Best employee experience software

Creating a positive and fulfilling work environment isn’t just a buzzword—it's necessary for your business’s success. One way to make the greatest impact on your employees’ well-being is by implementing software specialized in doing just that.

Employee experience management software has the potential to transform the work environment and improve employee satisfaction. This kind of software uses cutting-edge features to optimize processes and provide managers with data-driven insights to inform their strategies.

Here’s what this guide will cover:

• What is employee experience software?
• Comparison chart of top employee experience software
• The 11 best employee experience solutions
• Features of employee experience platforms
• Benefits of employee experience management software
• How to choose the right employee experience platform
• Employee experience success examples
• Frequently asked questions
• Try an employee experience software for free

Employee experience software is an umbrella term for the ecosystem of software, apps, and integrations that companies use for their employee experience. Employee experience platforms, like Zendesk, Lattice, Zoho Desk, and others, give employers a bird’s-eye view of what’s happening within their organization so they can identify what’s working, what’s not, and why.

And with software analytics, leaders can make data-driven decisions to improve employee productivity, engagement, and retention.

Here are the 11 best employee experience solutions that companies use to improve the workplace. We identified the core features, base pricing, and free trial length for each where applicable.

• Zendesk
• Lattice
• Qualtircs EmployeeXM
• Culture Amp
• WorkTango
• 15Five
• Fond
• Motivosity
• Kudos
• Awardco
• Zoho Desk

1. Zendesk

Zendesk employee experience software helps companies manage business-to-employee (B2E) relationships with a high degree of personalization and care. Zendesk takes a conversational approach to employee support, logging every conversation so your internal teams from HR, IT, and more can maintain visibility and accountability every step of the way.

The platform is highly customizable, so companies can tailor the workspace to maximize agent productivity. You can create your own workflows to ensure streamlined processes. Plus, these ready-to-use tools require no previous coding knowledge, offering fast time to value.

AI features like Zendesk bots lift repetitive and minor tasks from your employees’ workload by surfacing relevant answers quickly for fast resolutions to simple questions. Knowledge bases, which include FAQ software, contain an expansive library of easily referenced information, allowing for seamless employee self-service.

User analytics deliver insights into the employee and customer experiences. Data is compiled into easily digestible reports, helping managers monitor performance and identify areas needing development.

Features:

• Omnichannel ticketing system
• AI-powered self-service (chatbots and knowledge bases)
• Workflows
• Reporting and analytics
• Apps and integrations
• Live chat
• Intelligent ticket routing
• Customizable dashboard
• Knowledge management

Pricing:

• Support Team: $19 per agent/month
• Support Professional: $55 per agent/month
• Support Enterprise: $115 per agent/month
• Additional custom plans available for enterprises.
  *All prices are billed annually.

Free trial:

14 days

2. Lattice

Lattice is an employee experience platform focused on performance management, offering solutions for things like one-on-one meetings, 360-degree feedback, employee recognition, and performance reviews. It provides tools for employees and managers to take ownership of their experience.

The platform lets you deliver surveys to capture satisfaction, loyalty, and onboarding or exit feedback, and the Pulse tool delivers the data in real time. Employees can create individual development plans to identify individual goals, motivations, and more.

Features:

• Reporting and analytics
• Apps and integrations

Pricing:

• Performance Management + OKRs and Goals: $11 per person/month
• Engagement: +$4 per person/month
• Grow: +$4 per person/month
• Compensation: $+6 per person/month

Free trial:

Unavailable

3. Qualtrics EmployeeXM

Qualtrics EmployeeXM helps teams deliver positive experiences by delivering survey and data collection capabilities. Tools allow businesses to continually survey employee populations, monitor trends, and identify potential problems before they become roadblocks.

Companies can connect the data they gather to their business outcomes, helping identify the effectiveness of their initiatives. Dashboards and planning tools provide a complete view of user engagement. Predictive intelligence features provide alerts on what’s happening and what they should do in the future.

Features:

• Omnichannel ticketing system
• Workflows
• Reporting and analytics
• Apps and integrations

Pricing:

• Contact sales

Free trial:

Unavailable

Learn more about the Qualtrics app for Zendesk.

4. Culture Amp

Culture Amp is an employee experience platform that offers solutions for employee engagement, performance management, and professional development. Integrations with Slack and Microsoft Teams allow you to build employee engagement into your existing workflows.

Analytics allow users to track key performance indicators (KPIs) like engagement, confidence, and involvement. Algorithms combine employee experience data to predict turnover. Managers and employees can identify goals and receive progress updates along the way.

Features:

• Workflows
• Reporting and analytics
• Apps and integrations

Pricing:

• Self-Starter (25-200 employees): Contact sales
• Standard (201-999 employees): Contact sales
• Enterprise (1,000+ employees): Contact sales

Free trial:

Unavailable

5. WorkTango

WorkTango is an employee engagement platform focused on employee recognition, peer feedback, and relationship building. The platform recently merged with Kazoo to enhance its feedback and recognition offerings. The anonymous response functionality allows managers to ask follow-up questions to employees without identifying them.

The WorkTango recognition program enables peer-to-peer and bottom-up shoutouts in addition to top-down encouragement. Users can issue personalized rewards, including gift cards, merchandise, and experiences. The platform also offers engagement and participation tracking to gauge effectiveness.

Features:

• Reporting and analytics
• Apps and integrations

Pricing:

• Contact sales

Free trial:

Unavailable

6. 15Five

15Five is an employee experience solution that can help companies reduce turnover and improve performance. Managers can connect performance objectives to key results from automatic updates, and employees can request and receive real-time feedback.

Managers can receive targeted training with customizable programs to clarify employee roles and company expectations. The service also provides live and on-demand courses that guide managers on how to implement management best practices.

Features:

• Workflows
• Reporting and analytics
• Apps and integrations

Pricing:

• Engage: $4 per user/month
• Perform: $8 per user/month
• Focus: $8 per user/month
• Total Platform: $14 per user/month
  *All prices are billed annually.

Free trial:

14 days

7. Fond

Fond provides employee recognition and rewards tools to help companies manage the employee experience. The platform lets coworkers publicly acknowledge accomplishments. It maintains a catalog of each employee’s service awards and tracks anniversaries.

Managers can tap into performance analytics and track usage, redemption history, and which pre-negotiated perks are the most popular. Companies can also add pre-existing employee perks to the platform.

Features:

• Reporting and analytics
• Apps and integrations

Pricing:

• Contact sales

Free trial:

Unavailable

8. Motivosity

Motivosity aims to improve the employee experience by creating a sense of community within a company. Employees can build personal profiles and personality maps to build connections, while companies can build organizational charts so everyone knows where they fit in and what they contribute.

Users can administer anonymous employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS) and pulse surveys, setting their frequency and comparing results to benchmarks. Reports can gather actionable insights from exit interviews to attempt to lower turnover. Motivosity also provides tools for training managers.

Features:

• Reporting and analytics
• Apps and integrations

Pricing:

• Motivosity: $2 per person
• Recognition and Rewards: +$2 per person
• Manager Development: +$2 per person
• Employee Insights: +$2 per person

Free trial:

Unavailable

9. Kudos

Kudos helps companies provide multiple levels of employee support, including recognition and rewards. Its analytics program measures the health of your company culture by tracking sent recognition messages. Analytics can also detect shortcomings in departmental communication.

Human resources can track employee morale and automate select employee celebrations. Employee sentiment surveys can reveal current moods and engagement levels. Kudos Spaces enables companies to create galleries that highlight employee updates and cultural content, and draw attention to successes.

Features:

• Reporting and analytics
• Apps and integrations

Pricing:

• Contact sales

Free trial:

Unavailable

10. Awardco

Awardco is another platform that provides employee experience tools through rewards and recognition, and integrates with tools like Slack, Microsoft Teams, and ADP. Users can automate programs, like onboarding new hires or reminders for service awards, to free up HR professionals.

Incentive programs let employees take control of certain rewards to improve engagement. Lifestyle spending accounts encourage employee wellness through gym memberships, home office equipment, financial services, and more. Awardco also provides a return on investment (ROI) calculator to determine a program's financial impact.

Features:

• Apps and integrations

Pricing:

• Contact sales

Free trial:

Unavailable

11. Zoho Desk

Zoho Desk is an employee experience software that gives employees tools to improve the user experience. The omnichannel ticketing system can automate routine tasks, and self-service features include a knowledge base and chatbots.

Zoho Desk provides time-based reports, including metrics like average response and resolution time. Agent scorecards break down employee performance on an individual level. The platform also integrates with services like Zendesk, Mailchimp, and Intercom.

Features:

• Omnichannel ticketing system
• AI-powered self-service (chatbots and knowledge bases)
• Workflows
• Reporting and analytics
• Apps and integrations

Pricing:

• Standard: $20 per user/month
• Professional: $35 per user/month
• Enterprise: $50 per user/month

Free trial:

15 days

Learn more about the Zoho app for Zendesk.

Employee experience platforms can have several features, meaning it may be difficult to determine what’s most influential to your team’s success. Here are five essential features to help you narrow down your options.

Omnichannel ticketing system

An omnichannel ticketing system is a support solution that consolidates multiple communication channels into a unified platform. It makes it easier for employees to manage and track incoming tickets and provides employees with a seamless experience since they can use their preferred method of communication.

Omnichannel ticketing systems simplify the employee experience by letting agents view and respond to employees from a single system. The tool typically includes automated ticket routing and assignment to specific agents.

AI-powered self-service

AI employee experience tools use machine learning and natural language processing to address employee inquiries. Chatbots can simulate conversations with human agents, providing answers or directing employees to relevant articles in the knowledge base.

AI-powered self-service provides 24/7 employee support, reducing staffing needs and lifting some responsibilities from agents. AI also has the capacity to learn from interactions over time, enabling it to become an even more powerful and effective resource with increased use.

Workflows

Few things can hinder performance more than convoluted workflows and redundant processes. Employee experience platforms can streamline workflows and simplify the steps required to manage the customer journey.

Employee experience platforms provide a central hub for accessing information, eliminating the need to search across multiple systems. Communication and collaboration are enhanced by the addition of instant messaging platforms and shared calendars. Repetitive tasks, like PTO requests and performance reviews, can use automations to improve consistency.

Reporting and analytics

Employee experience software can provide businesses with data-driven insights gathered from analytics and compile them into easy-to-understand reports. The analytics can contribute to the following areas:

• Performance: Track key performance indicators, measure employee progress toward goals, and review results.
  
• Engagement: Send out satisfaction surveys and feedback forms and analyze sentiment.

Apps and integrations

Employee experience platforms should simplify operations by unifying different systems. It can assist in that area by integrating with the other apps you depend on, such as surveys software and performance tools.

The more integrations a platform supports, the more functionality it has. For example, Zendesk integrates with Microsoft Teams so teams can:

• Escalate and resolve issues faster by updating and responding to tickets within Teams.
• Make it faster for your employees to get help, by creating and managing tickets directly from Teams.
• Improve ticket visibility by using the ticket tab in Teams to see and receive notifications on any ticket activity.
• Deflect incoming tickets by using Zendesk bots, only escalating to an agent for complex issues.

Employee experience management software can profoundly impact your organization’s success by improving employee and customer satisfaction. Here are some of the key benefits you stand to gain.

• Improves employee retention

  
  Employee experience software can improve employee retention by creating a positive and engaging work environment. Onboarding features and training modules set employees up for success. Optimized processes remove pain points and make day-to-day operations less stressful. Recognition and rewards systems foster a sense of belonging, leading to greater company loyalty.
• Enables collaboration

  
  Working from a centralized platform improves collaboration between team members and different departments by simplifying communication, document sharing, and project management. Teams can communicate in real time using features like instant messaging and video conferencing, regardless of peoples’ physical locations. Everyone can align on goals and project progress thanks to task assignment and document version control features.
• Boosts productivity

  
  The natural result of improving department collaboration and streamlining workflows is an increase in employee productivity. Employee experience management software removes the guesswork by clearly assigning responsibilities and facilitating communication. Performance tracking makes employees aware of their progress, letting managers know where employees need help.
• Reduces operating costs

  
  Increases in productivity will reduce your overall operating costs, but employee experience platforms can do even more to contribute to this goal. AI features eliminate time-consuming manual processes and automate repetitive tasks. Self-service portals and features can prevent the need to hire extra staff, allowing fewer agents to accomplish more.
• Leads to better customer experiences

  
  Employees play a pivotal role in driving better customer experiences, and the right software can empower employees to get it done. Employee experience tools provide easy access to customer profiles, including their history with the company and individual preferences. Employees can then use that information to personalize their service. Self-service features also assist with creating positive customer experiences by reducing wait times.

Employee experience software can greatly improve the performance of your organization. For help identifying the solution that will provide you with the best return on investment, look for these traits:

• Total cost of ownership (TCO): When you assess different software providers, you need to look at more than just the purchase price. Add-ons, coding, maintenance, and staffing requirements all play into TCO.
  
• Fast time to value: How quickly will the software deliver on its promises? Some software can be deployed in a matter of days. Other software must be built from the ground up and may require weeks of setup and team training.
  
• Scalable: A platform with limited functionality can be cost-effective for a small business, but you’ll want the option to upgrade features as you grow. If the software you start with can’t scale with your business, then you’ll be stuck starting over with another service.
  
• Specialization: Many platforms provide general features that apply across teams and industries. If your company has specialized needs for HR, IT, or operations you’ll need to find a service with those unique features to tap into the full potential of your team.

Employee experience software can have many applications within an organization. Take inspiration from these examples as you build your own employee experience management strategy.

Tesco

Grocery chain Tesco employs 460,000 employees across nine countries. Effectively managing an organization of that size is no small feat, but Tesco successfully does it by making its service desk as strong as it can be.

The technology department fields over 40,000 tickets per week with 79 percent being resolved in just one-touch. They accomplished this by building efficient routing triggers and macros that can effectively handle every type of query. As a result, team members quickly adopted the new processes.

“Zendesk allows us to treat our colleagues with as much care as we give our customers.”

-Adam Bruce, head of product at Tesco

One Medical

One Medical provides membership-based primary care. They have a network of 1,300 employees across 70 offices in the U.S. To keep its employees happy and performing to the best of their abilities, One Medical actively tracks the data coming in from its employee experience software.

The primary care company keeps a close eye on the top 10 tags and ticket issues coming into the support team to ensure no problem persists longer than is absolutely necessary. Whether it’s improving annoyances, like poor audio quality, or figuring out how to optimize email management, One Medical acts quickly.

“Our customer support goal is to make sure that our employees get the help that they need, as soon as possible, so that they can deliver on our promise to members.”

-Ian Wolfley, senior manager of product operations and support at One Medical

USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism

The USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism has over 3,400 people depending on its TechOps team. To keep their operations running smoothly, a team of just 27 staff members are entrusted with the responsibility of tracking, diagnosing, and resolving the issues that stand in the way of their departments’ success.

The TechOps team gathers insights from their support requests to figure out what, if anything, is going wrong. The team looks at who the requests are coming from before diagnosing the cause and coming up with a solution, like optimizing staffing. This proactive approach has led to a 98 percent customer satisfaction (CSAT) rating from faculty, staff, and students.

“Efficiency was our top priority, so I programmed automations and triggers to use Support to its fullest capabilities.”

-Elena Mirzaians, former operations and communication coordinator at USC

Here is additional information on employee experience software to help inform your decision-making.