The best employee engagement software

Employee engagement can take many forms, from recognition and feedback to stronger connections with coworkers and meaningful ways to participate in a company's social impact programs. With only 20% of employees worldwide engaged at work, there's still plenty of room for organizations to create better employee experiences and give people more reasons to participate.

Employee engagement software helps companies support those efforts through tools for recognition, surveys, communication, employee giving, volunteering and other forms of participation. But the right choice depends on what engagement actually looks like inside your organization.

This guide compares the best employee engagement software options, what each one does best and which types of organizations they fit. We'll also look at how a broader employee engagement platform can help large organizations connect employee mobilization with measurable social impact.

Best employee engagement software: quick overview

To build this list, we reviewed each platform's core engagement tools, integrations, program coverage and intended users. We also considered third-party reviews and how each option supports recognition, feedback, communication, employee mobilization or social impact.

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Why organizations are looking for the best employee engagement software

As organizations grow, employee engagement can spread across a lot of different activities. One team may be running feedback surveys, while another may implement social impact teams to organize volunteer opportunities. Without the right software, employees have to search across company resources themselves to find ways to participate, while program owners have to piece together participation data from multiple places.

For many organizations, social impact is becoming a bigger part of that picture. In fact, Deloitte found that 91% of respondents said workplace volunteer opportunities can positively affect their overall work experience and connection to their employer. The right platform can make those opportunities easier to discover and join, while helping leaders track participation, understand which programs are gaining traction and report on the results more clearly.

Best employee engagement software options to consider

The platforms below support different forms of engagement, from feedback and recognition to communication, giving, volunteering and employee-led programs.

1. Benevity

Benevity is an AI-native Enterprise Impact Platform built on a trusted global engine, giving large organizations the confidence to scale employee engagement through giving, volunteering, grants management, employee groups and challenges — all with enterprise-grade compliance built in. Rather than only measuring how employees feel, Benevity helps impact leaders create more ways for people to participate, make those opportunities easier to discover and see which programs are driving engagement across the organization.

Leaders get clearer visibility into participation and outcomes through built-in reporting tools that unify data across a company's program. Behind those programs is a trusted global engine, the infrastructure that makes it all possible, which handles nonprofit validation, compliance screening, global money movement and audit trails. Benevity serves nearly 1,000 large enterprises globally, with a 98% client renewal rate.

Best for: Enterprise-scale employee mobilization

Learn more about Benevity with an interactive demo.

2. YourCause from Blackbaud

YourCause CSRconnect supports employee engagement through corporate giving, volunteering, employee resource groups and peer-to-peer fundraising. Employees can find opportunities to participate, while program teams manage campaigns and track engagement through the same system. The platform also supports localized programs, multiple languages and global reporting for organizations operating across different regions.

Best for: Localized CSR programs

3. Submittable

Submittable supports employee engagement through Bright Funds for giving and volunteering, alongside WeHero for managed volunteer experiences. Employees can discover causes, donate, use employer matching, track volunteer time off and participate in volunteer opportunities. ERG leaders can also create and promote events, while team leaders can manage engagement activity across the platform.

Best for: Managed volunteer experiences

4. Groundswell

Groundswell combines employee giving, volunteering, grants and employee assistance funds in one social impact platform. Its employee engagement tools include donation matching, volunteer event management, volunteer hour tracking and personal giving accounts. The platform also includes mobile access and reporting tools for tracking participation and CSR activity across programs.

Best for: Flexible employee giving

5. 15Five

15Five combines employee engagement with performance management and manager effectiveness tools. Its Engagement product includes employee surveys, AI-powered analysis, benchmarks and action planning, while the wider platform adds 1-on-1s, performance reviews, goals and executive dashboards. Organizations can use the same system to identify engagement issues and connect them with manager and performance data.

Best for: Engagement and performance insights

6. Achievers

Achievers centers employee engagement around recognition and rewards. The platform supports peer-to-peer and manager-led recognition, nomination-based awards, a social recognition feed and a global rewards marketplace. Reporting dashboards track program activity and engagement metrics, giving organizations visibility into how recognition programs are being used.

Best for: Enterprise employee recognition

7. Bonusly

Bonusly is a recognition and rewards platform built around visible employee appreciation. Team members can give peer-to-peer recognition through value-tagged shout-outs, with recognition displayed in a shared feed and linked to reward options. The platform also includes manager analytics and tools for connecting recognition activity with company values and workplace culture.

Best for: Peer-to-peer recognition

8. Connecteam

Connecteam is a mobile-first employee engagement and workforce management platform built largely for frontline and deskless teams. Its engagement tools include company updates, chat, surveys, live polls, employee recognition and mobile communication features. The wider platform also includes scheduling, time tracking, training and other workforce tools used in day-to-day operations.

Best for: Frontline employee communication

9. Culture Amp

Culture Amp focuses on employee engagement measurement through surveys, benchmarks and people analytics. Its platform supports engagement surveys, pulse surveys, lifecycle feedback, heatmaps, comparisons and reporting that help teams identify patterns in employee sentiment. Culture Amp also connects engagement data with performance management and employee development tools across its broader employee experience platform.

Best for: Employee feedback analytics

10. WorkTango

WorkTango combines Employee Surveys & Insights with Recognition & Rewards in one employee experience platform. Organizations can run unlimited surveys, collect feedback across the employee lifecycle and use analytics to identify engagement trends. Its recognition tools also support peer-to-peer recognition, company values, milestone celebrations, awards and redeemable rewards.

Best for: Surveys and recognition

11. Workvivo

Workvivo is an employee experience platform centered on internal communication, connection and recognition. Its features include a social activity feed, peer recognition, livestreams, surveys, analytics and a modern intranet for sharing company information. The platform also supports multilingual content and mobile access for organizations with distributed workforces.

Best for: Internal communication and connection

12. Workleap

Workleap supports employee engagement primarily through Officevibe, its employee survey and feedback product. Officevibe includes pulse surveys, anonymous feedback, AI-powered insights, engagement reporting and recognition through its Good Vibes feature. It also integrates with tools like Slack, Microsoft Teams and HRIS platforms to fit into existing workplace systems.

Best for: Continuous employee feedback

Important things to consider when choosing the right employee engagement software for you

Get clear on what you actually want the software to help your organization accomplish. Talk with impact leaders, HR, program owners and other stakeholders about the types of participation you want to increase, the programs you need to manage and the results leadership will expect to see. Then, compare options based on the capabilities that support those goals:

• Ways to participate: Does the platform support giving, volunteering, grants management, employee groups and other social impact programs in one platform?
• Employee experience: Can employees easily discover relevant opportunities and take part without jumping between separate tools?
• Global reach: Can the platform support employees, nonprofits and programs across different countries and regions?
• Reporting and visibility: Can leaders track participation, measure program results and clearly show the value of employee engagement efforts?
• Platform depth: Does the software only measure engagement, or can it also help organizations mobilize employees and manage the programs behind that engagement?
• Risk mitigation: If programs involve nonprofits or moving funds, does the platform include nonprofit validation, compliance screening and clear audit trails?

Employee engagement software can support very different goals, so there's no single feature set that works for every organization. What matters most is choosing a platform that fits how your teams engage employees today and how those programs may grow over time. The strongest option is the one that can support those priorities without creating more disconnected work.

Engage your people with software that supports your social impact goals

The right employee engagement software should make it easier for people to participate and easier for leaders to see what is working. That means choosing a platform that supports the programs your employees actually use without adding more disconnected tools.

Benevity covers the full employee engagement picture, not just one part of it. Employees can discover and take part in giving, volunteering, grants management, employee groups, challenges and reporting in one platform. Impact leaders can track participation and program results without piecing data together from separate systems.

For global organizations, the trusted global engine adds nonprofit validation, compliance screening, Global Money Movement and audit trails, helping teams scale participation across regions with stronger oversight and less manual work.

Learn how you can increase employee engagement with Benevity.

Best employee engagement software FAQs

What are the core features of employee engagement software?

The core features of employee engagement software usually include tools that help organizations manage participation, communication and reporting, such as:

• Employee profiles and personalized dashboards
• Campaign and program management
• Search and discovery tools for opportunities
• Automated communications and notifications
• Participation tracking and activity history
• Employee giving and matching workflows
• Volunteer event management and hour tracking
• Employee group management
• Reporting dashboards and analytics
• Integrations with HR and workplace systems
• Surveys and pulse feedback
• Recognition and rewards features

What is the most used employee engagement software?

There is no single verified "most used" employee engagement platform because the category covers everything from surveys and recognition to internal communications and social impact. In fact, G2 lists hundreds of products in the category.

For companies looking to increase participation through giving, volunteering, employee groups and other social impact programs, Benevity is designed around employee engagement and mobilization at enterprise scale.

What's a good employee recognition platform?

A good employee recognition platform should make it easy to recognize contributions consistently and give employees rewards that feel relevant to them.

For organizations that want engagement tied more broadly to social impact, Benevity helps employees participate through giving, volunteering, grants management, employee groups and challenges — all with enterprise-grade compliance built in.