Employee experience software, also known as an employee experience solution, helps companies build better workplaces where people actually want to work. These digital tools track, manage, and improve employees' feelings about their jobs from the day they apply until the day they leave. Unlike traditional HR systems that just handle paperwork and policies, employee experience software focuses on creating positive interactions throughout an employee’s journey with the company.

The workplace has changed dramatically in recent years. Remote and hybrid work arrangements have become common, making it harder for companies to create consistent employee experiences. Employee engagement now matters more than ever as people seek meaning and purpose in their work, not just a paycheck. Modern workers expect the same thoughtful digital experiences at work that they enjoy as consumers, pushing companies to invest in better tools and systems.

Top 7 employee experience software

With so many options available, looking for the right employee experience software can feel overwhelming. Employee experience software helps companies create better workplaces by gathering feedback, supporting employees throughout their careers, and giving managers helpful insights.

It can also boost employee engagement by implementing strategies such as real-time feedback and rewards programs. An employee engagement platform integrates seamlessly with existing systems to enhance workflow efficiency, improve internal communication, and foster employee collaboration. Here’s a simple breakdown of seven leading employee experience software options and what makes each one special.

1. Culture Amp

Culture Amp is employee experience software that focuses on how people feel about their work. It offers surveys that help companies understand what employees think about their jobs. The platform makes it easy to collect feedback, see trends, and take action.

Culture Amp provides actionable insights from employee feedback, helping companies translate this feedback into strategies to elevate employee engagement.

What makes this employee experience software stand out is its combination of engagement surveys, performance reviews, and employee development tools. Companies can use Culture Amp to spot problems early and create plans to keep employees happy.

2. Qualtrics EmployeeXM

Qualtrics EmployeeXM is a comprehensive workforce experience software designed to help companies listen to their teams at every important moment. This platform excels at gathering feedback during key events like onboarding, promotions, or when someone leaves the company.

What’s special about this employee experience software is its powerful analysis tools that automatically spot trends and suggest specific actions managers can take. Qualtrics also helps companies connect employee experiences with customer satisfaction and business results.

3. 15Five

15Five takes a different approach to employee experience software by focusing on the relationship between employees and their managers. The platform makes weekly check-ins easy and meaningful.

Managers ask simple questions, employees share updates and challenges, and everyone stays connected. 15Five supports continuous performance management through regular check-ins and feedback, which helps to improve employee engagement and retention.

This employee experience software also includes goal tracking, one-on-one meeting tools, and peer recognition features. 15Five is particularly good for companies that believe great work starts with strong manager-employee relationships.

4. Lattice

Lattice is an employee empowerment tool that brings together performance management, employee engagement, and career development in one place. The platform helps managers give better feedback, track goals, and have more meaningful conversations with their teams. Lattice helps improve employee performance through continuous feedback and goal tracking.

Many companies love this team experience software because it connects performance reviews with development plans, helping employees grow in their careers. Lattice also offers engagement surveys that help leadership understand how people feel about their work.

5. Microsoft Viva

Microsoft Viva is a newer employee experience software designed specifically for the digital workplace. It works inside Microsoft Teams, making it easy for employees to use Microsoft tools.

Viva has four main parts: Connections (for company news and resources), Insights (for wellbeing and productivity), Topics (for finding knowledge and experts), and Learning (for training and development). This employee experience software stands out because it meets employees where they already work instead of requiring them to use another platform.

Its features enhance employee engagement by integrating with existing tools and using data analytics to improve overall employee satisfaction, performance, and workplace culture. Additionally, Viva helps improve employee engagement through real-time feedback, rewards programs, and inclusive work environments, which are essential for fostering employee satisfaction and productivity.

6. BambooHR

BambooHR offers a workplace culture solution that’s particularly good for small and medium-sized businesses. The platform handles everything from hiring to offboarding, focusing on creating positive experiences. This experience software includes tools for employee recognition, ensuring that employees feel valued for their contributions and encouraging a positive organizational environment.

This software includes an applicant tracking system, onboarding tools, time-off management, and performance reviews. BambooHR is known for being easy to use, with a clean, simple interface that doesn’t overwhelm users with unnecessary complexity.

7. Workday

Workday provides a robust digital workplace experience software that connects human resources, finance, and planning in one system. While it offers comprehensive HR features, its team experience tools focus on making work easier through self-service options and personalized dashboards.

Employees can update their information, request time off, and access learning resources without contacting HR. This employee experience software is particularly strong for large companies that need a complete system that grows with them and handles complex organizational structures.

Understanding employee experience

Employee experience refers to everything a person encounters, observes, and feels during their time with a company. It includes practical elements like workplace tools and physical environment, human connections with colleagues and managers, and emotional aspects like feeling valued and having a purpose. Good experience doesn’t happen accidentally—it requires intentional design across all these areas.

This experience breaks down into several key stages: recruitment, onboarding, development, retention, and separation.

Each stage offers opportunities to either strengthen or weaken employee engagement. Companies often focus on these stages to improve employee engagement, ensuring that employees feel connected and motivated.

For example, a smooth, welcoming onboarding process sets the stage for strong employee engagement from day one. Similarly, meaningful development opportunities throughout someone’s career help maintain employee engagement over time.

Many people confuse this experience with employee engagement, but they’re not the same thing.

Such engagement specifically measures how emotionally committed and connected people feel to their work and company. It’s about passion, purpose, and dedication. Employee experience, on the other hand, covers everything that might influence that engagement—from office design to management practices to company policies.

Think of it this way: such experience is like the soil, water, and sunlight you provide for a plant, while employee engagement is how well the plant grows as a result.

You can’t directly control employee engagement, but you can create conditions that help it flourish.

This explains why companies invest in improving specific aspects of the employee experience—like internal communication, recognition, or career development—to boost the overall engagement of multiple team members. Different workers value different aspects of their experience.

Key features of employee experience software

Employee feedback tools and survey mechanisms

A good employee experience platform makes it easy to hear your workers' thoughts. Modern employee experience platform solutions include tools, like the 360 feedback tool, that gather feedback through quick pulse checks, detailed surveys, and suggestion boxes. The best employee experience platform options let you create custom questions or use tested templates that get helpful responses.

Consider platforms that offer real-time feedback and rewards programs to improve team members' engagement and foster a more inclusive work environment.

When choosing an employee experience platform, look for one that shows results in clear charts and highlights important trends automatically. Top platform tools can tell you which departments feel most connected to the company and where you might have problems brewing. An effective platform also reminds managers to follow up on employee feedback tools, creating a complete loop where team members see that their input matters.

Performance management capabilities

Today’s employee experience platform systems help manage performance in ways that motivate rather than discourage workers. A quality platform makes goal-setting straightforward, with options to align individual targets with team and company objectives through continuous performance management. Leading platform providers include tools for regular check-ins instead of just yearly reviews.

The right employee experience platform helps managers give specific, helpful feedback throughout the year.

Such platform solutions include performance management tools and recognition features where people can thank colleagues for their good work. Additionally, these platforms are designed to improve team members' engagement by incorporating real-time feedback and rewards programs and creating inclusive work environments. A comprehensive employee experience platform also helps identify which employees might need extra support or are ready for new challenges.

Communication features and social intranet

Strong communication tools form the backbone of any effective employee experience solution. The best employee experience platform options include company news channels, team spaces, and discussion boards all in one place.

A well-designed employee experience platform makes sharing updates that reach the right people simple without flooding inboxes.

Modern employee experience platform systems often include social features like profiles, activity feeds, and the ability to like or comment on posts. These platforms, in combination with employee development software capabilities, help create community feelings even among remote teams.

When evaluating an employee experience platform, check how well it supports formal communications, leadership assessment tools, and team conversations.

Employee engagement and retention

Good employee experience directly relates to how much people care about their work and how long they stay at a company. When people love their team experience, they put in more effort and share good stories about their workplace.

Employee experience platforms enhance employee engagement and retention by integrating with existing tools and using data analytics to improve overall satisfaction and performance. These platforms also help improve engagement by providing real-time feedback and rewards programs and creating inclusive work environments.

Companies that focus on creating a meaningful work experience and employee engagement solutions have higher employee satisfaction scores and better employee retention rates than those that don’t.

Modern tools help track how the team experience affects engagement.

These platforms gather feedback through quick pulses and thoughtful questions about different parts of the team experience.

Managers can see what needs to be improved through employee evaluation software and what’s already working well.

The data shows clear links between a good collective experience and business outcomes like lower turnover and higher productivity.

Companies use tools that capture both numbers and stories to measure employee satisfaction. Rating scales help track trends in the team experience over time, while open-ended questions reveal deeper insight into what’s really happening.

Some platforms can even analyse written comments to spot patterns in how people describe their team experience, so leaders can understand emotional responses that numbers alone might miss.

Smart companies know that employee retention starts with understanding what matters in employee experience.

Exit interviews often reveal that people leave because of how they feel at work, not just what they’re paid. Fixing the team members’ experience before people leave companies saves the high cost of replacing valuable team members and strengthens company culture.

Diversity, equity, inclusion (DE&I)

Creating an experience that works for everyone requires intentionally focusing on diversity, equity, and inclusion. Modern platforms have specific features to help companies build a more inclusive experience across different backgrounds, identities, and working styles.

These tools help leaders understand gaps in team members' experience between different groups and create targeted improvements.

Good DE&I tools scan job descriptions for biased language that might limit the employee experience before someone even applies. They help create fair hiring practices that expand the experience for employees to more diverse candidates.

Anonymous reporting features protect people who speak up about problems in their employee experience, while inclusion training helps everyone contribute to a positive employee experience for their colleagues.

Companies need data to truly integrate DE&I into every stage of the team's experience. This data should show where different groups have different experiences.

For example, promotion rates might reveal that the employee experience varies by gender or race unexpectedly.

Good platforms help track these patterns while protecting privacy so companies can create a more equitable experience for everyone.

Creating a company culture means making diversity part of the everyday team experience, not just special programs.

This happens when leadership communications, team rituals, and everyday interactions all reflect inclusion. When employees from all backgrounds see themselves in company stories and leadership, the overall experience becomes more authentic and engaging for everyone.

Employee lifecycle management

The initial experience starts before someone’s first day and continues after they leave. Modern platforms help manage the whole journey to create consistent positive experiences at every stage.

During recruitment, these tools help showcase company culture through video testimonials and interactive content that gives candidates a real taste of the team-working experience they can expect.

Pre-employment features streamline the application process, show respect for candidates’ time, and set expectations for a positive employee experience from the start.

Assessment tools help match people to roles where they’ll thrive, increasing the likelihood of a successful employee lifecycle for both the new hire and their team.

Onboarding tools create a smooth transition from candidate to team member, a critical period that shapes the whole experience.

Digital welcome packages introduce new hires to company culture before they start.

Automated checklists ensure new employees get everything they need, from equipment to access permissions, from day one, and that the organisation values their day-to-day working experience.

The best onboarding platforms create personalised paths for different roles while maintaining core elements that define the experience company-wide.

They connect new hires with buddies or mentors who help navigate the unwritten rules.

They also schedule check-ins during the critical first weeks and months, gathering employee feedback about the early team experience that helps improve the process for future hires and create a positive employee experience that supports long-term success.

Recognition and rewards systems

Modern employee experience platforms include powerful tools that help companies with employee recognition and show appreciation for good work. When someone does something outstanding, managers can quickly recognize them through the employee experience platform, sending badges, points, or public praise.

These digital recognition features within employee experience platforms help improve employee engagement by making employees feel valued and motivated.

Recognition tools' impact on employee experience platforms goes beyond just making people feel good. Companies using these features report higher productivity, stronger team connections, and fewer people quitting.

Recognition creates positive moments that employees remember and share with others, strengthening the workplace culture.

Many leading employee experience platforms now include peer-to-peer recognition tools where coworkers can thank each other directly.

This feature allows anyone to highlight good work they notice, not just managers.

Some employee experience platforms even connect recognition to company values, reinforcing what matters most. For example, when someone helps a teammate, they might receive a “collaboration” badge that everyone can see on the platform.

Workforce insights and real-time feedback

A major advantage of using an employee experience solution is getting clear data about how people feel at work. Good employee experience platforms and employee survey platforms include dashboards that show important trends at a glance.

Leaders can quickly see which departments are thriving and which need attention without digging through complicated reports.

The reporting tools in employee experience platforms help companies make smarter decisions about their people.

Instead of guessing what might improve the workplace, managers can use data from the employee experience platform to spot actual problems and measure the effectiveness of their solutions.

These insights help companies spend their time and money on changes that really matter to employees.

Many employee experience platforms now include pulse surveys - quick questions that check how people feel throughout the year.

Unlike old-style yearly surveys, these quick check-ins through the employee experience platform give companies up-to-date information about emerging issues.

Some advanced employee experience platforms can even analyze written comments to understand emotions and suggest specific actions for managers.

Integration with existing technology

For an employee experience platform to work well, it needs to connect smoothly with other systems a company already uses. Most modern employee experience platforms integrate with human resource information systems (HRIS) to keep employee data accurate across all platforms.

This means that when someone gets promoted or changes teams, the information updates everywhere automatically.

Leading employee experience platforms offer strong API capabilities that allow custom connections between different systems.

This technical feature means the employee experience platform can share information with other tools, such as customer relationship management (CRM) systems or learning platforms.

When all these systems talk to each other, employees don't have to enter the same information multiple times or switch between different tools to complete their work.

Today's top-tier platforms typically offer mobile apps and cloud-based access, letting people connect from anywhere.

Through the employee experience platform, employees can check updates, give feedback, or recognize coworkers whether they're at their desks, working from home, or traveling.

This flexibility makes the platform more useful for everyone, especially for companies with remote or frontline workers who don't sit at computers all day.

Future trends

The tools companies use to improve workplace experiences are getting smarter every day.

New AI features can now spot patterns in feedback that humans might miss. For example, these systems can read thousands of comments and identify common concerns without someone having to manually review each one. This helps companies understand what employees need much faster than before.

Machine learning is making these platforms more helpful over time.

As the system collects more data, it becomes better at predicting which teams might be struggling or which employees might be considering leaving.

Instead of waiting for problems to happen, managers get early warnings that let them step in and help before good employees quit.

Predictive tools are becoming more accurate at predicting what might happen next. New software can analyze workplace data and suggest specific actions that will likely improve employees' feelings.

For instance, the system might notice that teams with weekly one-on-one meetings have happier members and recommend this practice to managers whose teams score lower on check-ins.

These platforms will become more personalized in the coming years, showing different information to different people based on their roles and needs.

They'll also improve their ability to connect team members' experiences with customer outcomes, helping companies see how internal improvements drive business results.

Selecting the right platform

Choosing the best employee experience solution for your company requires carefully considering what you need. Start by listing your biggest workplace challenges—like high turnover, poor internal communication, or low engagement. The right system should directly address these specific problems rather than offer fancy features you won’t use.

Consider these key questions when evaluating different options:

How easy is it for everyday employees to use?

Try the system yourself and imagine your least tech-savvy colleague using it.

Can it grow with your company?

• A platform that works for 50 people might struggle with 500.
• How does it protect employee privacy while still giving leaders useful insights?
• What kind of support does the vendor provide during setup and beyond?
• How often does the platform get updated with new features?

Will it work well with your existing tools for HR, communication, and project management?

When talking to engagement survey vendors, ask for specific examples of how similar companies have solved problems like yours.

Request a detailed timeline for implementation and ask about hidden costs beyond the basic subscription. The best vendors will be honest about their platforms' strengths and limitations.

Don’t just hear from the sales team – ask to speak with the people who will actually help set up your system and train your team. Their expertise and communication style matter just as much as the software itself.

Conclusion

Creating a workplace where people feel valued, heard, and empowered isn't just nice to have – it's essential for business success. The right software makes this possible by connecting all the pieces of the employee journey into one cohesive experience.

From a candidate's first impression to an employee's last day, these tools help companies deliver consistent, thoughtful interactions that build loyalty and drive performance.

In today's world, where talented people have more choices than ever about where to work, the experience you create becomes a crucial advantage in attracting and keeping the best teams. Companies that invest in understanding and improving how it feels to work for them see real business benefits: lower hiring costs, higher productivity, better customer service, and stronger innovation.