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The absolute best employee engagement apps

The best employee engagement apps are trying to serve multiple purposes. Some platforms succeed in bringing multiple tools to bear on the challenge of employee engagement and activities to connect your team. Others focus on doing one thing very well, like visualization of survey data. 

A great way to find the right fit is to look at the kinds of apps your company could choose. Then select the best option for you to promote strong employee engagement.

Top-reviewed employee engagement apps we’re covering

If you're in a hurry, here are the apps we reviewed and ranked for employee engagement:

  1. Gomada
  2. OfficeVibe
  3. Culture Amp
  4. Kudos 
  5. Bonusly
  6. Enboarder
  7. Fond
  8. Assembly

How we rated apps

We dig into the features ourselves to find the best employee engagement apps. Some of our standout apps had features that no one else was offering, making them unusual and effective. Others were found through thoroughly reviewing the many feedback reports for these apps on G2. These reviewers aren’t afraid to mention the downsides with the good, allowing us to find the top employee engagement apps among the many out there. 

Laura Leavitt

Remote Expert & Writer

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Free

15-30 min

No

No

Share fun facts and bond with a team quiz

Have your participants choose from a list of questions they’d like their coworkers to answer about them, before watching as they guess the right answer.

01. Yes

share-fun-facts-and-bond-with-a-team-quiz

Free

15-30 min

No

No

Run a guided recognition activity

Have your participants choose from a list of questions they’d like their coworkers to answer about them, before watching as they guess the right answer.

01. Yes

run-a-guided-recognition-activity

Paid

1-2h

Yes

No

Organize a virtual cooking class

Hire a professional chef to help your team cook a delicious lunch or dinner. May be difficult for co-workers with families. To find providers and get tips, read our blog about virtual cooking classes.

02. No

organize-a-virtual-cooking-class

Paid

15-30 min

No

Yes

Hire a stand-up comedian

Have your participants choose from a list of questions they’d like their coworkers to answer about them, before watching as they guess the right answer.

02. No

hire-a-stand-up-comedian

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The best employee engagement apps are trying to serve multiple purposes. Some platforms succeed in bringing multiple tools to bear on the challenge of employee engagement and activities to connect your team. Others focus on doing one thing very well, like visualization of survey data. 

A great way to find the right fit is to look at the kinds of apps your company could choose. Then select the best option for you to promote strong employee engagement.

Top-reviewed employee engagement apps we’re covering

If you're in a hurry, here are the apps we reviewed and ranked for employee engagement:

  1. Gomada
  2. OfficeVibe
  3. Culture Amp
  4. Kudos 
  5. Bonusly
  6. Enboarder
  7. Fond
  8. Assembly

How we rated apps

We dig into the features ourselves to find the best employee engagement apps. Some of our standout apps had features that no one else was offering, making them unusual and effective. Others were found through thoroughly reviewing the many feedback reports for these apps on G2. These reviewers aren’t afraid to mention the downsides with the good, allowing us to find the top employee engagement apps among the many out there. 

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Best survey and metric-tracking apps

One of the best ways to see why employees are disengaging is to ask them. Often, the right questions are harder than you think. These top employee engagement survey apps make it easy to ask the right questions to your teams. They then track how the answers change over time.

1. Measure engagement and take action with Gomada

​​Price: Free

Rating: 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌗 (from 119 ratings)

Engaging your employees means way more than one thing. One way that teams build connection is through activities and shared experiences. For remote teams, these activities are possible on a virtual team building platform like Gomada. Gomada measures how your team is feeling and recommends team building activities based on your group’s strengths and weaknesses.

We believe that the best employee engagement app is one where your teams don’t just connect with the company but with each other. After all, caring about each other or connecting on a deeper level can make a team's job more fulfilling. And strong teams retain employees.

Related: Free team building activities: Our all-time favorites.

2. Take the pulse of your team with OfficeVibe 

Price: Custom pricing - contact OfficeVibe for demo and quote.

Rating: 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌗(from 639 reviews)

OfficeVibe offers the opportunity to take the pulse of your company with anonymous surveys. It’s an employee satisfaction app that helps you catch trends before they become issues. When you use surveys carefully, you can pinpoint issues regarding employee engagement and move forward. 

The software includes templates for survey questions and options to customize. OfficeVibe aims to create a system that protects employees. They then give management the kind of data that helps them make their companies stronger.

Reviews mention:

  • Strong visualization of survey results helps you pinpoint issues and areas for growth.
  • Frequent use allows trends to be tracked and kept in the future.
  • Easy to use mobile app.

3. Find the trends in employee responses with CultureAmp (4.6 out of 5 Stars on G2)

Price: Custom pricing - contact Culture Amp for quotes and a demonstration.

Rating: 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌗(from 248 reviews)

Culture Amp is a platform that incorporates feedback and recognition alongside surveys and metric-tracking. Because they get such strong reviews in their survey features, we see them as a great tool if you’re searching for advanced surveys and employee mood tracking. 

One of their main slogans is "don't crunch the numbers, connect the dots." The goal isn't just to get a lot of stats. Instead, the focus is on making inferences that help you improve employee experience. Their ready-to-use surveys and customizable options make it easier than ever to get the pulse of the company.

Reviews mention:

  • Valuable goal tracking interface.
  • Detailed engagement surveys.
  • Transparent feedback spaces.

Best feedback and recognition apps

Employees are more likely to remain engaged if they receive consistent, clear feedback from management and their coworkers. They also appreciate receiving recognition which shows that management isn’t only paying attention when things are going wrong. These apps help you create a feedback and recognition culture.

4. Build an appreciation culture with Kudos (4.8 out of 5 stars on G2)

Price: Custom pricing - contact Kudos for quotes and a demonstration.

Rating: 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌖

Kudos is a software solution with an employee engagement mobile app that allows employees to recognize each other with points. Later they can exchange these points for rewards. 

Kudos stands out for employers because of the valuable dashboards and metrics that show how it is being used. Such metrics help management to see where teams may be struggling with engagement. If you notice there isn’t a lot of recognition/reward-giving happening, that’s a red flag. 

The Kudos mobile app for employee engagement is also easy to use on the go. This saves time for busy employees who still want to give plenty of recognition.

Reviews mention:

  • The power of real-world value behind public thank-yous and recognition.
  • Particularly good partner in doing business, according to G2.
  • The apps employee engagement evolution has been strong so far.

5. Incentivize appreciation with Bonusly (4.8 out of 5 stars on G2)

Price: Starts at $2.70 per employee per month.

Rating: 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌖(based on 1059 reviews)

This employee recognition platform allows teams to give feedback and recognition. They then add backbone to those pieces of feedback with real-world rewards. For instance, sending a shout out to a direct report on Bonusly is easy through integrations with communication apps like Slack. The team member literally gets points that can be redeemed for gift cards and other rewards, like donations to charities. 

Employees report that they feel more motivated to praise their team members and give specific feedback. Knowing that you'll get rewarded for standout work is often more motivating than the threat of consequences for bad work.

Reviews mention:

  • Playful gifs along with the points that can be redeemed are popular.
  • Integrations make Bonusly feel like a part of existing systems.
  • Transparent pricing and free trial available

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Best communication app

Most employers already have some way to communicate with their employees. After all, it’d be a bit crazy not to have this option in the digital age. However, the top employee retention apps for communication focus on moments when there is a lot at stake. For example, these apps shine where the complex details that need to be shared can’t fit in a Slack message or even an email. One newer app stood out to us.

6. Smooth the transitions by communicating with Enboarder (4.8 out of 5 stars on G2)

Price: Custom pricing, contact Enboarder for more information.

Rating: 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌖(based on 51 reviews)

This employee engagement solution creates “journeys” for different kinds of engagements where lots of info needs to be shared. This might involve onboarding a new team member. It could also involve creating a standard pathway to get enough professional development to receive a promotion. It could even get an internal candidate up to speed on a completely new department. Using the Enboarder journey will show them exactly what they’ll be doing to get up to speed on the work. It’s a powerful way to give employees a feeling of control in moments of change.

Reviews mention:

  • Mobile options to use SMS, email, Slack, or Facebook for Work rather than a standalone app, boosting uptake for your employees.
  • World’s first “People Activation Platform”

Best employee retention apps

These last two employee retention apps are focused on different aspects of getting employees to stay with your company. You want to keep the expertise you’ve grown in your team so that you can benefit from their strengths over time, and apps that recognize hard work and improve employee experience can help. 

7. Recognition and metrics combine with Fond

Price: Custom pricing, contact Fond for more information.

Rating: 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌗(based on 2191 reviews)

Fond offers similar perks to other excellent satisfaction apps. They shine, however, in that people report that they help workplaces feel more connected even when remote. They also get high marks for uptime and functionality, as well as the range of awards. 

Employers and management report that they see an uptick of communication between coworkers, leading to better feelings of belonging and connection with the company. Human resources teams see turnover go down because the teams are connecting with each other more to send recognition and rewards, boosting retention. 

Reviews mention:

  • Creates connectivity to retain employees when working remotely
  • Solves the problem of distant work environment which can make turnover higher.

8. Streamline for effective employees with high morale with Assembly

Price: Free, with lite and standard packages priced between $2.80 and $4.50 per user per month.

Rating: 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌗(based on 2191 reviews)

Assembly works well for teams that want better engagement but haven’t yet created their own playbook for employee retention. This tool includes one of the best employee retention apps because it offers workflows to personalize and implement. The workflows focus on everything from ensuring every employee is recognized for their strengths, to getting clear communication from the CEO, to having their voice on key issues heard in surveys. 

This tool offers a variety of other templates, from idea management to agendas for standup meetings, all geared around helping workplaces work so well that they retain staff. The various templates may not work better than internally designed tools, but thousands of users have gained valuable insight and a great structure for a high-morale functional workplace.

Reviews mention:

  • Makes the workplace more collaborative through frequent requests for input.
  • Helped companies commit to and live their values.
  • Made one-on-one meetings more effective.

Want more mobile-first employee engagement apps? Here are some great ones.

The apps we’ve discussed include mobile solutions that make them best-in-class solutions for employee engagement. However, we won’t stop there. There are many other engagement apps to consider, so check out these options for a dedicated app that is focused on employee engagement:

Top employee engagement apps save you money in turnover by boosting morale and connection

Every company is different. You may opt for one precision team building platform to connect your employees to each other better. Or, you may need a wraparound solution to discover why turnover is currently high and reduce it. You may find multiple apps creates the best hybrid approach.

Either way, you’re better off acknowledging that employees need to have strong connections to their work. They need to have fun, build relationships, and feel heard. The best mobile apps for employee engagement help you hear your employees out. Then they help you to respond with strong information and feedback.

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