8 tools to increase employee retention & satisfaction

¹ Leapsome

‍If there’s one tool you need to maximize staff retention, it’s the people enablement and engagement software, Leapsome. Our solution helps you manage all aspects of maintaining a motivated and satisfied team. 

Leapsome offers five products: 

• Reviews
• Surveys
• Goals
• Learning
• Compensation

Each can be used on its own or in any combination with the others, meaning the platform is fully customizable, depending on your team’s needs. 

With Leapsome, you can track employee performance and progress, empower their growth and development, run compensation reviews, optimize team meetings, keep everyone aligned on goals, send out engagement surveys, and make feedback and praise key elements of your culture. 

The platform also helps with onboarding and ongoing employee training and makes it easy to build scalable promotion processes and reward your people when they excel. 

Because so many elements go into retaining staff — from communication to engagement to compensation — it’s important to have a comprehensive tool like Leapsome that can serve as your one-stop shop for employee satisfaction.  

Main features

• Performance reviews
• Compentency framework
• Goal and OKR-setting features
• Tools and templates for better team meetings
• Engagement surveys
• Feedback and praise tools
• Personalized onboarding plans
• Custom skills development and learning paths
• Scalable compensation management‍
• Streamlined promotion management

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Pros & cons

Pros

👍 Easy-to-use, intuitive user interface (UI)
👍 Available in 13 languages
👍 Holistic retention tool
👍 Highly scalable
👍 Excellent customer service

Cons

👎 Continuous iteration can lead to occasional bugs

👎 App not yet available

Pricing

Leapsome offers a free demo. 

Then, we offer product-based pricing starting from US$8 per user per month. The total cost depends on your chosen features and the number of employees you have.

² Confetti

It can be hard for employees to feel connected on a fully remote team. Confetti organizes and hosts virtual events that can bring colleagues closer, from diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) training to remote coworking sessions.

This tool takes the stress and time out of planning activities that help staff feel supported, involved, and engaged. Experienced coordinators are always available to help you choose and plan events.

Main features

• Carefully selected event vendors
• Dedicated coordinators
• Event briefings and invites
• Virtual team-building sessions
• Professional development events
• Employee onboarding activities

Pros & cons

Pros

👍 Excellent customer service

👍 Enjoyable, engaging events

👍 User-friendly platform

Cons

👎 Events aren’t very customizable

👎 Some events aren’t a good fit for international teams

Pricing

Pricing is on a per-event basis, meaning it can range significantly depending on the number of attendees and the type of event you’re interested in.
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³ Empuls

Empuls is a multi-purpose employee engagement platform that supports team communication and feedback. The tool allows you to send out surveys to gauge engagement and satisfaction. On top of that, it has staff rewards, benefits, and perks features. 

Plus, it integrates with popular human resource management systems (HRMS), as well as Microsoft Teams and Slack, so you can use your existing tech stack for your employee engagement initiatives. 

Main features

• Staff communication tools
• Employee engagement surveys
• Peer recognition 
• Team rewards
• Employee perks and benefits
• People analytics

Pros & cons

Pros

👍 Helpful customer support

👍 Makes team communication easier

👍 Customizable rewards and gifts

Cons

👎 UI falls short in some areas

👎 Rewards options are sometimes limited

Pricing

Empuls offers a 30-day free trial. 

Otherwise, there are three paid plans available: 

• Starter — US$2 per employee per month
• Proficient — US$5 per employee per month
• Enterprise — custom pricing
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⁴ monday.com

Better organization means less stress for employees, and less stress means higher retention rates. Project management software like monday.com helps you centralize your processes and operations, easing your team’s workload and enabling them to do their best work in an agile environment. 

The tool supports leaders and employees in coordinating project management, marketing initiatives, operations, finance requests, creative planning, and even sales. 

Just note that monday.com won’t replace a people enablement or engagement platform, so it’s best used alongside other employee retention software. 

Main features

• Wide range of use cases
• Task management
• Automated workflows
• Customizable solutions
• Ready-made templates
• Dozens of integrations

Pros & cons

Pros

👍 Distinct access levels for different roles

👍 Time-saving automation

👍 Intuitive and easy to use

Cons

👎 Onboarding can be overwhelming

👎 Initial setup can be time-consuming

👎 Higher price point

Pricing

The Individual plan, which includes up to two seats, is free, but monday.com also offers four paid plans: 

• Basic — US$10 per employee per month
• Standard — US$12 per employee per month
• Pro — US$20 per employee per month
• Enterprise — custom pricing
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⁵ Nectar

Employees who feel appreciated and rewarded for their hard work are more likely to stick around. Nectar helps you shout people out and recognize them for all they do. 

The tool lets you incentivize progress with “Nectar points,” share shoutouts, send out custom rewards, celebrate success and milestones, and create challenges to keep your team engaged. 

Main features

• Personalized shoutouts
• Access to hundreds of gift cards
• Customizable rewards
• Milestone tracking and automation
• Custom challenges

Pros & cons

Pros

👍 Very user-friendly 

👍 Helps employees feel connected 

👍 Compliments company culture

Cons

👎 Leaderboard view can be discouraging 

👎 Some issues with integrations

Pricing

Nectar has a Standard plan available for US$3 per user per month. 

The Plus plan, which includes benefits like company branding and a dedicated account manager, costs US$4.50 per user per month.
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⁶ PerformYard

PerformYard helps organize all aspects of employee development and performance, from reviews and check-ins to goal management. 

It enables team members to review personal goals and keep track of their development while helping leaders manage appraisals and monitor staff progress. And you can turn your goal and review data into useful reports and visualizations to make the most of your performance tracking. 

Main features

• Custom review forms and cycles
• Progress tracking
• Results analytics
• Goal management with progress tracking and performance insights
• Team recognition
• Feedback capabilities

Pros & cons

Pros

👍 Great customer service

👍 Intuitive design layout

👍 Integrates with popular human resource information systems (HRIS)

Cons

👎 Forms have limited formatting options

👎 Limited built-in reporting capabilities

👎 Steep learning curve for employees

Pricing

The Professional plan ranges between US$5-10 per month per employee, billed annually. A custom Enterprise option is also available.
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⁷ Slack

You’re probably already familiar with Slack, but you might not know it can be an important component of your employee retention software toolkit. That’s because better team communication means people feel connected and more motivated to stick around.

Slack lets you create custom channels to house all your internal communications, making remote collaboration easy and enjoyable. And with Huddles, employees can talk face-to-face without having to plan a meeting ahead of time, making it easy for people to engage and connect with each other.

Like monday.com, Slack is a tool that goes hand-in-hand with other retention software, but it shouldn’t replace a dedicated employee engagement tool. Leapsome, for example, offers a convenient Slack integration, so you can make both platforms key parts of your dynamic internal culture. 

Main features

• Channels to centralize conversations
• Huddles for impromptu virtual meetings
• Accessibility features
• Automated workflows
• Numerous integrations and Slack Apps

Pros & cons

Pros

👍 Interface is easy to use

👍 Facilitates both written conversations and audio/video calls

Cons

👎 Huddles can’t be recorded

👎 Can become a distraction if left unchecked

Pricing

Slack offers a free plan. They also have three paid plans available: 

• Pro — US$8.75 per user per month
• Business+ — US$15 per user per month
• Enterprise Grid — custom pricing
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⁸ Zoho People

Zoho People helps human resources teams manage and maintain their employee database and take care of staff management tasks effectively. So, the platform can both ease your HR workload and engage employees.

This software solution makes it simpler to take care of the everyday tasks that tend to get in the way of smooth business operations, like time off management and payroll. At the same time, it gives your team the feedback, reviews, and rewards they need to perform at their best. 

Main features

• Customized onboarding
• Employee management
• Time off management
• Payroll
• Case management
• Performance management
• HR chatbot

Pros & cons

Pros

👍 UI is user-friendly and easy to navigate

👍 Integrates well with other Zoho products

👍 Very customizable

Cons

👎 Some features can be confusing

👎 Setup can be a challenge

👎 Customer support is sometimes lacking 

Pricing

Zoho People offers a 30-day free trial. 

After that, they have five paid plans available, with monthly or annual billing. Prices when billed monthly are: 

• Essential HR — US$1.50 per employee
• Professional — US$2.50 per employee
• Premium — US$3.50 per employee
• Enterprise — US$5 per employee
• People Plus — US$10 per employee
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Top employee retention software comparison chart

Choosing the best retention solution for your company

Employee retention tools work best in unison, as many platforms complement each other. So while you definitely want to use comprehensive people enablement software like Leapsome, you may consider adding other specialized options to your tech stack. 

Reflect on your organization’s specific needs when deciding which tools will help retain your employees most effectively. For example, if you’re a fully remote team struggling to feel connected, a tool like Confetti could be a great solution.

Or, if your business relies on strong project management, a solution like monday.com might help your team feel more organized, less stressed, and better equipped to get all your tasks done productively.

‍By using a winning combination of employee retention tools, you’ll see benefits for both your employees and your business. These platforms can help your staff get the support and appreciation they need, meaning higher retention rates, increased productivity, and a stronger team.

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*The information above is based on our research in January 2023. All user feedback referenced in the text has been sourced from independent software review platforms such as G2 and Capterra in January 2023.