72 employee feedback tools for 2019
Employee feedback tools seem to have been popping up out of nowhere since Josh Bersin baptised the employee feedback market in 2015 with his article, 'Feedback is the killer app'.
By 2019, the market had exploded, with a huge variety of tools available.
But with so much choice, how do you find out which tool is right for you? And why should you use any of these tools to begin with? To help, we've put together a Google Sheet, outlining the market as it stands, listing each of the tools' features, their pricing (where available), and whether there's a free plan on offer.
We've also put together a Google Slide to show the employee feedback market mapped out by feature. If this was put together in 2015, the map wouldn't have been half this size.
What is an employee feedback tool?
We loosely define this as a platform or app that allows an employee to share their thoughts on their experience of work with their company, their manager, or their peers - either anonymously or otherwise.
We have included elements of performance management in this run-down too, because these often run alongside how employees share & are given feedback.
Here are the main features we identified, how we interpret them, and an example of few of a few companies that are doing great things with each.
Survey tools
These can include pulse surveys & scheduled surveys at a company level, as well as manager questions that can be asked to their team.
Surveys are the most common way of gathering employee feedback, because questions are easy to ask, and the insight you get from the questions is pretty simple to order, group and view.
As an example, here's how we ask survey questions at Motivii. At the end of each week, employees are asked a couple of anonymous pulse questions as part of the Weekly Update they send to their manager.
Although these questions are asked automatically from our bank of questions, people leaders are able to ask their own custom questions as part of this flow, and managers are able to ask their team questions too.
Our favourite tools for surveys: Peakon, Humu, Honestly.
Team Updates
Team Updates are a way that managers get feedback from their employees at regular interviews, to help them run team meetings, set priorities and support their team.
These are often tied to a lightweight agile-style process which allows managers to understand how their team are doing each week & offer to help or give feedback at any point.
At Motivii, our Team Updates come in the form of open-text responses to three different question prompts. Employees are asked, 'What were your highlights for this week?, 'What were your challenges for this week?', and 'What are your key priorities for next week?'
These updates are sent to their manager & the rest of the team at the end of the week, so managers know how their team is doing each week, and understand what they're working on.
Our other favourite tools for Team Updates: GetWeeklyUpdate, Teamphoria, Know Your Team.
Objectives
Objectives are no longer just a way of helping teams hit their targets. Sharing progress towards certain goals helps your team develop, so it seems natural that these aspects of performance management are folded into the feedback conversation.
People leaders are more often recognising that it’s just as important to focus on the reasons behind performance, as much as it is to focus on performance targets.
Here’s an example of how that works. At Motivii we roll development conversations and feedback sharing into one flow. At the end of each Weekly Update, employees are reminded to update their objectives, if they need to.
This helps remind employees of their longer-term goals, and nudges them to consider how short-term tasks roll up into wider objectives.
Our other favourite tools for objective-setting: 7Geese, Zugata, Small Improvements.
1:1 Tools
Everyone does 1:1s with their direct reports, but these are often off-the-cuff and miss out on lots of important points. By integrating these conversations as part of the feedback process, employees know where they stand with their manager, where they need to improve, and the best way to suggest ideas & improvements to their organisation.
1:1 tools simply bring structure and context to these conversations, to make sure nothing is missed.
For example, at Motivii, our 1:1 tools help with development conversations. Insight from our weekly team updates and pulse questions are surfaced to help managers and their direct reports remember what's happened since their last review.
Meanwhile, employees add simple preparation ahead of the conversation to say how their quarter's gone, update and add objectives, and include discussion points for the coming quarter.
Our other favourite tools for 1:1s: Soapbox, Impraise, Actimo.
360 Feedback
Gathering peer feedback on your own development and performance is a crucial part of improving at work. There are various tools with differing levels of complexity to help you organise for each person at your company to share employee feedback.
We've kept this as simple as possible at Motivii. Employees are sent a pre-uploaded or custom-built 360 feedback survey to anyone they'd like to complete the feedback survey. This can be set up to gather anonymous or named feedback. The results are gathered and presented to the survey owner.
Our other favourite tools for 360 feedback: CultureAmp, OpenBlend, Qualtrics.
Peer Recognition
Giving a shout-out to someone else on your team or at your company is a great way to publicly recognise achievements, or show your gratitude. That helps build a culture of respect, encourages different parts of the business to work together, and makes people feel good about work.
At Motivii, employees are able to comment on each others' Weekly Updates to improve collaboration, make work less formal, and show appreciation.
Our other favourite tools for Peer Recognition: TinyPulse, Achievers, Qarrot.
People Analytics
The People Analytics tools that you get in the feedback space really differ from provider to provider.
This is due to the different methods of collecting the data, the different capabilities to process that data, and the level of helpful insight that it can provide. For example, all survey tools will have a people analytics output, but a pure peer recognition tool doesn't lead that added layer.
Here's how we do People Analytics at Motivii. Engagement, motivation and insight from answers are presented each week at an individual, team and company level, along with tips to improve. Motivii also offers custom analytics for individual groups and teams aggregated below a leader, along with how your score relates to the Global Average.
Our other favourite tools for People Analytics: Beaconforce, Glint, Betterworks.
Suggestion Box
If you've got anonymous, open-text feedback for your organisation, a suggestion box can be a helpful feature. A form of this service is also used as a tool for internal whistleblowing, which is especially handy for enterprises.
Motivii doesn't have a Suggestion Box, so we don't have an example of how this works that we're really close to. Although, our favourite tools with a suggestion box are… SparkBay, Hyphen, CompanyMood.
Now here's how each start-up in the employee feedback space measures up to those features...
Motivii
Features Include: Team Updates, Survey Tools, Objectives, 1:1 Tools, 360 Feedback, People Analytics, Peer Recognition
Starting Price: $5/user/month
Free Plan? Free for individuals
Weekdone
Features Include: Team Updates, Objectives, 1:1 Tools, Peer Recognition, People Analytics
Starting Price: $9/user/month for teams of 4+
Free Plan? Limited to team of 3
WorkingOn
Features Include: Pulse Survey, Peer Recognition, People Analytics
Starting Price: Custom
Free Plan? No
CultureAmp
Features Include: Survey Tools, 360 Feedback, People Analytics
Starting Price: $4,500/year
Free Plan? No
CompanyMood
Features Include: Survey Tools, Suggestion Box, People Analytics
Starting Price: $3.5/user/month
Free Plan? No
Achievers
Features Include: Team Updates, Survey Tools, 1:1 Tools
Starting Price: $65/manager/month
Free Plan? No
Emooter
Features Include: Survey Tools, People Analytics
Starting Price: $112/month
Free Plan? No
Happiness Works
Features Include: Survey Tools, 1:1 Tools, People Analytics
Starting Price: $5/user/month
Free Plan? Limited to individuals
OfficeVibe
Features Include: Survey Tools, Suggestion Box, People Analytics
Starting Price: $4/user/month
Free Plan? Limited to one team
15five
Features Include: Team Updates, Survey Tools, Objectives, 1:1 Tools, Peer Recognition, 360 Feedback, People Analytics
Starting Price: $7/user/month
Free Plan? No
Peakon
Features Include: Survey Tools, People Analytics
Starting Price: $3.5/user/month
Free Plan? No
VibeCatch
Features Include: Survey Tools, 360 Feedback, People Analytics
Starting Price: $2/user/month
Free Plan? No
Chimporchamp
Features Include: Survey Tools, Peer Recognition, Objectives, 1:1 Tools, 360 Feedback, People Analytics
Starting Price: $9/user/month
Free Plan? No
Soapbox
Features Include: Team Updates, Survey Tools, 1:1 Tools
Starting Price: $8/user/month
Free Plan? Limited to certain features
Impraise
Features Include: Peer Recognition, 360 Feedback, Objectives, 1:1 Tools, People Analytics
Starting Price: Custom
Free Plan? No
Beaconforce
Features Include: Peer Recognition, Survey Tools, 360 Feedback, 1:1 Tools
Starting Price: $6/user/month
Free Plan? Limited to team of 7
Happierco
Features Include: Team Updates, Objectives
Starting Price: $6/user/month
Free Plan? Limited to 5 users, 3 month history
MoodForce
Features Include: Survey Tools, People Analytics
Starting Price: $2.5/user/month
Free Plan? No
OpenBlend
Features Include: Survey Tools, 1:1s Tools, Objectives, 360 Feedback
Starting Price: Custom
Free Plan? No
Qarrot
Features Include: Peer Recognition, People Analytics
Starting Price: $3/user/month
Free Plan? Limited to one team, 30 day history
Happiness Index
Features Include: Survey Tools, Suggestion Box, People Analytics
Starting Price: $1.5/user/month
Free Plan? No
Reflektive
Features Include: Team Updates, Peer Recognition, Survey Tools, Objectives, 1:1 Tools, 360 Feedback, People Analytics
Starting Price: Custom
Free Plan? No
Zugata
Features Include: Objectives, 1:1 Tools, 360 Feedback, People Analytics
Starting Price: Custom
Free Plan? No
Just3Things
Features Include: Survey Tools, 1:1 Tools, People Analytics
Starting Price: Custom
Free Plan? No
Flashbrand
Features Include: Peer Recognition, 360 Feedback, Pulse Surveys, People Analytics
Starting Price: Custom
Free Plan? No
Intuo
Features Include: Survey Tools, 1:1 Tools, People Analytics, Objectives
Starting Price: Custom
Free Plan? No
Small Improvements
Features Include: Peer Recognition, 1:1 Tools, Objectives, 360 Feedback
Starting Price: $7/user/month
Free Plan? No
ClearReview
Features Include: 1:1 Tools, Objectives, Peer Recognition, 360 Feedback
Starting Price: $3,000/year
Free Plan? No
Honestly
Features Include: 360 Reviews, Objectives, Survey Tools, Peer Recognition
Starting Price: $8/user/month
Free Plan? No
Get Weekly Update
Features Include: Team UpdatesStarting Price: $19/team/monthFree Plan? Limited to a team of four---
Qualtrics
Qualtrics feedback tool
Features Include: Survey Tools, 360 Reviews, People AnalyticsStarting Price: CustomFree Plan? No---
Weekly 10
Weekly 10 feedback tool
Features Include: Team Updates, Pulse Questions, Objectives, People AnalyticsStarting Price: $2.5/user/monthFree Plan? No---
Engagedly
Features Include: 360 Reviews, 1:1 Tools, Objectives, Peer Recognition, Pulse Surveys, People Analytics
Starting Price: Custom
Free Plan? No
Survey Sparrow
Features Include: Survey Tools, Objectives, Peer Recognition, 1:1 Tools, People Analytics
Starting Price: Custom
Free Plan? Limited to certain features
Team Mood
Features Include: Survey Tools, Peer Recognition, 1:1 Tools, 360 Feedback, Objectives
Starting Price: $2,000
Free Plan? No
SparkBay
Features Include: Survey Tools, People Analytics, Suggestion Box
Starting Price: $2,500/year
Free Plan? No
Tap My Back
Features Include: Peer Recognition, Survey Tools, People Analytics
Starting Price: $2.5/user/month
Free Plan? No
Duuoo
Feedback Tools Include: Objectives, 1:1 Tools, 360 Feedback, Peer Recognition
Starting Price: $6/user/month
Free Plan? No
Fortay
Feedback Tools Include: Peer Recognition, Survey Tools, Objectives, 1:1 Tools, 360 Feedback, People Analytics, Team Updates
Starting Price: Custom
Free Plan? No
Talmetrix
Feedback Tools Include: Team Updates, People Analytics
Starting Price: $1/user/month
Free Plan? Limited to 10 users & certain features
Steer
Feedback Tools Include: Team Updates, Objectives
Starting Price: $7/user/month
Free Plan? Limited to 10 users
2DAYSMOOD
Feedback Tools Include: Survey Tools, People Analytics
Starting Price: Custom
Free Plan? No
Vibemetrics
Feedback Tools Include: Survey Tools, People Analytics
Starting Price: $3.5/user/month, min $50
Free Plan? No
Disco
Feedback Tools Include: Survey Tools, Peer Recognition
Starting Price: $50/team/month
Free Plan? No
Synergita
Feedback Tools Include: Survey Tools, 1:1 Tools, Objectives, 360 Feedback, People Analytics
Starting Price: Custom
Free Plan? No
7Geese
Feedback Tools Include: 1:1 Tools, Objectives, 360 Feedback, Peer Recognition
Starting Price: $12.50/user/month, min $3,000/yr
Free Plan? No
EchoSpan
Feedback Tools Include: 360 Feedback, People Analytics
Starting Price: $2,250 for 25 users
Free Plan? No
Feedbackly
Feedback Tools Include: Survey Tools, People Analytics
Starting Price: Custom
Free Plan? Limited to certain features
Betterworks
Feedback Tools Include: 1:1 Tools, Peer Recognition, Objectives, People Analytics
Starting Price: Custom
Free Plan? No
Humu
Feedback Tools Include: Survey Tools, People Analytics
Starting Price: Custom
Free Plan? No
SurveyMonkey
Feedback Tools Include: Survey Tools
Starting Price: $42/month
Free Plan? Limited to 10 questions/ survey
Glint
Feedback Tools Include: Survey Tools, People Analytics, 1:1 Tools, 360 Feedback, Objectives, Peer Recognition
Starting Price: Custom
Free Plan? No
TemboSocial
Feedback Tools Include: Survey Tools, People Analytics, Peer Recognition, 1:1 Tools, Objectives
Starting Price: Custom
Free Plan? No
Hyphen
Feedback Tools Include: Survey Tools, Suggestion Box, People Analytics
Starting Price: Custom
Free Plan? No