees.
- Users praised Eloomi's responsive and helpful customer support team.
- It is simple and fast to create new courses and programs and upload custom content in Eloomi.
- Eloomi can be customized to match an organization's brand and tailored to different departments.
- Eloomi is quite comprehensive, with modules for onboarding, training/learning, performance management, employee engagement, and recognition.
- The platform comes with a library of ready-to-use templates to help you create online training faster. It also has a mobile app for your employees to access training materials on the go.
- Their surveys are customizable and private, helping you get specific and honest feedback from employees.
- You can request other members of the organization to provide feedback on certain skills of employees.
- You can make use of Eloomi’s micro-sized online training content to prevent overwhelming onboarding experiences.
CONS
- Some users experienced minor bugs or glitches, though these were typically fixed quickly.
- The reporting feature is limited in scope and customization.
- The setup process can involve a learning curve and some features like appraisals lack self-serve support docs.
- Eloomi’s pricing isn’t transparent and there are no free trials yet.
- Because of the sheer number of features Eloomi offers, there’s a steeper learning curve for the average user to get the hang of the platform and understand it to its fullest.
- A few users reported experiencing bugs and speed issues when generating reports, especially ones with a large volume of data, but have noted that Eloomi’s customer support team is quick to resolve such issues.
- The platform’s pricing isn’t transparent and free trials aren’t available at this time.
Eloomi provides managers with a host of tools to deliver great employee experiences. These tools streamline coaching, mentorship, learning path creation for quick onboarding, training programs delivery, and survey design and deployment for employee feedback. It also provides in-depth analytics and insights so you can see exactly how your employees are engaging with your initiatives and what areas need improvement. In addition, you can encourage goal achievement by adding points, rewards, and certificates.
Eloomi’s customer list includes BONUS Vorsorgekasse AG, Breakout Games, Carne Group, ElectricBrands, Nufarm, Domino’s, and more.
Eloomi offers custom pricing, so the best way to find out how much it costs is to request a demo.
Best For
Eloomi works well for HR leaders at mid-sized and large businesses. It’s especially suitable for those who want a platform that can tackle employee experience with a sharp focus on learning and skills development.
Peakon
Workday Peakon uses journey mapping to improve employee experience and retention. The platform is most used by growing companies and enterprises to collect employee data at every stage of their employment, get insights to uncover reasons for employee turnover, and forecast attrition risk in real-time.
PROS
- Workday Peakon allows employees to provide feedback anonymously, which encourages honest and open feedback.
- The platform supports over 20 languages.
- The built-in analytics show how the company performed over time and compares it to the market.
- The platform gives you data-driven insights and action plans based on responses which are helpful for better employee engagement and satisfaction.
- Having a variety of pricing options makes the tool scalable and fits various business sizes.
- It integrates with several business systems, making it easy to collect and analyze data from multiple sources.
- The customer support team is available 24/7.
- Workday Peakon keeps feedback anonymous, which allows employees to give their opinion without fear of reprisal.
- Surveys are easy to navigate, and employees can answer as many questions as they like from the survey—and skip over any that they don’t want to answer.
- Based on responses, Workday Peakon offers suggestions on what you can do to improve employee experience.
CONS
- The platform doesn't come with the ability to create custom reports. The tool instead offers a variety of pre-built reports that users can use.
- A few users shared that it can be hard to navigate Peakon and find employee profiles at times.
- Some features, for example, analytics and reporting, can be too much for small teams.
- The platform’s pricing isn’t transparent, and there isn’t a free trial at this time, either.
- Peakon doesn't come with the ability to create custom reports. It does, however, offer a variety of pre-built reports that you can use.
- A few users shared that it can be hard to navigate Peakon and find employee profiles at times.
- The platform’s pricing isn’t transparent and there aren’t free trials at this time.
Workday Peakon is a solid solution for growing companies and enterprises to get insights into employee responses and get actionable plans they can work on to improve the employee experience.
The first thing that caught our eyes was the feedback tools. We heard several employee users share that the surveys enable them to be honest without revealing their identities. As a multinational team, we appreciate that Workday Peakon is accessible in 20 different languages.
Another thing we like about Workday Peakon is its analytics capability. The platform is able to make sense of gathered employee responses quite well. It’s worth noting, though, that while the survey tools, analytics, and suggestions can give enterprises the power to dig deep into what’s going on with their teams and what they can change for the better, these tools can be too much for early-stage businesses and such, won’t get the same results. Benchmarking is another cool tool: it provides analytics on how a team has performed over time and compares it to market data. This could be an advantage for businesses to pinpoint and work on areas that need improvement before it’s too late. Workday Peakon’s customer service is available 24/7 and is highly rated for being customer-oriented.
With that said, we found it hard to have fully custom reports with Peakon. While, for the most part, accessing the platform is straightforward, some users found it hard to find employee profiles. Lastly, the pricing of the platform isn’t fixed and free trials are not available at this time.
EasyJet, Verizon, Nando's, Pret, Capgemini.
Peakon has an undisclosed pricing structure, so you must contact a sales representative for specific costs.
Best For
Workday Peakon is best suited for growing companies and enterprises looking to drive employee engagement and improve their workplace culture.
Spring Health
Spring Health is a mental healthcare software that takes a holistic approach to improve employee wellness. It asks employees a few simple questions and in turn provides personalized care.
PROS
- Spring Health leverages machine learning and data-based insights to tailor-make mental health plans for each employee.
- It assigns a dedicated Care Navigator to guide each team member's wellness journey.
- Spring Health uses data-driven insights and machine learning models to create a personalized mental healthcare plan for every individual
- Spring Health provides every member with a Care Navigator who walks you through your healthcare plan, answers any questions, helps you schedule your therapy sessions, and acts as a guide in your mental wellness journey.
CONS
- Spring Health’s services can only be accessed if your employer has paid for a subscription.
- The platform is currently only available in English.
- You cannot access Spring Health’s services unless your employer has paid for it.
- Spring Health is only available in English
Spring Health melds clinically-proven tech with world-class mental health providers to give your employees the best mental health experience possible. Customers receive personalized support, which means that a custom mental health program is built for your company’s and individual employees’ needs.
- TED
- Whole Foods
- Instacart
- Gap
The first 10 sessions every calendar year are free for employees. Afterwards, sessions are covered by insurance. For employer costs, contact Spring Health or talk to your benefits administrator.
Best For
Any company looking to enhance employee experience by providing mental health resources.
We used Spring Health as an extension of our health benefits, providing it to employees who expressed mental health concerns. It made therapy more accessible, allowing employees to get ongoing or single-session therapy.
Spring Health connected users with a care coordinator to match them with suitable therapists, though employees could also search the database themselves. Their matching process was generally effective, and if a match didn't work, they would promptly find a new one. As an HR professional, I could see usage data without violating HIPAA laws.
It made therapy more accessible, with over 20% of employees using the platform in the first year. Spring Health focused on therapy, ensuring no one felt excluded from accessing care. Their employees and support teams were helpful in getting us up and running quickly.
We shifted from fully-insured to level-funded insurance, which allowed us to see more detailed benefits data, revealing a significant number of employees using medication for mental health conditions like depression and anxiety.
Recognizing the difficulty in finding mental health services through traditional health insurance, we sought a solution to better support our employees. Spring Health's team impressed us with their supportive approach and focus on mental health.
We used the tool for two years until our company was acquired and we had to switch to the new company's platform.
Being focused only on therapy can be limiting, as sometimes employees want broader support. Sorting therapists by intersectional identifiers, such as finding a female person of color, was challenging at the time. In certain areas of the US, it was harder to find available therapists.
Spring Health specializes in therapy and provides strong access to therapists, unlike other tools that may also include coaches. It functions as a superior version of an Employee Assistance Program (EAP).
Consider the costs associated with depression and anxiety and how much productivity is lost. Can a tool like this offset some of those costs? Will this tool provide services that are sometimes expected from managers and HR, who are not licensed therapists? Will access to therapy increase employee engagement? Do competitors offer similar benefits or perks?
They have grown their network of therapists and started working with insurance. It's great to see them becoming more common as a benefit.
Spring Health can be a great fit for any organization looking to support their employees, especially in current times.
Spring Health’s cost might be prohibitive for smaller organizations.
Bonusly
Bonusly boosts employee experience by making peer recognition and rewards seamless, frequent, and public to increase engagement and positivity in the workplace.
PROS
- Bonusly’s UI is modern, easy to navigate, and available in 3 other languages besides English.
- Users appreciated being able to express gratitude in a lighthearted way with things like GIFs, points, rewards, etc.
- The public nature of the recognition on Bonusly allows appreciation to be visible across teams/departments.
- You can redeem points for tangible rewards like gift cards.
- You can test Bonusly out for 14 days for free.
- 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 Core plan that’s designed for small businesses is limited to 50 users.
- The analytics and reporting features are relatively basic.
- The reward catalog lacks experiential gifts and is focused more on gift cards, cash, or donations.
- Employees outside of the U.S. have rewards caps and fewer redemption options.
- Technical issues like site downtime, user import problems, and point redemption bugs may be experienced.
- The starter plan is for small businesses that cap out at 50 users.
- Analytics and reporting features are relatively underdeveloped.
- The reward catalog lacks in-person experience and physical goods, and options and focuses on gift cards, cash, or donations.
- Unused bonus funds don’t roll over: users use it or lose it.
Bonusly’s goal is to boost employee engagement, morale, and retention through rewards and recognition. Through its social media-style interface, your employees can give timely bonuses to colleagues for wins both big and small. These recognitions then populate a highly visible news feed bolstering awareness around accomplishments.
A major strength of Bonusly lies in its flexibility around rewards. Employees can choose from gift cards, charitable donations, or cold hard cash. Peer bonuses can be any amount set by admins, enabling creativity in recognition. The wide selection of redemption choices gives employees autonomy in finding meaning in the rewards.
By making appreciation easy to express and highly visible, Bonusly can effectively improve the experience of your employees. For any budget-conscious organization seeking to improve engagement and positivity through frequent peer recognition and rewards, Bonusly is absolutely worth considering.
Over 3,000 companies use Bonusly, including Workday, Toast, and Chobani.
Bonusly has three plans:
- Core: Designed for small businesses and costs $3/user/month, billed annually.
- Pro: Designed for growing businesses, and costs $5/user/month, billed annually.
- Custom: Designed for larger organizations and has custom pricing.
Best For
Small to mid-sized companies.
Empuls
Empuls offers a suite of tools to connect with employees, seek their feedback, and provide incentives to improve the employee experience. For instance, you can leverage eNPS surveys, lifecycle surveys, and engagement surveys for feedback, as well as recognize their efforts with greetings and rewards.
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 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.
Empuls' Employee Experience Software allows organizations to quickly identify and address key areas for improvement based on employee feedback. The built-in social intranet facilitates open communication, and can also be used to celebrate achievements, stay informed about company news, take part in social activities at the office, and collaborate on different projects. You can also show your appreciation for your employees by sending them virtual greeting cards, rewards and gifts when they reach important milestones.
Empuls has over 1000 global customers, including Prodevans, Bahwan Cybertek, Magzter, FCA India Automobiles Private Limited, KPIT, Quixy, and more.
Empuls offers three pricing plans. Here are the prices if you choose to pay annually:
- Starter: This plan costs $20/year per employee. It offers features, including rewards and recognition, employee surveys and feedback, social intranet, and reports and analytics.
- Proficient: This plan costs $50/year per employee. It offers features, including white labeling, polls & quizzes, customer support, and everything that is in the Starter plan.
- Enterprise: This is a custom plan that offers everything from Proficient plan, plus custom HRMS integration, multi-region deployment, multi-currency payoffs, and dedicated customer success manager.
Best For
Empuls is a versatile employee experience software tool that caters to businesses of all sizes. However, it is particularly well-suited for small to medium-sized businesses aiming to foster a people-first environment.
Kudos
Kudos is an excellent employee experience software for its simple yet visually engaging interface that makes recognizing colleagues easy and fun, driving employee engagement.
PROS
- Kudos is very easy and simple to use for giving recognition and appreciation to coworkers.
- You can earn reward points and redeem them for gift cards and prizes.
- Users appreciate the ability to recognize, reward, and show appreciation to their coworkers and peers.
- 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
- Several users felt the monthly limit on points you can give to others is too low.
- A common complaint was challenges and lack of flexibility when trying to redeem earned points for actual rewards.
- A few users expressed wanting a broader selection of gift card options, especially local ones, to choose from when redeeming points.
- 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®’s platform is specifically designed to engage employees through peer to peer recognition, that can also include employee rewards. Recognition sent within the Kudos® platform is tied to company values and qualities, reinforcing your culture and enabling deep data insights into the health of your workplace culture. In addition to software, they offer consulting services.
ATCO, Bulgari, Arch Insurance, KidsPeace
Kudos starts at $3.25 per user per month for teams of minimum 500 employees. Final pricing varies based on users and contract length.
Best For
Kudos is most ideal for companies with over 500 employees. The platform serves a variety of industries and operates internationally.
Kudos was used as a pilot. It was used as a demo software. It was around honoring employees who hit a silver or gold anniversary (25/50 years of service). The Retirement Services of our HR department used this software the most. I used Kudos during our Employee Recognition month.
- It has many functions that it can be used for.
- It is easy to use.
- It provides the opportunity to build your own rewards.
We brought Kudos to ramp up our employee experience through the employee lifecycle. It provides opportunities to recognize employees through various stages in their careers. It was also a way for us to acknowledge milestones and do pulse surveys. I used this software for about a year.
It is quite costly. Other competitors in the marketplace offer better cost value.
In the employee recognition space - Kudos has a lane that offers services for People Analytics
Why are you purchasing an employee recognition tool? Is their buy-in for senior leadership? Can you buy tools a la carte or do you have to buy everything the platform has to offer?.
Large organizations
Employers who have a strict budget
Mo
Mo packs an impressive range of vouchers that can be shared as rewards to delight and appreciate employees. The platform is also available in 12 languages and growing, making it ideal for companies with distributed, multilingual employees.
PROS
- User interface is clean and intuitive across devices.
- Users highly rate the platform’s varied range of reward vouchers.
- Available in 12 languages so far and the team is actively working on adding more.
- Transparent, budget-friendly pricing with no extra rewards fees.
- Free onboarding and implementation assistance for all users.
- Well-developed mobile apps.
- UI is easy to navigate, and users seem to appreciate the varied choice of gift cards they can offer through the platform.
- Transparent pricing starting from $2.25/user/month with no rewards fees.
- Free onboarding and implementation support for all users.
- Robust and feature-rich mobile applications.
- Available in 12 languages and growing.
CONS
- No HRIS integration in Base plan. Potential fee for Slack, Microsoft Teams integrations.
- Customer support is only offered between 9 AM - 5 PM GMT.
- Free trials and free plans are not available as of yet.
- HRIS integration absent in Base plan. Possible implementation fee for Slack and Microsoft Teams integrations.
- The customer support hours are limited to weekdays, 9 AM - 5 PM GMT.
Mo's platform is designed to enhance employee morale and minimize turnover. It features Moments and Boosts, which help you acknowledge and celebrate your team members’ achievements either individually or in a group. The platform gives you the flexibility to reward employees either with vouchers redeemable at various stores like Amazon, ASOS, and John Lewis, or with customized rewards tailored specifically for each team member. In addition to rewards given by managers, Mo empowers employees to participate in the process with peer-to-peer nominations of deserving individuals for awards or recognition.
To make rewards and recognition even easier, Mo recently launched “Assistant”, a tool that gives you quick recommendations on actions you can take to further drive engagement, a summary of recent Moments, an overview of your team’s reward budget, and more.
SGN, The O2, NHS, Aspen, William Hill, and SHL are some of Mo’s 58k users.
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, 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 benefit from Mo’s offering, but we think its feature set supports SMBs best.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
It’s easy to fall into the trap of buying the right software and thinking your problems are solved automatically. That’s a major oversight! There are many obstacles to overcome, especially when just introducing an employee experience platform. As such, here are a few things to look out for:
- Over-reliance on software: Software isn’t a miracle worker. If your culture is struggling, you’ll need to do more than sign a contract with a tech vendor. Diagnose the problem below the surface, then use that information to guide you to the right software solution.
- Not defining your goals: Similar to the previous bullet, you won’t accomplish much if you don’t have a firm idea of what you’re trying to accomplish. Find your problem, then set a few goals along the way to measure the success of your efforts.
- Not measuring employee data: Goals have to be measurable so you can track success. Make sure you use KPIs like retention rate or employee satisfaction to recognize the difference your employee experience software makes.
- Not integrating across your tech stack: As HR grows more data-centric, the more you know about your workforce, the better. Using data from all of your systems creates a holistic view of your organization. Make sure they’re cleanly integrated for easy access.
Benefits and ROI of Employee Experience Software
As with any software purchase, it will be easier to get buy-in from upper management if you’re able to clearly explain benefits and ROI. Employee experience software, as its name suggests, aims to benefit the employee experience.
Measuring experience isn’t perfect, as employee satisfaction and happiness are nearly intangible metrics. However, there are a few different categories of data that can provide higher-ups with enough information to know that your new software is making a difference.
- Better retention rate: It can cost 6 to 9 months salary to replace an employee. Keeping top talent in-house is incredibly valuable. You’ll get your finger on the pulse of organizational health by checking how many employees are jumping ship and how quickly after hire.
- Positive employee feedback: Surveys are a solid way to keep track of employee satisfaction. If you’re getting positive anonymous feedback, you’re likely doing a good job.
- Heightened employer branding: What do your former employees say about you? Are your current employees referring people from their networks to open roles? If your employee experience initiative is working, you should hear nothing but positive things, and as a result, you will see more people want to apply to work for you.
- Higher candidate conversion rate: Keep an eye on how many candidates make it all the way through your application process. If close to 100% are completing applications, it’s likely because your company is a desirable place to work.
- Active social media followers: Are employees sharing LinkedIn posts or retweeting your company’s tweets? While this might not seem like much of an ROI at first, you’ll soon realize it goes hand-in-hand with employer branding.
Employee Experience Software Pricing
Employee experience software includes a wide variety of tools. Therefore, the pricing structures are going to be very different depending on whether it’s an engagement tool, onboarding software, or other types of HR tech.
However, there is a common thread with the vendors on this page. They are on a subscription basis, most of them operating on a per-employee-per-month or per-user-per-month basis. This means that the price will automatically take your business size into account.
There may be additional implementation fees, training and coaching costs, and other charges to look out for when demoing a product.
Employee Experience Features
Employee experience software hosts many different features, mainly because there are so many different types of software under the landscape’s umbrella. Let’s break down key features that the vendors on our shortlist offer:
- Pulse surveys: Employee surveys check-in to see how you’re doing as an employer. If the employee response rate is high, you can get a really in-depth look at their thoughts and feelings so you can adjust your plans accordingly. The vendors on this list provide templates or customizable surveys that you can send out on a schedule or when you feel necessary.
- Rewards & recognition: Certain vendors on our shortlist provide different types of rewards to incentivize good work, like gift cards or extra time off. When employees feel appreciated for their work, they’ll stay with your company longer and often be more productive during work hours.
- Employee directory and org chart: Directories and org charts make it easier for employees to connect with others across your company. Detailed employee profiles display contact information as well as more personal information like birthdays and fun facts.
- Social media-style activity feeds: Many of the vendors on this list engage employees through a newsfeed not unlike Facebook or Twitter. Employees can share their thoughts or recognize each other for achievements, while employers can share news and updates.
- Onboarding tools: The employee experience starts at onboarding. Automated workflows and self-service portals simplify the process and ease the pain of paperwork.
- Training and coaching: Growth is an important aspect of employee experience. A few vendors on this list offer training and coaching programs to provide employees with chances to learn and connect with leadership to benefit their long-term career.
- Performance management: You’ll be able to track employee performance over time by pulling data from surveys, manager feedback, and more. By doing so, you can diagnose any problems with an employee’s performance or recognize them for work well done.
- Wellness: Whether mental, physical, or financial, employee wellness is extremely important to maintaining a healthy work environment. These types of tools provide employees with important resources that will also benefit them outside the office. Employers in return see higher retention and productivity rates.
Demo Questions
Software purchases are big decisions, especially when it comes to software that may affect your employees’ day-to-day working lives. It’s incredibly important to try before you buy. This is typically done through a demo with someone on the vendor’s product or sales team.
Write down your company’s key considerations and goals in preparation for the demo call. Then, craft the questions to ask that get to the heart of those considerations. If you need a place to start, here are some suggestions for questions to ask:
- Will your software fit seamlessly into my current tech stack?
- Do you have strong data on how your software has helped employee attrition?
- Do you just consider your solution to be employee engagement software, or is it a wider suite?
- How will your software boost engagement?
- How will the workflows from this solution automate my processes?
- How good is your user experience, especially because I want my entire company to adopt this solution?
- How positive has customer experience been?
- What’s the implementation process like?
Employee Experience Software FAQs
What is employee experience software?
Employee experience software is any solution designed to enhance your workforce’s day-to-day.
What makes a good employee experience software?
A good employee experience software positively impacts your workforce, while also providing value to your business. Employees who are happier in their day-to-day work are more likely to stay with your company longer and tend to be more productive. Therefore, your company doesn’t lose money to turnover and will actually make more money thanks to productivity.
Why are different types of employee experience software?
Types of employee experience software include engagement tools, wellness apps, employee directories, social networks, EAPs, rewards & recognition software, learning management systems, and performance management platforms.
Key Takeaways and Final Advice
It’s important to diagnose any problems with your employee experience before you jump into a purchase. Every company is different, so each problem is unique. There’s no reason to get expensive engagement software when you already have engagement tools built-in to your HRIS and the metrics are good. Similarly, there’s no reason to get an employee wellness app if your company already has an in-house wellness program.
To help you get a sense of what kind of return on investment you’ll get from purchasing employee experience software, check out our HR Tech ROI Calculators. If you’d like to learn more about employee engagement software, take a look at our detailed landscape with benefits, features, use cases, pitfalls, and more.
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.
