Feature
Research Report
The State of the Digital Workplace
In Brief
- Disengaged employees are costing the global economy $10 trillion a year — and the problem is getting worse.
- The right employee engagement tools can surface the insights needed to turn this around, but only if leaders are prepared to act on what they find.
- This guide covers the full landscape of employee engagement technology, from survey tools to AI-powered analytics platforms.
Gallup's latest "State of the Global Workplace" found employee engagement declined to its lowest point since the pandemic, with manager disengagement driving much of the drop. The cost is staggering: approximately $10 trillion in lost productivity worldwide.
The business case for fixing this is clear. Engaged employees are more productive, stay longer and contribute to stronger organizational performance — which is why so many companies are actively investing in engagement initiatives. But improving employee engagement isn't simple. It requires a combination of approaches, sustained consistently over time.
Technology is one important piece of the puzzle. A relatively mature market of employee engagement solutions now exists, ranging from survey tools to AI-powered analytics platforms. Many have overlapping features, and most organizations find that combining several tools — an "engagement tech stack" — delivers the best results.
Table of Contents
- What Do Employee Engagement Solutions Deliver?
- What Tools Support Employee Engagement?
- Employee Engagement Survey Tools
- Employee Recognition Platforms
- Digital Communication Platforms
- Workforce Analytics and People Analytics Tools
- Performance Management Software
- Additional Employee Feedback Tools and Channels
- Technology Supports Engagement, But Ultimately It's About Action
What Do Employee Engagement Solutions Deliver?
At a high level, employee engagement solutions deliver three core benefits:
- Give employees clarity and insight so they feel informed and connected
- Give employees a voice so their opinions are heard and valued
- Give leaders and HR teams the insights they need to make better decisions
Solutions that deliver all three are most likely to win buy-in from both leaders and employees. "The most effective tech solutions are those that are intuitive and insightful – and therefore get top-bottom buy-in,” said Madeleine Porter, head of internal communications at Reach Plc. "I've seen listening and feedback tools work really well when they are perceived as useful for employees to make their voice heard, and useful for leaders to get an insight into how people are thinking and feeling.”
The data solutions provide is equally valuable. “The role of technology absolutely has its place in employee engagement, particularly as data gathering inputs,” said Kat McTaggart, an internal communications and employee engagement specialist. Tools including employee engagement surveys, pulse checks, peer recognition and communications platforms all contribute to a richer picture of workplace sentiment.
AI is increasingly helping organizations make sense of the data faster. "Ultimately, it’s up to someone to decide to listen to all the feedback and take action,” McTaggart said. “AI tools are making this much easier for organizations – especially if they’re built into platforms to summarize and make recommendations almost instantly.”
What Tools Support Employee Engagement?
A wide range of employee engagement tools and software support organizations looking to improve workforce engagement, from employee survey tools to people analytics platforms. Here's a breakdown of the most common options.
Employee Engagement Survey Tools
Employee engagement survey tools are arguably the most common HR technology used to measure and assess employee engagement. Options range from standalone platforms like SurveyMonkey and Qualtrics to survey capabilities built directly into HR and employee experience platforms.
Some employee engagement survey tools are run by specialist engagement companies that benchmark results and act as a neutral third party, ensuring responses remain confidential and anonymous. According to research from HR.com, 79% of organizations that regularly measure engagement use a survey-based tool.
Engagement surveys are relatively inexpensive, easy for employees to complete, and straightforward to analyze and segment. They also allow organizations to track engagement trends year over year. However, their limitations are worth keeping in mind.
"Surveys can be useful as a temperature check, but only if we're honest about what they are: a snapshot of sentiment at a moment in time, shaped by everything from workload and leadership behaviour to the weather, the last all-hands or whether the survey arrived on a Monday morning," said Sharon O'Dea, digital strategist, partner and co-founder at Lithos Partners.
O'Dea also cautioned against placing too much weight on employee engagement scores. "Treating survey results as hard evidence rather than directional insight is how organizations end up optimizing for scores rather than substance," she said.
Employee Recognition Platforms
Employee recognition platforms are HR tools where employees are recognized and rewarded for their contributions — by their manager, their peers or through a centrally coordinated program.
For example, when an employee goes above and beyond — helping a colleague or delivering exceptional customer service — a manager or peer can praise them publicly through the platform. Many employee recognition tools also offer rewards such as points that can be redeemed for prizes or gift cards. Platforms range from simple and lightweight to feature-rich, and many include a recognition feed that can be embedded in a company intranet or SharePoint site.
"Peer recognition platforms are a great way of employee listening and building culture," said O'Dea. They work best when tied to company values and when recognition flows in all directions — not just top-down. "Allowing anyone to send rewards like gift cards or free coffees is a great way to show appreciation," she said.
McTaggart echoed this, noting that employee recognition tools tend to work best when they reinforce behaviors that already exist, rather than trying to manufacture culture.
Digital Communication Platforms
Research from Gallagher suggests that supporting culture and belonging is the primary driver of internal communications activity. It's no surprise, then, that digital employee communication platforms — including intranets, employee experience platforms and related HR tools — are widely used to improve employee engagement.
"I'm a real believer in an internal communications or employee experience platform to drive engagement," said Porter. "If you create a digital beating heart of your organization, information will flow more freely, people will collaborate and connect with each other more and your employee base becomes more of a community."
Clarity is another key benefit of digital communication tools. "When organizations do invest in tools, they're most effective when they support clarity and reduce effort," said O'Dea. "Internal comms platforms help when they make it easier to find what you need and understand what matters."
These communications platforms also surface valuable data on workforce sentiment. "An internal comms platform can give you insights into what type of content people are engaging with, what they're saying or liking – and also what they aren't responding to or engaging with," said Porter.
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Workforce Analytics and People Analytics Tools
Workforce analytics and people analytics are related but distinct disciplines. Workforce analytics typically focuses on operational data — headcount, turnover, absence rates and productivity — to support workforce planning and business decisions. People analytics tends to go deeper, examining behavioral and experiential data to understand why employees feel and perform the way they do, making it particularly relevant to employee engagement.
In practice, many platforms combine both capabilities. Tools pull data from multiple sources to generate insights across productivity, workforce planning and engagement. Dedicated HR analytics platforms exist, but analytics capabilities are also built into major human capital management (HCM) systems such as Workday Illuminate and SAP SuccessFactors.
Some people analytics tools go beyond HR teams to deliver insights for managers and individual employees too. Microsoft Viva Insights, for example, focuses on employee well-being by surfacing personal insights drawn from activity across the Microsoft ecosystem.
One important consideration when deploying workforce analytics software is data privacy. Organizations need to be transparent about how these tools work — employees who worry that data is being used to judge their performance or influence their pay may become less trusting, which can actively harm employee engagement.
Performance Management Software
Performance management software — sometimes called a performance management system (PMS) — measures and tracks employee performance to drive improvement and align individual goals with broader business objectives. While productivity is often the primary focus, effective performance management software also supports employee engagement by:
- Helping employees set and focus on clear goals.
- Providing ongoing recognition and constructive feedback.
In this way, performance management software overlaps with both employee recognition platforms and people analytics tools. Key components typically include OKRs and milestones, formal performance review data, continuous feedback, agreed development plans, skills mapping and relevant analytics.
Additional Employee Feedback Tools and Channels
Dedicated employee engagement software is only part of the picture. As McTaggart notes, additional employee feedback channels can be equally valuable. "Other feedback avenues like pre- and post-event surveys, onboarding and exit interviews, performance conversations and even system service requests — all can be inputs into the insight gathering phase [to improve engagement]," she said.
Technology Supports Engagement, But Ultimately It's About Action
Technology can improve employee engagement, but only up to a point. Ultimately, it’s what you do with the insights. “The most effective solution is rarely something you can buy or license,” O'Dea said. “It’s understanding why people are disengaged in the first place — and being prepared to act on what you find.”
Feedback and analytics performs provide value, but ultimately it is about taking action, McTaggart agreed. “All of these [data] inputs are great, but without leadership and accountability, clear communication and an actionable plan, it’s only half the story.”
Editor's Note: Catch up on more employee engagement reading below:
- AI-Era Employee Surveys Need an Action Architecture, Not Just Better Data — Companies are upgrading employee surveys with AI, yet the same problem remains: plenty of data, almost no follow-through.
- The Failure of the Employee Engagement Industrial Complex, Part 1 — Despite billions spent on tools, perks and programs, global employee engagement has barely improved in 15 years. This is an opportunity for leaders.
- Why Your Engagement Scores Need a Reality Check — Building shared accountability for a culture where employees openly express their lived realities takes time. Here's how to get started.