The 10 Best Tools for Increased Employee Engagement

A lot has been said and written about employee engagement. In fact, when it comes to increasing productivity in the workplace, the first question to pop in our heads is often the same—How do you engage employees in the workplace? It seems like we all are aware of how important employee engagement is, but do we really know what it is?

I doubt that.

• More than 70% of US workers reported that they don’t feel engaged in their jobs.
• 90% of leaders think that an engagement strategy has an impact on business success, but barely 25% have one.

Clearly, these stats aren’t making anyone happy. Most organizations do not seem to realize that more solid employee engagement is their best shot at succeeding. Moreover, they do not seem to pay attention to loads of tech available to fix this issue. From new hire onboarding to everyday appreciation and recognition—there are different tools to create a culture of engagement.

Let’s discuss employee engagement, learn more about its importance, highlight some good examples, and then we will get into the list of best employee engagement software.

What is employee engagement?

Engagement is an important HR variable in any organization, large or small. It is a workplace approach that aims to make employees feel more connected and committed to the organization. That, in turn, boosts employee’s enthusiasm to deliver their best each day.

What is the need for employee engagement?

An engaged employee leads to better business outcomes. But there is more. The more engaged employees feel, the more effort they put forward and the more likely they are to stay with the organization. As a result, here’s what the organization will receive:

• Higher employee satisfaction
• Higher retention
• Lower turnover
• Higher productivity
• Increased profitability
• Less absenteeism
• Increased employee loyalty

What are the best employee engagement apps and tools?

One of the questions that you and many other professionals are trying to tackle in boardrooms across the world is—How can I make my employees feel engaged? And the answer is pretty simple—leverage technology to boost employee engagement.

Technology within the workplace continues to work wonders for modern businesses. Keeping that in mind, here is the list of best software and tools that teams can use to take employee engagement to the next level.

The Top 10 Employee Engagement Software

For each software we provide:

• A quick overview
• Key features of the software
• Reviews highlighting what users like and dislike
• Pricing information

Let’ get started.

All-In-One Management Software

1] ProofHub

Overview:

ProofHub is an all-in-one project management software aka a centralized place for all your projects, teams and communications. It’s the kind of software an organization needs to keep employees on top of deliverables and deadlines—and productivity.

Key Features:

• One-to-one/group chat
• Discussions
• Announcements
• Custom roles
• Time tracking
• Customizable reporting
• Workflows and boards
• Gantt chart software
• Shared calendar
• Events and milestones
• Online proofing tool
• Integrations
• Mobile and tablet compatibility

What users like?

“ProofHub has unified all our communications, brought our internal teams together and made everyone accountable for their time in order to work smarter.”

What users dislike?

“The API can also get more functions.”

Pricing:

ProofHub offers simple pricing—No contracts. No per-user fees. Its Essential plan and Ultimate control plan include unlimited users and other core features of the software at an affordable price. Also, you get special discounts on subscriptions for non-profits.

Human Resource Management Software

2] CakeHR 👑

Overview:

CakeHR is an HR management software that solves all your employee engagement challenges and lets you focus on building the business. It’s a web-based solution that enables managers and supervisors to manage company employees (and their needs) in a more professional manner, anywhere, anytime.

Key Features:

• HR management
• Employee onboarding
• Online leave management
• Time-off requests
• Employee self-service
• Customizable reporting
• Absence management
• Expense management
• Shared leave calendar
• Online staff directory
• Integrations
• Mobile app

What users like?

“CakeHR is the only online HR software which is exactly what we expect for our company. It is user-friendly and a real asset for employees, managers & HR!”

What users dislike?

“Not always clear where to find specific settings.”

Pricing:

CakeHR offers a simple pricing scheme based on the number of active employees you have. Click here to know more!

Employee Recognition Software

3] Hi5

Overview:

Hi5 is a platform for employee recognition and building a more productive company culture. With Hi5, managers get insights about their team, provide feedback and recognize them for their efforts.

Key Features:

• Cultural alignment
• Employee alignment
• Employee awards
• Feedback management
• Goal management
• Performance management
• Rewards program
• Social recognition
• Peer-to-peer recognition
• Leaderboards/activity tracking

What users like?

“Hi5 makes celebrating your co-workers quick, easy and most importantly – FUN”

What users dislike?

“Unfortunately the more information, staff, and Hi5s you have, means the platform slows down – taking longer to load.”

Pricing:

Awesome plan available for $3 per user per month (FREE for up to 10 users) and Business plan starting from $7 per user per month.

4] Reward Gateway

Overview:

Reward Gateway is one of the best software solutions for motivating employees with recognition, communications, surveys and more.

Key Features:

• eCards
• Leaderboards/activity tracking
• Manager-to-peer recognition
• Nominations peer-to-peer recognition
• Social recognition
• Health and wellness programs
• Employee awards

What users like?

“A tailored business solution for engagement, rewards, recognition, benefits and so much more!”

What users dislike?

“The back-end design tool could be a bit more flexible to allow client creativity without asking to Reward Gateway’s design team.”

Pricing:

Reward Gateway’s pricing information is available upon request.

Employee Onboarding Software

5] iCIMS Onboard

Overview:

iCIMS Onboard is an employee onboarding software that allows you to tailor the new hire onboarding process based on department, location and more. It’s a perfect tool to engage with new hires and make them feel confident in your organization.

Key Features:

• Document management
• E-Verify/I-9 forms
• Electronic forms
• Electronic signature
• Employee handbook
• Job description management
• Orientation management
• Self-service portal
• Task management
• Training management

What users like?

“iCIMS understands the pain of the recruiter and offers the solution to remove that pain, or streamline activities to make them easier.”

What users dislike?

“The cover letter button does show the same tab of resume, I have to go back to the candidate details tab and find out the cover letter. It will be great if I can see the resume and cover letter on the same tab.”

Pricing:

iCIMS Onboard’s pricing information is available upon request.

Employee Training Software

6] Lessonly

Overview:

Lessonly is a cloud-based learning management platform designed for support teams, sales teams, and HR staff. The platform aims to empower employees with the knowledge and skills they need to perform their work better.

Key Features:

• Unlimited lessons
• Built-in course authoring
• All types of content
• Learning paths
• Smart group
• Learning library
• Lessonly university
• Bulk upload
• PDF exporting
• Tags
• Document management
• Certification management
• Mobile learning

What users like?

“Lessonly helps us rapidly deliver product training. It’s easy to use so that any user can learn continuously, stay ahead of change, and become more productive.”

What users dislike?

“I would like to have more capabilities like on PowerPoint to jazz up the lessons (colorful backgrounds, effects, etc.).”

Pricing:

Lessonly’s pricing information is available by quote.

Compliance Management Software

7] Promapp

Overview:

Promapp is a cloud-based process and compliance management software app. The software is a breeze to use and it lets you manage operations in the cloud—no training or maintenance expenses needed.

Key Features:

• Personalized navigation
• Process costing
• Process diagrams
• Process maps and mapping
• Process change tracking
• Collaboration tools
• Access controls/permissions
• Compliance tracking
• Customizable dashboard
• Document management
• Audit trail
• Risk alerts
• Version control

What users like?

“Excellent for capturing processes with good paths for providing feedback for continuous improvement.”

What users dislike?

“It would be useful to be able to search for a specific incident.”

Pricing:

Promapp’s SMB and enterprise pricing details are available by quote.

8] i-Sight

Overview:

i-Sight is a cloud-based compliance management that helps you implement workflows, analyze results, spot trends, assess training gaps and monitor risks.

Key Features:

• Compliance management
• Archiving and retention
• Assignment management
• Dashboard
• Project management
• Recurring issues
• Mobile access
• Operational risk management
• Predictive analytics

What users like?

“Data lives in one place, versus living on spreadsheets that could end up anywhere. That eliminates a huge risk.”

What users dislike?

“Features are very specific and minimal.”

Pricing:

i-Sight’s SMB and enterprise pricing details are available by quote.

Team Collaboration Software

9] Slack

Overview:

Slack is a team messaging app that makes communication, real-time messaging, file sharing, and archiving easy.

Key Features:

• Activity/news feed
• Chat/messaging
• Discussion threads
• File sharing
• Time and expense tracking
• Task management
• Audio/video conferencing
• Push notifications
• Mobile access
• Multi-user collaboration

What users like?

“Agility is part of our working philosophy, and Slack enhances lean communication flows within our growing organization. It allows us to efficiently share relevant business information, but also recognition and success.”

What users dislike?

“Occasionally the performance tends to drag.”

Pricing:

Standard plan available for $6.67 per user/month, Plus plan starting from $12.50 per user/month, and Enterprise plan available by quote.

Workforce Management Software

10] Zoho People

Overview:

Zoho People is an HR and workforce management software that takes care of your HR processes so that you can take better care of your employees. The key features of this software include onboarding management, attendance management, time tracking, appraisals, and more.

Key Features:

• Leave management
• Attendance management
• Employee self-service
• Time tracker
• Performance management
• Roster management
• Centralized employee data
• Real-time collaboration
• E-signature
• HR analytics
• Mobile app

What users like?

“I like that my coworkers can be contacted via this platform through many different methods.”

What users dislike?

“Extremely slow customer support.”

Pricing:

Essential HR plan for $0.83 per employee per month per annum, Professional plan for $1.66 per employee per month per annum, Premium plan for $2.5 per employee per month per annum, and Enterprise plan for $4.16 per employee per month per annum.

Conclusion

As you can see, when it comes to employee engagement, there are plenty to choose from. However, getting the most out of a software or tool is completely up to you (and your employees). Try to find a software that fits well within your organization and can easily be customized as per your company sizes, roles, and industry.

So, what’s your pick? What software would you choose to help you boost employee engagement and productivity? Tell us about it in the comments below!

Vartika Kashyap is the Marketing Manager at ProofHub – a simple project management tool and a powerful Asana alternative. This Asana alternative not only simplifies project management but also aims to increase team productivity with quick team collaboration. Vartika likes to write about productivity, team building, work culture, leadership, entrepreneurship among others and contributing to a better workplace is what makes her click.

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CakeHR is an award-winning HR software company that provides attendance, performance and recruitment management for customers worldwide. More information at www.cake.hr