Trace Id is missing

Maximizing Workplace Productivity with Employee Engagement Software

A woman giving a high five to a man.

Employee engagement software is an application that organizations use to connect with employees, typically via smartphones or other mobile devices. It seeks to engage employees with relevant content and enables them to access information they need to do their best—and be their best—at work.

 

The purpose of employee engagement software—also known as employee communication software—is to immerse employees in the mission and culture of your organization, increase job satisfaction, and retain talented workers. It uses social media features such as tags, likes, and emojis to increase the fun factor and encourage interaction with a variety of content.

 

Types of employee engagement software include those that aim to build human connection encourage employee feedback, connect remote teams, foster communication for projects and tasks, and enable comprehensive organizational communication. To help achieve your desired outcomes, have employee engagement strategies in place to:

  • Host live streams to share organizational news.
  • Send push notifications for critical communications.
  • Discover workforce wants and needs using employee satisfaction
  • Connect with remote employees using group or one-to-one chat features.
  • Set up workflows, assign tasks, enable notifications and alerts, and meet deadlines.
  • Share holiday calendars, health-and-wellness information, and policies and procedures.

Employee engagement software is the vehicle for gathering information and taking action. When employees feel like their concerns are addressed and their ideas help drive organizational change, you’ll start to see improvements in employee engagement and job satisfaction.

The importance of an employee communication strategy

Effective communication is necessary to attain productivity and success in the workplace. An employee communication strategy empowers you to focus on what to say to whom, create consistent messaging, and keep your organization on track to achieve greater employee engagement. Therein lies the difference between employee communication and employee engagement: Communication is the means to the end (engagement).

 

While employee engagement is often the primary goal of an employee communication program, underlying benefits include, but are not limited to:

  • Reducing misunderstandings and helping your teams meet expectations and goals.
  • Preventing confusion and misunderstanding among team members and managers.
  • Improving processes and procedures, increasing efficiencies, and reducing costs.
  • Boosting workplace morale and creating job satisfaction.
  • Giving employees a voice and making them feel valued.
  • Aligning the organization toward common initiatives.
  • Building trust and respect among teams.


Reaping such benefits from an employee communication strategy takes observation and planning. For example, identify the ways your employees prefer to receive communications (via email, instant message, text, or an app). Consider the timing of delivery so that it doesn’t get lost in a menagerie of messages. Above all, ask for and use feedback from employees to modify and improve your communication strategy.

An effective employee communication strategy takes advantage of the information-sharing features offered by employee engagement software. Smartphones are the universal tool for communication and engagement apps are an easy way to distribute information by written word, audio, and video.

What to look for in employee engagement and communication software

Not all employee engagement and communication software offer the same features or achieve the same objectives. For example, some put an emphasis on building human connection and emotional commitment while others aim to connect remote teams or enable comprehensive organizational communication.

When choosing an employee engagement platform, know what you want the software to accomplish. Your ideal solution should enable your organization to build dialogue and gather feedback, take action on insights from your workforce, strengthen workplace connections, and evaluate the culture within your organization. You want it to address the challenges that your HR team faces, like ensuring employee well-being and retention and attracting new talent.

Narrow your list to those that fit into your budget and that work with systems you currently use. You’ll also want to consider whether the software:
 

  • Includes customer support and training.
  • Facilitates recognition and reward programs for employees.
  • Provides an intuitive user experience for a better adoption rate.
  • Supports the size of your organization and the industry you’re in.
  • Works with your current payroll, email, and instant messaging systems.
  • Lets you define goals and track employee engagement for achieving those goals.
  • Allows customization so that surveys, templates, and gamification elements use your branding.
  • Tracks employees’ professional development and offers the ability to provide feedback on performance.

Once you’ve committed to an employee engagement platform, prioritize its use from the C-suite to various teams and individual employees. Your provider should help you launch the service in your organization and demonstrate how to use it efficiently and effectively.

How to improve employee satisfaction

Employee satisfaction—fulfilling the need for an engaging and inspiring workplace—helps to retain your workforce, increase productivity and profits, and determine the overall health of your organization. Employee satisfaction contributes to innovation, creativity, and collaboration and leads to happier customers, safer work environments, and more valuable two-way communication.

You hire employees to help your organization succeed; to make that happen, it’s important to ensure that they are happy in their roles. Compensation and benefits significantly impact employee satisfaction, but workplace recognition and organizational leadership also influence this metric.

How does employee engagement software improve employee satisfaction? It’s the go-to resource for your workforce. For example, use it to:
 

  • Launch surveys to capture employee sentiment. Ask questions about topics that matter to your employees and learn what they want and need from you as their employer. Employee engagement software makes survey responses anonymous so that employees are more candid in their feedback.
  • Host organization-wide presentations. Live stream or post a video from organizational leaders to foster a sense of community in your workforce. Encourage posts and comments via the employee engagement app to start meaningful conversations and help employees build camaraderie with others across the organization.
  • Celebrate employee achievements and milestones. Publicize how various teams or individuals contribute to the success of the organization. Understanding their relevance in the big picture makes employees aware of the significance of their efforts.
  • Allow flexible schedules and more autonomy. Give employees the freedom to manage their personal lives around their work schedule to help reduce stress and increase productivity. They have the tools they need to maintain contact with team members and share updates on projects.
A hand holding a piece of a puzzle.

Implementing Microsoft Viva to engage and empower your employees

Companies that focus on employee engagement achieve increased productivity—without causing burnout. But engaging employees in today’s distributed workforce can be a challenge
LEARN HOW

Frequently asked questions

  • Employee engagement software is an application that organizations use to connect with employees, typically via smartphones or other mobile devices. It seeks to engage employees with relevant content and enables them to access information they need to do their best—and be their best—at work.
  • Employee engagement software intends to immerse employees in the mission and culture of your organization, increase job satisfaction, and retain talented workers. It uses social media features such as tags, likes, and emojis to encourage interaction with a variety of content.

  • Employee communication is about sharing information that supports employees’ physical, emotional, and career wellbeing and helps them feel more connected to the organization. It also allows employees to share feedback and provide input in return.

     

    Employee engagement is when employees are committed to the values and goals of the organization and they are motivated to contribute to its success. Indicators of employee engagement include productivity, collaboration and teamwork, and seeing employees emerge as leaders.

  • When choosing an employee engagement platform, know what you want the software to accomplish. Your ideal solution should enable your organization to gather feedback, take action on insights from your workforce, and evaluate the culture within your organization. Narrow your list to those that fit into your budget and that work with systems you currently use.
  • Whether your goal is to retain top talent, recruit new talent, or cultivate a positive work environment for your employees, there are myriad ways to improve employee satisfaction. For example:
    • Compensate employees in line with industry standards.
    • Recognize employees for their work and celebrate milestones.
    • Avoid micromanagement; let employees make decisions and create change.
    • Help employees with career development based on their interests and expertise.
    • Encourage work-life balance; give employees autonomy over their work schedule.
  • As your organization embraces the platform, you’ll experience more benefits of employee engagement technology, including:
    • Greater empathy for and cooperation among peers.
    • Additional growth opportunities by matching employee skills with projects.
    • Better communication and feedback between management and employees.
    • More collaboration between and creative problem solving within departments.
    • Improved onboarding process to establish expectations and performance measurements.

The Microsoft 365 team is focused on sharing resources to help you start, run, and grow your business.

Get started with Microsoft 365

It’s the Office you know, plus the tools to help you work better together, so you can get more done—anytime, anywhere.
Buy Now

Related content

Grow my business

Improving employee engagement in the workplace

Read more

Business Insights and Ideas does not constitute professional tax or financial advice. You should contact your own tax or financial professional to discuss your situation.

Follow Microsoft 365