A recent study by Gallup found that engagement has a 3.8 times greater influence on employee stress than work location. It is among many other statistical evidence supporting the relevance of employee engagement for an effective workforce.

Employee engagement is a complex phenomenon that has multiple components. Only the proper employee engagement surveys can shed light on its exact facts and figures.

Choosing the right employee engagement survey vendor can make or break your workplace, so make sure to give it a good thought before you pick one. 

Criteria for Selecting the Right Vendor

By this point, we all know there is no one-size-fits-all platform for employee engagement. It is because each organization has its own culture, vision, and system. That being said, there are some standard criteria that companies can look for while choosing an employee engagement survey vendor. These aspects make sure that you do not go wrong in any area of employee engagement:

• Customization and options: Companies must make sure their vendor offers a wide selection of employee engagement tools and the ability to customize them.
• Learning curve: Even though it takes some time to adapt to a new system, ensure the employee engagement platform is not too hard to master. 
• Customer support: As an employee engagement platform is quite chunky and comprehensive, the need for support is inevitable. Make it a point to check the efficiency of the vendor's customer service and support functions.
• Cost: Set a budget before you start the search for the right vendor. With a price range in mind, the search can be narrowed down to fewer options.
• Integration: Yet another important thing to look for is the ease of integration with your existing tech stack.

Top 11 Employee Engagement Survey Vendors of 2024

If you are looking for a comprehensive employee engagement platform suitable for companies of all sizes, ThriveSparrow is worth considering. A standout feature of this platform is its anonymous feedback and heatmaps that help create targeted action plans for departments and teams with low engagement levels.

Pros

• 360-degree feedback
• Kudos cards
• Intuitive Analytics and Reporting
• Insightful heatmaps
• Sentiment Analysis
• 24/7 customer support for any need or query

Cons

As this employee engagement platform is quite intuitive in nature, companies do not have a problem using the features to their optimum. 

Pricing

• Engage: $3/month/employee
• Kudos: $2/month/employee
• Performance: $5/month/employee

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The best feature of 15Five is it’s pulse surveys, which provide quick insights into employee sentiments. These surveys ensure you don't have to wait an entire quarter to gather employee feedback. The application's goal-tracking feature is also highly regarded.

Pros

• They have pretty affordable plans
• Easy to set OKRs, visions, and goals
• Plenty of employee engagement assessment tools
• One-on-one meeting tools

Cons

• They have mixed reviews from employee users
• The number of emails and notifications can be a bit overwhelming
• Core HR features are unavailable

Pricing

• Engage: $4/month per user
• Perform: $10/month per user
• Total Platform: $16/month per user
• Transform: Contact for pricing

Apart from providing 360-degree feedback loops, this employee engagement survey vendor also offers customized development plans for employees. It makes sure that actionable steps are taken to improve the current situation of the workforce. 

Pros

• The user interface is well-built and quite easy to use
• Objective performance measurement of employees on a weekly basis
• Easy to synchronize with any existing HRIS software.

Cons

• The learning curve is quite steep
• Linking individual goals to goals of the company can be tricky

Pricing

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

A unique feature of Culture Amp is its diversity and inclusion metrics, which allow companies to assess levels of diversity and inclusion within their workforce—a topic of increasing relevance.

Pros

• Has excellent customer support
• Robust platform with many features to choose from
• Easy to set up performance management and employee engagement activities

Cons

• The questionnaires are generic and do not apply to specific situations
• Setting up the engagement survey can be painful
• Reporting options are comparatively low

Pricing

All of its three modules, Engage, Perform, and Develop, require you to ask for a quote.

If you are frustrated with rigid survey templates, consider Qualtrics for its highly flexible and customizable survey designs, which can save you considerable time.

Pros

• The data analysis aspect of this vendor is exceptional
• One of the best survey design software available in the market

Cons

• The options for customization are quite limited
• It can sometimes be a bit difficult to insert or remove collaborators
• Integration of external data can be time-consuming
• The quality of customer support is inconsistent

Pricing

Qualtrics hasn't included its pricing, so you can request a 1:1 demo with them and enquire about the pricing.

Surveys can be boring sometimes. So Officevibe adds gamification elements to its surveys to make the experience more engaging for users. This approach helps maintain interest and increases the likelihood of completing surveys thoroughly.

Pros

• Can be quite easily integrated with other software and tools such as CRM, HRIS, and payment gateways
• Its peer-to-peer recognition feature offers a constructive way to recognize employees and has long-lasting positive effects

Cons

• The functionality could be improved
• Integration with Slack can be more difficult than expected

Pricing (Officevibe)

• Free: US $0/forever
• Essential: US $3.50/person/month
• Pro: US $5/person/month

No matter how effective your employee engagement platform is, if it is unable to sync with your existing HRIS, then there is no point in proceeding with it. With Workday, you will never have to face such a problem. It provides a unified HR platform where employee engagement surveys seamlessly integrate with other HR functions.

Pros

• Easy to use and can be customized
• Great layout and accessibility
• Good choice for medium to large-size companies

Cons

• The pricing is not transparent
• There is no free trial available for the users to try out

Pricing

Workday hasn't included its pricing, so you can request a 1:1 demo with them and enquire about the pricing.

For employees to complete engagement surveys in a more honest and enthusiastic manner, Vantage Circle attaches rewards with them. It gives employees an extra incentive; which is a fun way to encourage participation in surveys. 

Pros

• Gift card features are segregated based on different categories
• Provides various offers on online purchases and is very is easy to use

Cons

• It’s gateway's tracking system is a bit ineffective 
• Initial setup can be complex and confusing

Pricing

Vantage Circle hasn't included its pricing, so you can request a 1:1 demo with them and enquire about the pricing.

Achievers understands the importance of peer-to-peer recognition when it comes to employee engagement and makes it a point to promote this feature in their employee engagement platform. 

Pros

• Flexible and good at recognition and rewards
• Well supported
• Great for sharing recognition
• Has great features for pulling reports

Cons

• Difficult to access
• Session timeouts on the app

Pricing

Achievers hasn't included its pricing, so you can request a 1:1 demo with them and enquire about the pricing.

The best feature of BambooHR is that it has an employee self-service portal. The ESS platform makes things much more transparent and reduces the burden of HR managers manifold. BambooHR is also quite easy to link with LMS platforms. 

Pros

• Easy to manage and learn
• Submits time-off requests easily
• Centralizes HR data and announcements
• User-friendly onboarding

Cons

• Difficult to find information about candidates
• Some people had a bad experience with the payroll feature
• Limited global payroll capabilities

Pricing

• Essentials: Contact for pricing
• Advantage: Contact for pricing

The performance feedbacks in Trakstar are continuous in nature, making them a loop. It helps employees get a comprehensive idea of their improvement and it makes it easy for HR managers to track the activities of individual employees. 

Pros

• Electronic storage of historical data
• Enhanced reporting features
• Greater control and oversight from HR

Cons

• Missing dashboard feature
• System can sometimes be slow due to heavy traffic
• Limited integration with Salesforce's higher-level product

Pricing

Trakstar hasn't included its pricing, so you can request a 1:1 demo with them and enquire about the pricing.

CultureMonkey is one of those engagement vendors that comes with a kanban board that lets you turn feedback into actions. CultureMonkey also sports end-to-end anonymous conversations that lets employees voice their concerns without having to wait for surveys from top management.

Pros

• Advanced dashboards
• Customizable reports split by manager level, location, and department
• Anonymous conversations

Cons

• Custom surveys occasionally buffer and crash
• Downloading survey reports takes time

Pricing

CultureMonkey's pricing isn't available, so you'll need to request a demo and ask them for the pricing.

Sparkbay's prediction engine helps managers focus on what matters most by continuously monitoring your company's business data and recommending the most impactful actions. Sparkbay uses previous data to predict employees who are least engaged and are more likely to leave.

Pros

• Predictive Analytics
• Dashboards that easy to understand and visualize
• Excellent and empathetic customer service

Cons

• Extracting and exporting data is tedious
• Reports export isn't user-friendly

Pricing

Starts at $5/user/month

Leapsome offers research-backed question banks and lets you understand the sentiment from open-ended answers instantly with Sentiment Analysis. Its analytics lets you connect the dots between engagement drivers and performance.

Pros

• Research-backed question banks
• Sentiment Analysis
• Great UI

Cons

• A few bugs with peer feedback
• Confusion with goal-sorting
• Empty states can leave new users baffled

Pricing

Leapsome hasn't disclosed their pricing, so you'll need to book a demo and ask them for a quote.

ClearCompany is a comprehensive talent management platform making its engagement surveys a great addition to the platform. Applicant tracking and performance management systems make it an all-round vendor that maximizes talent management.

Pros

• User-friendly ATS
• Patient and understanding customer support
• Customizable workflows

Cons

• Issues with candidate management such as duplicate entries and repeated notifications
• Takes time to load

Pricing

You'll need to request them for the pricing, but their ROI calculator could give you initial clarity.

Workproud allows employees to share announcements, tips, tricks, and new polls. Workproud connects reward and recognition programs to the mix therefore creating amazing employee experiences.

Pros

• Mobile app for field employees
• Simplified process for specialized and customized gifts
• Integrates with 200+ HRIS systems

Cons

• Lack of advanced reporting options
• Issues with approving and redeeming pending recognition points

Pricing

Pricing isn't available, so you can talk to them and request a quote.

Viva Glint correlates employee engagement data with workforce analytics to help you understand how employees feel and how they work. It gives managers and leaders with personalized results and actionable recommendations.

Pros

• Predictive analytics
• Comment analytics
• Smart alerts

Cons

• Hard to capture anonymous 360-degree feedback for small teams
• Filters aren't user-friendly

Pricing

• Microsoft Viva Glint: $2/user/month
• Microsoft Viva Workplace Analytics and Employee Feedback: $6/user/month
• Microsoft Viva Suite: $12/user/month

Quantum Workplace's engagement survey works on a scientifically validated e9 model that helps with accurate measurement of employee engagement.

The platform lets you compare your engagement score against industry benchmarks, mostly with companies who've won the 'Great Places to Work' award.

Pros

• AI-powered discussion starters and action ideas
• Action library
• Keyword detection

Cons

• Requires a more quantifiable rating system other than the 1-5
• Many tools make the platform hard to use and maneuver

Pricing

You'll need to request a demo and then ask them for the pricing plans.

People Element's employee survey platform transforms how you understand and engage with your workforce. It integrates survey solutions with HR insights, and turns your workforce data into actionable intelligence, that significantly enhance workplace satisfaction and engagement.

Pros

• Easy to slice and dice data and pull reports
• Flexible reporting system

Cons

• Clunky software and makes using filter options difficult
• Non-intuitive user interface and sometimes slow

Pricing

You'll need to request a demo and then ask for a quote.

Choosing the right employee engagement survey vendor is crucial as they bring expertise in crafting and administering surveys tailored to your organizational needs.

A skilled vendor can provide meaningful insights that go beyond basic data collection, helping you understand the deeper sentiments and engagement levels of your employees.

This can lead to more effective interventions and improvements in employee morale and productivity.

Reasons to Work With One

Partnering with a survey provider allows you to benefit from their specialized knowledge in survey methodologies, ensuring your engagement initiatives are accurate and relevant.

These providers can handle the complex logistics of survey distribution and data analysis, allowing you to focus on strategic decision-making based on the insights gained.

Additionally, a few vendors offer benchmarks against industry standards, giving you a clearer perspective on where your organization stands in terms of employee engagement.

Employee engagement surveys are pivotal for measuring job satisfaction and enhancing workplace culture. Survey providers offer comprehensive services to ensure that these assessments are effectively administered and insightful.

1. Survey Design

• Customization: Engagement survey vendors help you design, draft, and customize surveys tailored to the specific needs and culture of your organization.
• Research-Backed Questions: Industry-standard questions that are proven to effectively measure engagement and satisfaction. Pre-made research-backed question banks can help you create and schedule surveys in a jiffy.

2. Survey Administration

• Distribution: This includes handling the logistics of distributing the survey across various platforms, ensuring all employees have an opportunity to participate.
• Accessibility: The surveys are accessible on multiple devices and in multiple languages to accommodate a diverse workforce.
• Anonymity and Security: Survey vendors maintain the confidentiality of employee responses to encourage honest and candid feedback, and protect privacy.

3. Comprehensive Data Analysis

• Advanced Analytics: Use sophisticated tools to analyze data, identify trends, and detect underlying patterns.
• Real-Time Reporting: These vendors offer real-time insights that allow for timely interventions.
• Visual Dashboards: Present data in an easy-to-understand format through interactive dashboards and detailed reports.

4. Benchmarking Against Industry Standards

• Comparative Analysis: They provide insights into how your organization's engagement levels compare with those of peers in your industry.
• Benchmark Data: Access to large datasets that help contextualize your company’s performance against broader market trends.

5. Actionable Insights and Recommendations

• Strategic Advice: Vendors can offer you with experts who give you recommendations based on survey results to help improve your employees' engagement and satisfaction.
• Action Plans: You can develop and implement effective and data-driven action plans that address specific areas of concern highlighted by the survey.
• Follow-Up Surveys: Design follow-up surveys to track progress and measure the impact of interventions.

6. Support for Implementation

• Training and Workshops: Some vendors can provide training for managers and leaders on how to interpret survey results, especially on implementing changes.
• Ongoing Support: Offers continuous support to ensure the engagement strategies are effective and sustainable.
• Consultation: Access to experienced consultants who can assist with complex issues or provide additional insights into survey data.

7. Integration with HR Systems

• HRIS Compatibility: Ensures that your survey tools integrate with existing Human Resource Information Systems (HRIS) for efficient data management.
• APIs and Plug-ins: They provide APIs that allow for easy integration with other software tools used by your organization.

Alignment Is Key

Selecting the right employee engagement survey vendor requires careful consideration of each platform's features, integration capabilities, and support systems.

Ensure the chosen vendor aligns well with your organization's specific needs and priorities. By methodically evaluating each option, you can significantly enhance the effectiveness of your employee engagement strategies and contribute positively to your organization's overall productivity and morale.‍

1. What is an Employee Engagement Survey?

An employee engagement survey is a tool used by organizations to assess the engagement and satisfaction of their workforce. These surveys are designed to understand employees' thoughts and sentiment towards their roles, the work environment, and the company.

Using the insights from employee engagement surveys, organizations aim to identify strengths and areas for improvement.

2. How Much Do Employee Engagement Surveys Cost?

The price of an employee engagement survey can be hard to determine as there are various components involved such as the length of the survey and the number of respondents.

3. What Are the Best Employee Engagement Survey Questions?

Engagement surveys are usually scheduled to respondents with each question containing a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 labelled as 'least engaged' to 5 being 'most engaged'. (Likert-scale questions)

But some questions may contain different labels such as

Here are a few simple, yet effective engagement survey questions.

• How happy are you at work?
• Your work gives you a sense of personal accomplishment.
• How likely are you to recommend [company] to your friends and relative? [eNPS question]
• I am comfortable providing feedback to your direct supervisor.
• I see myself working here long-term.
• I often look forward to coming to work.
• I am overwhelmed at my job.

4. Are Employee Engagement Surveys Worth It?

Employee engagement surveys can help you create, customize, and schedule your engagement surveys when you need, and gives you additional access to its dashboards and reporting capabilities.

5. What is a Good Participation Rate for Employee Engagement Surveys?

The survey participation rate depends on the amount of respondents in the survey. According to WSA, the global response rate for engagement surveys is in the range of 60% to 92%.

In case, the participation rates are low, you could consider:

a. Digitizing surveys for easy accessibility.

b. Explaining the purpose of the survey.

c. Keeping the surveys short and clear.

d. Assuring anonymity and confidentiality of the survey.

Another key tactic is to demonstrate the changes implemented based on the responses collected from previous engagement surveys.