Assistant FleetFocus and Data Manager for Coach USA
Jess DeVore
Published:
December 12, 2024
Last updated:
December 23, 2024
What makes him awesome?
Jeff takes concepts and turns them into reality. He always has a can-do attitude and follows through until the job is done!
Coach USA uses telematics technology solutions to increase the safety and efficiency of its operations. This includes AI dash cams which help to proactively monitor speed, following distance, and distracted driving, to elevate safety standards.
Jeff is part of the small but impressive team that harnesses such technologies and makes them work for our business and drivers.
What does he want to do next?
Continue to be challenged — he can do anything he puts his mind to!
Nominated by: Dominic Manuele, VP of Maintenance and Engineering
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HR and employee engagement conferences are more than educational forums for people management insights (although that’s absolutely one of the benefits of attending these events). They are also a gateway to exciting, lucrative networking opportunities — it’s no wonder that huge businesses are built on running conferences for HR and people leaders.
Which employee engagement and HR conferences are best for you to attend in 2023? We’ve put together a list of the events worth your time and the speakers you should be lining up to hear from.
The importance of employee engagement conferences
Every organization strives to engage its workforce, making employee engagement investments and running employee engagement programs. And yet, the latest surveys illustrate that 79% of employees don't feel engaged at work meaning that we’ve still got work to do.
Disengagement is widespread — particularly when it comes to frontline employee engagement — and every business can take bold steps to improve.
Employee engagement is about inspiring your staff to be the best version of themselves. It requires a proactive attitude, one that picks employees up and motivates them to find their feet and climb higher.
But the opportunity to engage employees can only be achieved by seeking out the tried and tested advice of experts. And that’s where employee engagement conferences come in.
What's the link between employee experience and employee engagement?
This is a topic we see come up a lot, but there’s an easy way to remember where employee engagement fits within employee experience.
Employee engagement is the target you're trying to hit and employee experience is the means to get you there.
Employee experience covers everything an individual sees, hears, feels, and believes while at work. It’s made up of countless interactions (or ‘moments that matter’) across the employee lifecycle, from the initial onboarding process to daily tools and responsibilities. Employee engagement, on the other hand, is how demonstrably committed a worker is to their role and your organization.
What are the 4 Cs and 3 Es of employee engagement?
Driving employee engagement is easier when you have a simple guide to follow. Here are the seven key points that will take center stage at employee engagement conferences in 2023:
Contribution - employees need to feel they have an active role to play in your company and that their work is making a notable impact
Connection - whether working remotely, on-site, or on the frontline, it's important to avoid working in silos by forging meaningful relationships with co-workers
Communication - having a management team that’s accessible and approachable offers employees the means by which to speak up and take part
Confidence - members of staff need certainty in their role, to allow them to perform to the highest of their abilities, without worrying about the health of the company or if their job is at risk
Empowerment - instilling employees with a sense of trust and authority gives them the motivation to go that extra mile
Enablement - in order to improve productivity, every employee needs to have the right tool for the job, so ensure their technology needs are met
The challenges and benefits of frontline employee engagement
Frontline employee engagement challenges
When it comes to frontline employees, there are several unique challenges to consider. And all too often courses, articles, and guides don't feel as relevant or relatable — as if they've been written with one (office-based) employee model in mind.
Frontline workers feel disengagement more acutely than most other professions. For one, there’s the disconnection inherent in their line of work, separating them from their co-workers and the wider organization. This deals a heavy blow to morale and productivity in the process.
The trick is to find an employee engagement solution that suits the frontline’s needs and requirements. It should speak to their inconsistent sense of belonging with the company and offer clear development to help employees build careers with your organization, rather than ‘just jobs’.
This goes beyond empty investments and initiatives. Frontline employees want to feel listened to, recognized, and included in strategies that directly affect them, rather than being an afterthought.
Frontline employee engagement benefits
The truth is, we all know the benefits of an increase in engagement. Employees that are committed, motivated, and engaged at work deliver more and perform better — and that means your bottom line improves across each and every level of your organization.
Absenteeism and health and safety incidents fall significantly and employee turnover plummets as staff engagement soars. With this, your competitiveness in the industry and attractiveness to prospective new hires is solidified. For CHROs, this is what makes the job feel great and it's understandable to see why employee engagement conferences are so appealing.
Learn more about how frontline organizations can improve employee experience and engagement through Blink’s customer case studies.
11 must-see HR and employee engagement conferences for 2023
Priding themselves on securing top industry names, you can expect to see representatives from Amazon, Deloitte, Capital One, UPS, Microsoft, and many others, all sharing their invaluable talent management insights.
With a strong focus on HR tech, UNLEASH is the ideal opportunity to explore how technology is changing the future of work across all industries — and the investments you can make to elevate efficiency. It's a must for those in HR and employee engagement.
This convention is not to be missed. One of the biggest of its kind, the CIPD Festival of Work boasts an impressive roster of guests. Organizations with frontline workers will be particularly interested in hearing from Danny Mortimer, CEO of NHS Employers, Tunde Agoro, Head of ESG at Hydrock, Fiona Brunskill, Chief People Officer of Transport for London, and Toby Culshaw, Global Head of Talent Intelligence at Amazon.
And for that specific focus on employee engagement, CIPD has two keynotes lined up: ‘Maintaining engagement through periods of change’ and ‘Employee listening — the key to retention and employee engagement’.
Energetic, vibrant, and fun — SHRM's annual conferences are well-known in the HR world. SHRM’s mission is to offer the widest possible reach with its events, covering ways to improve every facet of working life.
This gathering of industry professionals from all walks of life guarantees that every organization has something to gain from the expansive four-day HR conference.
HR Summit is the UK’s home for HR networking. Understanding that your time is precious, their goal is to pair you up with professionals that can answer the burning questions you have and provide the solutions you need.
They achieve this by organizing pre-arranged, face-to-face meetings between delegates and key industry suppliers. The event also features an array of cutting-edge technology, as well as HR products and services, all presented without a pushy hard sell.
Technology is a main talking point at many HR conferences. The tools we use to manage staff and improve business practices are growing exponentially — and HR Vision dives into the tech that’ll revolutionize your workflows.
The aim of this HR conference is to empower your workforce with the right HR technology and connect People leaders to an impressive set of speakers. Look out for Brady Pyle, Deputy Chief Human Capital Officer at NASA, Stephen Pierce, Deputy MD and CHRO of Hitachi Europe, and Cath Possamai, CEO of Recruiting Group, British Army, and other big names on the HR Vision agenda.
The idea of a sprawling event can feel overwhelming for those new to the employee engagement conference scene. Thankfully, there are more intimate options, such as Canada's Western Cities HR Conference 2023.
This event is made up of personal interactions with like-minded professionals and is designed to help managers gain a better understanding of their employees’ challenges. And with a focus on improving employee experience to drive employee engagement, this year's Western Cities HR Conference may be the best option for those looking to dip their toe into the HR conference experience.
Delivering the best HR tech on the market is what a lot of HR conferences pride themselves on. But for companies looking ahead to the horizon, they want to know what the next leap is, several years down the line — and how they can get in on the action early.
For those businesses, HR Technology Conference & Expo is where it's at. The organizers certainly know that having your finger on the pulse and investing in HR technology is a reliable way to improve your company’s HR standing.
Gartner ReimagineHR Conference
Date: September 11-12, 2023, October 23-25, 2023, and December 4-5, 2023
Location: London, UK, Orlando, USA, and Sydney, Australia
While still too far away for an agenda to have been published, we’re expecting more top-quality content from Gartner’s ReimagineHR Conference in 2023. Attendees of this employee engagement conference will learn how to tackle pressing issues within talent management, such as attrition, while keeping one eye on what’s coming further down the line.
What's more, this is a great opportunity to explore leadership development, culture building, and improved strategic decision-making — all to help your business operate at its highest possible level.
Date: September 26-29, 2023 and November 14-16, 2023
Location: San Francisco, USA and Barcelona, Spain
Ticket price: TBD
Workday’s online employee engagement content was available until April 2023 and it’s bringing the in-person experience to San Francisco and Barcelo towards the end of the year.
With a rallying cry of “It’s time to rise”, Workday Rising’s conference content is always inspiring — and helps deliver more than a few of those employee engagement 4 Cs and 3 Es. It’s energizing and empowering, designed to enable People leaders to excel in their roles. You’ll also connect with fellow leaders and gain greater confidence in the work that you do.
How to get the most from an employee engagement conference
With so many options in mind, having a clear game plan will result in the best takeaways and ROI from your experience. Here's what you should focus on:
Research and planning
What are the particular challenges your organization is facing? Will improving retention have the most impact or do you need to create a culture of communication? Understanding where you’re at today and where you want to be in the future is a great way to prepare for employee engagement conference season.
While it might not look like it on the surface, each HR conference will have its own niche angle. Research the speakers, investigate the talking points, and read reviews of how engaging and effective their output is. What you want to see are the success stories, so you can become one too.
Organize your time
HR conferences are designed to wow you. There are multiple stands, panels, and events that will draw your attention, but having a clear itinerary will keep you on track. Keep the exact timings and locations of must-see sessions marked down to avoid disappointment. But don't overload yourself either. Make sure you schedule breaks and allow for chance encounters, too.
Network before, during, and after
Speaking of encounters… The best thing about employee engagement conferences is that you’re with like-minded professionals. Hunt down the group chats or hashtags on sites like LinkedIn to build those connections in advance, then make time in your schedule to introduce yourself in person.
And, perhaps most importantly, keep the fire burning. Maintain momentum and keep in touch to convert that conference acquaintance into a strong business connection.
This is particularly important for HR leaders from frontline organizations. As we know, there are very few conferences that cater specifically to the frontline employee engagement challenges, so use the events listed above to find your allies. You can support each other from there!
Meet Blink at an employee engagement conference near you
Here at Blink, we don't just talk about HR conferences — we attend them too. Take a look at the exciting employee engagement conferences we'll be attending this year. And whether this is your first time or you're a seasoned pro, come and say hello.
Employee recognition programs can be one of your top tools in the war for talent. Done right, they increase employee retention, build workplace morale and have a major impact on productivity.
If you’re new to employee recognition, don’t worry – the principles are simple. Ultimately, your employees like to be thanked for all the work they put in. If you do this, they will be happier and work more productively.
You might have some form of employee recognition in place already, such as bonus schemes. Right now, however, it pays to go a little deeper with your employee recognition processes. Here’s what you need to know about recognition and rewards in the workplace.
Employee recognition programs: what are they?
There are quite a few definitions of ‘employee recognition’ floating around right now. We like Perkbox’s for its simplicity:
“Employee recognition is when a company acknowledges its staff for great work.”
It’s that easy. An employee recognition program is any set of processes you have in place to facilitate this. This could be:
Peer to peer gifting schemes
Employee award ceremonies
Formalized career pathways and regular salary review schemes
Target-based financial bonus schemes
Why do you need employee recognition programs?
‘Underappreciation’ has always been a key driver of high employee turnover and low employee engagement. If you take your employees for granted, they are more likely to leave and less likely to perform well at work.
On the other hand, a simple ‘thank you’ just once per month to your employees doubles employee engagement, halves risk of them leaving and triples the likelihood of them sticking with you in the long term.
And if that’s the impact of one ‘thank you’, imagine how much positivity a fully thought-out employee recognition program can do!
When you make the effort to thank your employees for their hard work, you:
Create a positive work environment where everyone feels valued
Incentivize staff to go the extra mile and boost their performance
Reduce absenteeism – and, just as importantly, reduce presenteeism
Increase employee engagement, job satisfaction and productivity
Why employee recognition programs are so important now
Recognizing your employees keeps them with you. And that’s more important than ever.
‘Lack of appreciation’ has consistently been named as a major reason behind so many people quitting their jobs right now. In fact, a recent survey found it to be the second most popular reason for quitting, behind inadequate pay.
With a record number of open vacancies in the US right now and major competition to fill them, you can’t afford to be letting talent go – particularly when employee recognition programs are so effective for relatively little input.
It’s the small things that make a difference, now more than ever.
Ideas for employee recognition programs
Different types of recognition are appropriate for different occasions. Only recognizing employees at key workplace milestones (e.g. anniversaries, promotions) isn’t enough.
Instead, aim to create a staff recognition program that works as well for everyday acts of recognition as it does for those big occasions. You could try:
Monetary rewards: this doesn’t have to be a big end of year bonus or salary increase! Smaller, more everyday options include extra days of PTO and meals on the company or a personalized t-shirt with your logo design.
Public recognition: shout outs on the company app, wall of fame, on social media or at a company award ceremony are all good options here
Private recognition: creating a peer to peer gifting system builds camaraderie and good feeling. Keep a stock of vouchers, chocolates and bottles of wine that employees can send to their colleagues to thank them
Celebration of lifetime events: show you care about your employees as people by celebrating their life milestones – cakes and collections for weddings, birthdays and new family additions are always appreciated
Use these ideas as a foundation to build on. Add in the big work milestones – the salary increases, the bonuses, the promotions – and you’ve got a program that makes your employees feel appreciated every day, not just on special occasions.
How to create an employee recognition program
According to Gartner, a well designed employee recognition program can increase productivity by around 11%.
To achieve this, it’s worth spending a little time establishing what your (and your employees’) needs are here. Gathering requirements early will help ensure the effort you spend on your employee recognition program pays off in the long term. Flawed requirements trigger 70% of project failures, so it’s worth spending the time here.
Here’s a quick five step plan for doing this:
1. Survey your employees
Different things work best for different workforces. For example, a stable, long-term workforce might appreciate recognition of birthdays, marriages and kids, but a workforce made up of short-term contractors might be less invested. Create a survey to gauge opinion on how your employees want to be recognized.
2. Find the tools that would work for you
For remote and mobile workforces, an employee app with recognition features might hold the key to success. Take that survey info on how your employees want to be recognized, and get started on figuring out which tools you need to do that in your specific environment.
3. Identify your stakeholders
This shouldn’t be difficult – every department in your organization has an interest in retaining top talent and improving productivity. Put together a committee with representatives from each of these groups to guide the implementation, perhaps headed by your HR/People Team experts.
4. Define your budget for employee recognition
In an ideal world, you’d have an infinite amount of cash to show your employees just how brilliant they are – an HR manager can dream, eh?
Unfortunately, we live in the real world and this might not be – no, definitely won’t be – achievable. Resources are finite, so you really need to make your case — finding a senior sponsor will help you maximize your chances of a decent budget. Remember: senior execs are broadly numbers people. Show them the real, tangible difference employee recognition programs have on productivity, retention and engagement for best results.
5. Identify your metrics for success
Once implemented, how can you tell your employee recognition program is working?
Identify some changes you’d like to see, and set some progress targets around these. You might want to see fewer people leave, for example, or fewer ‘lack of appreciation’ answers on those all important exit interviews. Keep tabs on your progress towards these and tweak your approach as necessary.
The best employee recognition apps
Here are some of the best employee reward and recognition apps out there right now.
Our Colleague Recognition feature is an easy way to make your employees feel valued in a meaningful, personalized way. Anything worth remembering, recognizing or celebrating can be posted to your company news feed in seconds!
Nectar
Nectar is an all-in-one employee rewards platform that incorporates social recognition, awards, challenges, milestones, discounts, and other kinds of perks.
Reward Gateway
Reward Gateway’s employee recognition features are part of a wider employee engagement suite. With a focus on continuous recognition and celebrating daily success, there’s plenty of scope to build out your program.
Bonusly
Bonusly is simple. You give out points for good performance. Your employees can redeem these for a reward of their choosing – or hard cash, if that’s what they prefer.
Motivosity
Motivosity’s ‘Thanks Matters’ card is an innovative way of rewarding employees. Like Bonusly, you assign points for great performance. These points directly translate into cash, which employees can access via a special Visa debit card.
Kazoo
Kazoo’s employee recognition features sit nicely with the app’s overall employee engagement focus, and emphasizes a diverse rewards scheme that works for each employee – choose from experiences, custom swag, gift cards, charity donations and more.
Final thoughts on employee recognition programs
‘Recognition all day every day’ should be your goal here. It’s about the atmosphere it creates as much as the award certificate or gift voucher your employees go home with at the end of the day.
Keep your employee reward recognition program simple, meaningful and relevant. It’s not always about the big gestures. Remembering a birthday, putting in a good word with the boss or simply taking the team out for dinner after a difficult deadline can have a huge effect on morale – don’t dismiss their importance.
Keith has been with Metroline since 1997 and is currently based at the Willesden Junction Garage in London. Starting first as a bus driver, he transitioned to the role of Driving Instructor in 2001 and is now a skilled PCV Driving Examiner.
Keith is passionate about delivering a high-class, professional service whether training others or conducting tests on behalf of the DVSA. New drivers appreciate his empathy, experience, and great sense of humor. Keith is also incredibly supportive of new members in the department, including the very person who nominated him: Andrew Price.
While he loves the transport industry, his other great love in life is Ipswich Town FC Football Club. When he’s not training new drivers, he’s at Portman Road Stadium cheering on the Tractor Boys in the Premier League.
What does he want to do next?
Continue to improve the standards at which we conduct training to produce the best in class drivers and improve their experience along the way.
Nominated by: Andrew Price, Senior Driver Trainer and Delegate Driving Examiner
Today’s employees routinely use digital tools to manage their personal lives — for banking, shopping, fitness, and even dating — and now expect a similar level of convenience and connectivity in their professional environments.
Forward-thinking organizations are meeting these expectations through employee experience software platforms that transform how teams communicate and engage. Solutions such as Blink’s employee experience platform enable staff to feel more connected, motivated, and loyal to their company by simplifying communication and recognition.
Frontline teams, in particular, benefit from a unified employee experience solution. The “frontline connection gap” often leaves these employees isolated from leadership and peers, reducing both satisfaction and retention.
A mobile-first employee experience platform, such as Blink, bridges that gap by bringing everyone together wherever they work. It gives each employee a stronger sense of belonging, supports regular recognition, and creates continuous communication that makes work more fulfilling.
This guide from Blink outlines some of the best employee experience software platforms available today — helping you identify the right solution to connect your workforce and elevate engagement across your organization.
Whether your organization has frontline, desk-based, or hybrid teams, an employee experience software platform like Blink’s employee experience platform helps you meet and exceed modern employee expectations and deliver measurable improvements across engagement, operations, and culture. Here’s what effective employee experience software can help you achieve:
Enhanced employee engagement
Low employee engagement costs the global economy $8.8 trillion, according to Gallup. Employee experience platforms like Blink enable two-way communication, recognition, and collaboration that increase loyalty, satisfaction, and productivity.
Streamlined HR processes
The best platforms automate repetitive and time-consuming HR tasks such as time tracking, performance appraisals, and routine communication. By handling these automatically, HR teams free up time for human-touch, value-add work that improves the overall employee experience.
Improved talent management
Around 65% of frontline employees are unsure how to progress in their careers. Employee experience software provides continuous feedback, coaching, and development tools that help managers identify high-potential talent and guide employees toward advancement.
Data-driven insights
Comprehensive reporting and analytics capabilities enable organizations to measure engagement, sentiment, and performance. Blink’s platform, for example, supplies real-time insights that support better decisions, highlight trends, and surface issues early.
Employee recognition and empowerment
Employee appreciation and self-service tools make staff feel valued and informed. Access to essential information anytime, anywhere fosters a sense of support and connection across the organization.
A positive company culture
Transparent communication and meaningful connection — both core features of leading platforms like Blink — build positive company culture. When employees feel proud of where they work, satisfaction rises, churn decreases, and employer branding strengthens.
Key things to look for when choosing an employee experience software platform
Now that the benefits of an employee experience software platform are clear, it’s important to identify the key capabilities that define an effective solution. When choosing your platform, consider these essential features — many of which are core to Blink’s employee experience platform:
User-friendly interface
The best employee experience platforms minimize the learning curve. They should feel intuitive and familiar from day one, encouraging quick adoption across all teams.
Personalization and customization
Every organization is different. Choose a platform that lets you tailor tools and workflows to your company’s structure and employee needs.
Employee self-service
When employees can access the information and tools they need independently, HR teams spend less time handling routine requests and more time on strategic, people-focused initiatives.
Integration capabilities
For a seamless employee experience, ensure your platform integrates smoothly with existing business systems — from scheduling and payroll to communication tools. Blink, for example, integrates across multiple systems to provide a unified digital workplace.
Mobile accessibility
Frontline workers and remote employees often lack equal access to company tools. A mobile-first platform like Blink enables engagement and communication anywhere — whether on the shop floor, in the field, or during a commute.
Analytics and reporting
Select software that delivers robust analytics on engagement, satisfaction, and retention. Data-driven insight helps HR teams make informed decisions and address trends early.
Comprehensive feature set
To reduce the need for multiple apps, look for a platform that combines employee engagement, feedback, rewards, performance management, and learning and development. Blink’s platform consolidates these into one accessible hub, simplifying management and improving the overall employee experience.
15 best employee experience software platforms
1. Blink
Blink is a leading employee experience app and communication platform purpose-built for frontline teams. As a mobile-first solution, Blink unifies dispersed workers and connects them with leadership through an intuitive, easy-to-use interface.
Users can quickly launch pre-loaded or custom employee surveys, add mandatory reads to a shared company news feed, recognize colleagues for outstanding work, and access real-time insights on engagement, satisfaction, and retention.
Built around frontline accessibility, Blink’s Hub centralizes essential information, including pay stubs, schedules, and key documents. Its interface encourages high adoption and consistent daily use — ensuring every employee stays informed, valued, and connected.
Even after identifying the right employee experience management software, securing senior leadership buy-in remains essential. Before presenting your case, gather evidence and insights in the following key areas — all central to the successful implementation of a platform like Blink.
Developed by the team at Blink, the platform brings together communication, engagement, and HR functionality in one secure space. It’s designed to strengthen connections and alignment across all levels of an organization while reducing the administrative burden on HR teams.The essential guide to executive buy-in for frontline employee experience
Scalability: Evaluate how your chosen platform will adapt to your company’s future needs, including long-term growth and an expanding workforce. Blink’s platform is designed to scale seamlessly as organizations expand, supporting larger teams without adding administrative complexity.
Implementation: Assess how straightforward it is to deploy your software and integrate it with existing systems. A solution such as Blink simplifies this step with pre-built integrations and guided onboarding.
User adoption: An employee experience platform only delivers value when employees actively use it. Confirm that your software has a proven record of adoption. For example, 97% of employees at Care Synergy now use the Blink app, demonstrating how intuitive design drives engagement.
Vendor reputation and support: Review customer testimonials and case studies to verify a provider’s reliability and service quality. Blink’s long-term partnerships and customer success programs help ensure ongoing performance and satisfaction across industries.
Case study: Elara Caring
Elara Caring employs more than 32,000 caregivers who provide in-home and hospice support to patients across the United States. The organization faced a significant communication and coordination challenge:
Without company-issued phone numbers or email addresses, caregivers felt disconnected from both colleagues and headquarters.
An outdated manual scheduling process left hundreds of shifts unfilled each week.
The existing HR platform failed to meet employees' operational and engagement needs.
To close these gaps, Elara Caring implemented Blink’s employee experience platform, developed by joinblink.com. The mobile-first platform unified essential communication, scheduling, and feedback tools into a single, secure, accessible application. Managers and caregivers could now share updates through a company news feed, manage shifts in real time, and recognize great work — all from their smartphones.
The impact was immediate. Workforce efficiency improved, communication bottlenecks were eliminated, and employees felt more connected to both their teams and leadership. Ninety-five percent of employees now report stronger connections to Elara, and 96% would recommend Blink’s platform to others in their field.
Culture Amp is an excellent choice if you want to improve your performance tracking process. You can set and track employee targets, create personalized L&D plans, and access historical conversation and 1:1 data so managers can provide actionable feedback.
This employee experience management software also gives you access to a ton of data. This provides a great basis for analysis and insight. And the platform even does some of the hard work for you too, using employee engagement stats to predict staff turnover.
Key features
Reporting and analytics
Turnover prediction tool
Performance reviews
Goal tracking
Pricing
Contact sales team for prices
3. Bonusly
Bonusly is a great option for employee recognition. Employees meet personalized targets and build up points, which they can then use to claim a selection of rewards, all via the platform.
Whether you want your team to go above and beyond for customers, meet their sales quota, or simply engage with a request for employee feedback, Bonusly helps you to promote and recognize the employee behavior you most want to see.
Key features
Peer-to-peer recognition
Employee rewards
Goal setting
Reporting and analytics
Pricing
Core: $3 per user/month
Pro: $5 per user/month
Contact sales team for custom plans
4. Lattice
With Lattice, you’ll find it easy to launch employee surveys, celebrate employee wins, and get real-time experience data with the help of the platform’s Pulse feature and sentiment analysis. Lattice also supports employee development opportunities. It connects individual work to business outcomes so employees can view their progress easily.
Key features
Reporting and analytics
Employee surveys
Employee recognition
Goal management
Pricing
Performance Management + OKRs and Goals: $11 per user/month
Engagement: +$4 per user/month
Grow: +$4 per user/month
Compensation: $+6 per user/month
5. Qualtrics XM
Qualtrics XM offers several products, one of which they’ve designed specifically for people teams. The employee experience platform uses AI and automation, so you can continually gather and assess employee feedback and get to know employee views at every point in the employee life cycle.
Data analytics tools help you to connect employee feedback to customer experience and business outcomes – so you can target employee experience improvements where they stand to make the most difference.
Workhuman is built around social recognition. Team-based social feeds support peer-to-peer appreciation. Employees gain recognition points, which they can exchange for personalized and locally sourced rewards. And an AI-powered Inclusion Advisor gives real-time feedback on recognition posts to prevent unconscious bias and promote a culture of belonging.
Key features
Employee recognition
Performance management
Translation into 34+ languages
Community building
Pricing
Contact sales team for prices
7. Mo
Mo is one of the best employee experience software platforms for team communication and appreciation. It allows you to share successes, recognize results, and reward good work.
Standout features include the Mo assistant, which helps people managers to remember work anniversaries and prompts them to appreciate employees who haven’t had a pat on the back in a while, and the social feed, where you can start conversations, prompt employees to start conversations, and ask for employee feedback.
Key features
Team appreciation
Social feed
Employee feedback
Insights
Pricing
Starter: $3 per user/month
Level Up: $5 per user/month
Contact sales team for custom plans
8. Motivosity
Motivosity provides tools for every stage of the employee journey. From recruitment to onboarding to development to career progression and even an employee’s company exit experience. The basic plan gives you access to a company social feed, great for important announcements and getting to know co-workers. Add-ons include Recognition and Rewards, Manager Development, and Employee Insights.
Key features
Social feed
Employee recognition
Manager training
Surveys and insights
Pricing
Motivosity: $2 per user/month
Recognition and Rewards: +$2 per user/month
Manager Development: +$2 per user/month
Employee Insights: +$2 per user/month
9. WorkTango
WorkTango (formerly Kazoo) allows you to highlight the strengths and skills of peers and employees, while a points and rewards system incentivizes key behaviors. It’s one of the best employee engagement platforms for teams who want to make recognition an integral part of their company culture.
Key features
Employee recognition
Goal setting and feedback
Surveys
Analytics and reporting
Pricing
Contact sales team for prices
10. 15Five
15Five is one of the best employee experience software options if you’re looking to connect employee work with business objectives. Managers and employees can create career paths that motivate performance. Employees can identify their strengths and how these align with their goals.
Key features
Goal setting tools
Feedback
Employee recognition
Manager coaching
Pricing
All of the following prices are billed annually:
Engage: $4 per user/month
Perform: $8 per user/month
Focus: $8 per user/month
Total Platform: $14 per user/month
11. Leapsome
Leapsome is a solid employee engagement software, particularly if you’re looking for a solution that can scale with your company. You can select the modules you need, adapting the software to the size and budget of your organization. With Leapsome, you can run meaningful, well-structured meetings. You can also congratulate co-workers publicly and share private feedback too.
Key features
Employee feedback
Learning and development
Goal setting
Employee competency framework
Pricing
Pricing starts at $8 per user/month with the option to add on the extra features you need
12. BambooHR
BambooHR provides a huge range of HR tools. Teams can use it to track payroll, hours worked, and paid time off. The platform offers recruitment and L&D tracking tools.
As well as making life easier for HR teams, BambooHR has a couple of features designed to improve the employee experience. Wellbeing and eNPS surveys help teams to understand the employee perspective, while performance tracking tools support employee progression.
Key features
Performance reviews
Time tracking
Payroll management
Applicant tracking system (ATS)
Pricing
Contact sales team for prices
13. Officevibe
If you’re looking for an easy and effective employee survey tool, Officevibe is an excellent choice. Officevibe is just one of the HR products available under the Workleap umbrella and this offering is laser-focused on employee experience.
The platform gives managers tools to become better leaders and build happier teams. Pulse and customized surveys, peer-to-peer recognition, and 1-1 meeting tools that guide meaningful and productive conversations are all at a manager’s disposal.
Key features
Surveys
Employee feedback
Employee recognition
Performance tracking
Pricing
Free: $0 per user/month
Essential: $5 per user/month
Pro: $8 per user/month
14. Workvivo
Another good employee experience management software, Workvivo helps organizations streamline their communications and showcase their company culture, even when teams work remotely. When posting on the social feed, employees can link their posts to company values and goals. And with the Badge Feature, managers can recognize employee achievements publicly.
An intuitive platform with a quick and easy setup process, Jostle is another popular employee engagement platform. It works to connect everyone within an organization, providing a social feed and a space for shared documents.
Managers can set tasks and then use built-in chat functions to track progress. They can also separate the social feed by location or team, ensuring that the right information reaches the right people.
Key features
Social feed
Surveys
Peer-to-peer recognition
Document and policy sharing
Pricing
Prices depend upon the number of employees you have. For an organization with 15-50 employees, prices are as follows:
Bronze: $5 per user/month
Silver: $9 per user/month
Gold: $12 per user/month
Smaller organizations can expect to pay more per user. Larger organizations can expect to pay less. Prices for the Platinum plan are available from the sales team.
Additional considerations for HR teams
You may already be sold on a particular employee experience management software, but getting senior leadership buy-in is a vital next step. Before entering conversations about the type of tool you’d like to implement, be sure to gather information on all of the following:
Scalability – Find out if and how your chosen platform will respond to your company’s future needs, considering long-term company growth and an increase in the number of employees.
Implementation – Determine how easy it is to implement your chosen software and whether it integrates with your other existing systems.
User adoption – An employee experience platform provides very little value if employees don’t use it. Check whether your chosen platform has a user-friendly interface and a history of high adoption rates. We’re proud that 97% of employees at Care Synergy are now using the Blink app. Find out more by watching our on-demand webinar.
Vendor reputation and support– Take a look at customer reviews, testimonials, and case studies to find out whether your software provider has a good track record in terms of product quality and client care.
Case Study: Elara Caring
Elara’s 32,000 carers spend their workdays caring for patients in their homes or in hospice settings. The company faced a million-dollar communication problem:
Without company phone numbers or email addresses, carers felt disconnected from their co-workers and head office
Carers wanted shift opportunities but an inefficient manual system meant hundreds of shifts went unfilled each week
The company’s existing HR platform was failing to meet the needs of employees and the wider organization
Elara saw a solution in Blink. Our platform gathered all the information and tools that employees needed in one easy-to-use platform that everyone could access from their smartphones. Employees and managers had access to a social feed, shift scheduling, employee feedback and employee recognition tools.
The result? Improved workforce efficiency and streamlined communications. Thanks to Blink, Elara has transformed the employee experience. 95% of employees now feel more connected to Elara and 96% would recommend the platform.
Businesses are investing more than ever to engage their frontline workforce
Recognition platforms. Pulse surveys. Culture initiatives. Manager training programs built on the idea that employees would be more engaged if leaders were simply inspiring enough.
And yet deskless employees remain the most disengaged segment of the global workforce. More than half say they’re feeling burned out and more than a quarter are actively or passively looking for a new job.
Something isn’t adding up. If engagement investment is going up but frontline employee engagement isn’t shifting, perhaps we’re trying to solve the wrong problem.
The motivation myth in frontline employee engagement
Most employee engagement strategies start from the same assumption — disengagement stems from a lack of motivation. Ultimately, it’s an emotional problem.
People don’t feel motivated enough, connected enough, recognized enough. So we focus on fixing the feeling. We appreciate our teams more, communicate more, and run more surveys.
For deskless workers, this framing misses something important. Because the problem isn’t only emotional. It’s also operational.
It’s hard to feel engaged at work when you don’t know what you’re supposed to be doing, when priorities change without warning, or when information arrives late — or not at all.
What frontline employees need isn’t more motivation. It’s clarity on the day ahead.
This is where many employee experience strategies fall short. They focus on how people feel — without fixing how work actually works.
And for frontline employees, the operational experience is a huge part of their overall employee experience.
What deskless workers say they actually need
When frontline employees are surveyed, they don’t complain that their organization runs too few employee engagement activities.
Some of their biggest frustrations center on something more fundamental: operational friction.
Only 10% of frontline workers say they have access to the tools, tech, and opportunities they need to connect and advance in their workplace
Frontline workers say that management is inconsistent. That they waste time chasing updates. And that they don’t have the information they need to do a good job.
These operational issues have a big impact on engagement. Because when work feels harder than it needs to, mistakes happen more often, confidence drops, and frustration builds. Eventually, people leave — or stay but stop trying.
The role of the frontline manager
So where are frontline managers in all this?
Frontline managers are stretched. They spend their days juggling priorities — solving operational problems, striving toward targets, and supporting employees.
They’re expected to communicate with staff over a patchwork of phone calls, bulletin board notices, WhatsApp messages, and occasional face-to-face check-ins.
And they have limited time in which to share information. 27% of frontline managers spend 15 minutes or less communicating with their team each day.
The answer to poor levels of employee engagement isn’t landing another engagement initiative on a manager’s plate.
Instead, it’s giving them what they actually need: the tools to set clear priorities, assign tasks, communicate operational updates, and track progress in real time.
When that infrastructure exists, employees arrive at their shift knowing their brief — what’s expected of them that day, that week, and that month.
And managers spend less time fielding questions, chasing updates, and managing the safety incidents that result from poor information flow and ineffective task assignment.
The case for task clarity as an employee experience strategy
Task management doesn’t usually sit under employee experience. But we’re here to make the case for a shift in mindset.
While task management is often seen as an operational issue, it’s also one of the most important drivers of deskless employee experience.
Because clarity on the task at hand changes how work feels. When tasks are clearly explained and assigned, employees:
Know what’s expected of them
Understand what success looks like
Feel more in control of their day
Build confidence and find work more rewarding
When tasks aren’t clear, employees second-guess themselves. They interrupt managers to ask questions that shouldn’t need to be asked. Or they make decisions despite not having the right information, which means everyone deals with the consequences later.
This cycle of confusion, error, and frustration helps to drive frontline disengagement. And no amount of recognition or culture change will fix it while that underlying operational friction remains.
This is why task clarity belongs inside your EX strategy.
This is where Blink's task management earns its place in an EX strategy, not just an ops stack. Standard, scheduled, and ad hoc tasks show up in the same app your team already uses to talk, share, and stay in sync, packaged with the checklists, forms, and photo capture people need to get it right the first time. No guessing, no chasing a manager for context, no gap between what's expected and what's understood. That's task clarity, built in.
Task management in employee experience: Where to start
If you want to improve deskless employee experience, start with a simple audit. Not of your engagement programs, but of your managers’ ability to create task clarity.
Ask these three questions:
1. Do our managers have a clear way to assign and track tasks? Or are tasks shared verbally, via WhatsApp, or scribbled on paper? If there’s no clear route, task assignment is inconsistent, and completion is hard to track.
2. Can employees easily see what they need to do — and what’s changed? If information isn’t accessible, it isn’t actionable. Frontline employees should be able to view tasks and communications via their smartphones.
3. Can we see where work is getting stuck? Or do we only find out when something goes wrong? Visibility into task progress helps managers see where support is needed and ensure tasks are completed on time.
If your honest answer to any of these questions is “not really”, you have a task clarity problem, which can quickly translate into an engagement problem.
More positively, you also have a very clear focus for frontline employee engagement improvements.
Making operational design part of your employee experience strategy
Employees disengage when the work is harder than it needs to be, when expectations are unclear, and when the information they need to do their jobs well doesn’t reach them reliably.
Fixing that requires a shift in how we think about EX. Motivation-boosting initiatives are unlikely to succeed while operational friction remains. So operational design has to be an EX priority.
That means a greater focus on operational infrastructure — tools that allow managers to assign tasks, communicate clearly, and organize work more effectively.
Blink can help. Our mobile-first employee experience platform gives you everything you need to manage frontline motivation and the operational experience.
Out of date, out of sync, out of tune. A corporate soundtrack of forgotten logins, stale pages, and “Is anyone actually using this?”
This year, Blink is changing the track. We’ve been recognized in the 2025 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Intranet Packaged Solutions — not just anywhere in the grid, but as a Challenger.
For us, this isn’t just a placement. It’s a remix. For the industry. For the intranet. For every employee who’s ever thought, “Why is this so hard to use?”
Why the Gartner Magic Quadrant matters
If you’re in HR, comms, IT, or procurement, you already know the Gartner Magic Quadrant™ - to us, it’s one of the most influential industry reports in technology.
Every year, Gartner independently evaluates vendors on Ability to Execute and Completeness of Vision - then categorizes them as Leaders, Challengers, Visionaries, or Niche Players.
This Quadrant has become the go-to reference for organizations choosing their next digital workplace partner.
We’re proud to debut as a Challenger. But more than that, we see it as a validation that the world is ready for a more human way to work.
Why Blink? Why now?
We built Blink on a simple belief: Work should feel connected.
In a world overflowing with tools but starved of real connection, we’re creating an intranet that people actually want to use. One that unites the CEO’s town hall with the shop floor shift briefing. One that gets frontline and office workers on the same wavelength.
Why we believe Blink was recognized
🎧 Sales and customer alignment: We deeply understand buyer pain points, backed by strategic partnerships with industry leaders like Workday.
🎧 Financial and product strength: Robust growth, an agile roadmap with continuous innovation, and a reliable product strategy built for the future keep Blink ahead of the curve.
🎧 We go beyond software: With specialized onboarding teams, strategic rollout support, and a dedication to long-term success, we’re not just a platform — we’re a true partner.
🎧 From mobile to total experience: Our platform empowers every kind of worker with personalized microapps, powerful social features, and communications that actually cut through.
Challenger energy: More than a position - a mindset
For us, being a Challenger isn’t just about where we land on the grid. It’s about how we move through the world.
We don’t believe “good enough” intranets should do the trick. We don’t do stale or static. We remix the intranet into something dynamic, modern, and centered on people.
Because what good is an intranet that no one uses?
We’re obsessed with adoption: ensuring employees actually engage, communicate, and thrive on the platform. That’s why Blink is designed with every kind of worker at heart, driven by a people-first approach to innovation.
That’s what it means to challenge the status quo. That’s what it means to Blink.
What’s the rest of the market saying?
The intranet packaged solutions (IPS) market is evolving rapidly, moving from static, web-only sites to dynamic, multichannel platforms that are central to the digital workplace.
What used to be dusty web-only portals are now vibrant, multi-channel hubs that power communication, engagement, knowledge, and culture. Today’s IPS offerings go far beyond document repositories - they’re incorporating AI assistants and supporting integrations with Workday, ServiceNow, Microsoft 365, and other leading business systems.
As Gartner puts it, intranets are once again a priority investment as organizations transform their digital workplace, reduce IT complexity, and seek consistent, people-first employee experiences.
Intranets are no longer just “nice to have” - they’re necessary parts of a modern business infrastructure. They’re becoming critical hubs for productivity, connection, and culture across both office-based and deskless workforces.
This isn’t evolution - it’s inflection. And Blink is leading the remix.
Spinning the future of work
For us, being named a Challenger is a milestone. But it’s also just the intro track.
We’re already dropping new hits:
Broadcast-quality live streaming that gives every employee a front row seat
Blink Assist, our AI-powered copilot for content creation and communication
Analytics that actually matter, surfacing predictive insights into how people engage
“Save for later” offline access, so work doesn’t have to stop when the WiFi does
Modern social features like Stories that drive adoption and give Instagram a run for its money
Our vision is simple: The future of work should feel intuitive, inspiring, and essential - not invisible. Blink exists to unlock that.
This isn’t just recognition - it’s our statement
We’re not here to play quietly. We’re here to remix the intranet.
Named top Challenger by Gartner, chosen every day by the world’s most ambitious organizations, and powered by a people-first mission - this is only the beginning.
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