What is employee engagement software?

Employee engagement software is a computer- or cloud-based application that can solicit, collect, model and action employee engagement data. Different software provides different benefits, and the one you should choose depends on a number of different factors such as the size of your company and the employee engagement goals you hope to achieve. Most employee engagement software features some sort of survey mechanism where you can enter questions you’d like employees to answer or statements you’d like them to agree or disagree with. The software handles the task of sending it out to your employees (usually via email) and collecting and categorizing the data they provide.

Employee engagement surveys are often anonymized, but some software offers you the choice to see who is answering in which ways. After all of your employees have answered the survey, the software will sort their answers and provide you with insights on what they have to say. They all have their own way of modelling the data, and some even offer advanced analytics capabilities to give you a deeper look into who is most engaged and why.

How to choose employee engagement software

Remember, no two companies are the same and therefore their needs in choosing an employee engagement software solution are unique. You should begin the selection process by figuring out what you want to get from the process: are you willing to dedicate the time and effort into analyzing potentially hundreds of data points? Or are you time-strapped and looking instead for a more simplified off-the-shelf solution? Getting a sense of your needs will make the decision-making process much easier.

Consider who will use the software and their level of familiarity or comfort with technology. If you choose a solution that is too advanced and hard to use for the majority of your employees, they will either use the software improperly or provide inaccurate results that can skew your efforts to improve engagement. Be mindful of who will use the data put out by the software: will it be you, your HR team, your managers, or all of the above? Their input should be a part of the selection process since they will be the ones who need to action whatever insights the software provides, especially your human resources team as they will want to use the insights gleaned by the software in creating an effective human resources plan.

If you have an IT department, their input will be valuable as well, especially if you intend on integrating the software with your current enterprise technologies like Microsoft Office 365 or Slack. Some employee engagement software solutions provide this integration, and properly setting it up and using it can enhance the experience of using it. Conversely, you want to avoid software solutions that do not work with your current workflow or enterprise technologies, as this can cause unnecessary headaches when it comes time to actually implement the software among your workforce.

Finally, you should have a good sense of the outcomes you wish to achieve or the problems you want to solve by using employee engagement software before choosing one. Some companies may have an issue with collecting useful employee feedback, while others may struggle with an increased turnover rate. Knowing the main issues your company is facing when it comes to measuring and improving employee engagement can go a long way towards choosing an employee engagement software solution that can help fix these issues. 

Benefits of using employee engagement software

Employee engagement software has a host of benefits to offer to companies of all sizes looking to monitor and improve employee engagement, with the most obvious being time savings. It may seem tempting to create a fillable form or survey using a free service and manually sifting through the responses you get, but it can take many hours to complete this task depending on the size of your company, and unless you’re familiar with data collection and/or modelling, there’s no guarantee you’ll be able to chart the responses you get in any meaningful or actionable way. Employee engagement software handles all of this for you and gives you easy-to-read reports on what you’re doing well and where you need to improve.

Employee engagement software also enables you to make data-driven decisions. It’s one thing to know that 20% of your company feels unappreciated, it’s another to know which departments among that 20% feel that way and exactly why. Many software solutions even go as far as using AI to offer insights into what motivates your employees the most, and what they dislike. By making data-driven decisions, you save time and money and only do what is quantifiably better for your company.

Finally, employee engagement software improves employee engagement. When used correctly, it can help reduce turnover, improve morale and give you an inside look at what makes your employees happy and what to avoid to keep them happy. Many business owners make decisions at the top without any insight into the effect these decisions can have on everyone else. Employee engagement software gives you the power to make more informed decisions and to act in the best interests of your employees.

Popular employee engagement software platforms

There are numerous employee engagement software solutions on the market today, and picking one can be challenging unless you know exactly what you are looking for. Based on user reviews and features, these are a few options considered popular as of 2024.

Workvivo

Workvivo has gained in popularity recently because its platform is similar to a social media network. This makes it more appealing for less tech-savvy users and especially for younger employees who spend the most time on social platforms. The benefit of using Workvivo is that is somewhat democratizes the employee engagement process by giving your workers the chance to interact with and hear from their peers or supervisors. It enables a level of transparency that other software platforms only offer to HR professionals and management. That isn’t to say that HR professionals and management are left out of the equation with Workvivo, however: it boasts an impressive range of data modelling and algorithmic insights that make it easy to see where your company is doing well and where it can do better.

Motivosity

Motivosity introduces gamification to the employee engagement process by incentivizing employee participation with “Motivosity bucks”. Through the use of leaderboards and a clear incentive structure, Motivosity encourages greater participation and provides the added bonus of giving your employees something to strive for. You can choose what “winning” employees are rewarded with and encourage healthy competition among departments or lines of business to complete the surveys. Gamification aside, Motivosity offers robust tools for tracking and modelling the data it collects and automates much of the scheduling and sending of surveys throughout the year.

Leapsome

Leapsome not only tracks employee engagement, it also acts as performance management tool. You can use Leapsome to schedule and track 360° reviews of your employees which can then feed into the broader engagement surveys you send to the entire team. There is a very broad level of customization afforded by Leapsome so you can tailor the engagement surveys and performance tracking to your specific company or its operations. You can also choose from a number of optimized templates to structure the surveys and performance tracking. Another great thing about Leapsome is its integration ability. You can use Leapsome seamlessly with most popular payroll, HR and enterprise software solutions.

Please note that, at the time of this article’s writing, the companies, institutions or organizations mentioned in this article may or may not be affiliated with Indeed, and their mention in this article does not imply a business relationship with Indeed.