10 Best Employee Communication Tools for Engagement

17.10.2023
Read time: 13 min
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10 Best Employee Communication Tools for Engagement
Try Publicate For Free Today
02.03.2022
Read time: 13 min

The significance of employee communication tools cannot be overstated, as they play a pivotal role in ensuring seamless interactions, fostering engagement, and maintaining a harmonious atmosphere within the employee workplace.

The right tools can transform how internal communications are engaged with – bridging divides and enhancing productivity.

So, what are the best tools? Keep reading to find out how they stack up!

Guide Index

What is Internal Communications?

At its core, internal communications represent the lifeblood of an organization. It encompasses the myriad ways in which information, ideas, and feedback flow between different tiers and departments within a company.

Effective internal communications create an environment where everyone, from the newest hires to top-tier management, feels informed and valued.

What are the Benefits of Internal Communication?

Among the many benefits of effective internal communication are: increased team collaboration, enhanced morale, and bolstered productivity. It fosters a sense of community, ensuring every member feels connected and aligned with the company's overarching goals and objectives.

What are the Types of Internal Communication?

Internal communication is multi-faceted. It includes:

  • Top-down communication where directives and information flow from management to employees.
  • Bottom-up communication captures feedback and ideas from staff directed upwards.
  • Horizontal communication facilitates peer-to-peer interactions, while diagonal communication promotes cross-departmental dialogue and collaboration.

What are Internal Communication Tools?

Internal communication tools are instrumental in driving the conversations that shape an organization. From age-old methods like in-person meetings and memos to modern digital platforms that connect globally dispersed teams, these tools have evolved tremendously.

They range from emails, intranets, and best internal communication platforms to specialized HR communication tools, catering to unique organizational needs.

These platforms are designed to foster clear, consistent, and impactful communication, ensuring no message gets lost in the shuffle.

Why are Employee Communication Tools Important?

In today's dynamic digital landscape, the avenues and methodologies of corporate communication are constantly evolving. Gone are the days when employee communication tools were seen as mere luxuries or add-ons. Today, they stand at the forefront of business operations, cementing their role as absolute necessities.

Such platforms act as the bedrock for establishing a unified, well-informed workforce, underscoring the principles of harmony, openness, and transparency throughout the diverse strata of an organization.

These tools do far more than just simplify and accelerate the passing of information. They're vital instruments that bolster employee engagement and morale, too!

A well-connected staff, armed with timely and relevant information, feels more valued and included in the organization's bigger picture. As a result? They are more likely to remain loyal within an organization and put forth their best effort always.

Furthermore, when employees have platforms where they can voice their feedback, concerns, or suggestions, it nurtures an environment ripe with trust, mutual respect, and inclusivity.

In such a setting, every team member, regardless of their position, feels like an integral part of the organization's success story.

A group of coworkers collaborate while gathered around a table working on their laptops
Picture from Pexels

What are the Benefits of Publicate as an Employee Communication Tool?

Publicate is an email builder that can dramatically ease your internal communications newsletter creation and sending practices.

Publicate is a market leading employee communication tool that is geared towards email best practices so you can maximize engagement. As an email builder, Publicate is stacked with hundreds of fully customizable templates for your every communication need.

Upon selecting your template of choice, or creating your own newsletter layout using content blocks and drag-and-drop features, you can easily customize it how you wish.

With a built-in image editor that allows you to resize and crop photos and rich media library that makes it easy to add multimedia; balancing text and imagery has never been easier. Additionally, you can save your brand kit and styles so that your newsletters will always be recognizable as your brand’s.

With all you need at your fingertips, Publicate enables anyone to design and create beautiful and engaging email newsletters. Gone are the days in which you needed to rely on having a designer by your side or a coder available to test the layouts and responsiveness. All in all, you’ll save time and broaden your capabilities.

Additionally, Publicate integrates seamlessly with many other favored communication tools, giving organizations a dynamic palette of features. This makes it simple to export your designed creation to any of your favorite email providers, including Gmail and Outlook.

Once you press send, you also gain access to a host of analytics, such as open rates, click rates, and heat maps. This way, you can adjust your strategy if need be to maximize engagement.

What are the Best Employee Communication Tools?

Now, let’s talk about some of the best communication tools out there that are worth your while to consider using!

1. Email Platforms

Publicate: Publicate excels in the domain of email newsletters. Its strengths lie in its user-centric design and powerful email-building capabilities, ensuring that every piece of communication is tailored, engaging, and impactful.

The pre-built and fully customizable templates make communication faster, easier, and on-brand. It is an email builder that integrates with your favorite email platforms for easy export and sending.

That means, you can export your HTML email or access your templates with a direct integration with Gmail, Outlook, and more with the click of a button.

The best part is you dont need any designer or coders and its packed with powerful features like an image editor, multimedia library, brand kit and detailed analytics to give your emails maximum engagement.

Outlook: Microsoft’s Outlook is a trusted stalwart in many organizations. Beyond its primary email functionality, it provides integrated calendar services, task management, and more, making it a comprehensive solution for internal communications.

2. Intranet Platforms

SharePoint: Microsoft's SharePoint is renowned for its versatile collaboration capabilities. From document sharing to team sites, it's a comprehensive solution for companies aiming for a connected workforce.

Confluence: A product by Atlassian, Confluence stands out as a knowledge management tool. It allows employees to collaborate on documents, share insights, and maintain an organized, central repository of information.

3. Chat Tools

Slack: Slack's rise in the corporate world has been meteoric. It's not just a chat platform – its integrations, channels, and direct messaging functionality make it a powerhouse for real-time communication.

Microsoft Teams: More than just chat, Teams bring together various facets of collaboration – from video conferencing to document collaboration, all under the Microsoft ecosystem.

4. HR Communication Platforms

BambooHR: Specializing in HR management, BambooHR streamlines processes from recruitment to retirement. Its communication tools ensure transparency in HR processes.

Workday: Known for its comprehensive human capital management solutions, Workday is pivotal for HR communications, making processes transparent and easily accessible to employees.

5. Collaboration Tools

Trello: With its visual card-based approach, Trello makes project management and team collaboration intuitive and engaging.

Asana: A task and project management tool, Asana assists teams in organizing, tracking, and managing their work, promoting transparency and efficiency.

6. Feedback & Survey Tools

SurveyMonkey: An industry leader in online surveys, SurveyMonkey provides a platform for gathering feedback from employees on a variety of issues, from workplace satisfaction to insights about new initiatives.

Typeform: With its interactive forms and surveys, Typeform offers a unique user experience, capturing feedback in a more engaging manner.

7. Video Conferencing Tools

Zoom: In recent years, Zoom has become synonymous with virtual meetings. Its easy-to-use interface, reliable connection, and suite of features make it a top choice for organizations worldwide.

Cisco WebEx: Offering robust video conferencing capabilities, Cisco’s WebEx is a trusted platform for both small meetings and larger webinars, with security features tailored for businesses.

A woman greets someone with a wave on a video call from her laptop
Picture from Pexels

8. Employee Recognition Platforms

Bonusly: Recognizing and rewarding employees is integral to morale, and Bonusly facilitates this through peer-to-peer recognitions and rewards.

Kudos: As its name suggests, Kudos is all about appreciating team members. It provides a platform for companies to create a culture of recognition and positivity.

9. Knowledge Bases & Wikis

Notion: A dynamic workspace that combines note-taking, task management, and knowledge base creation, Notion allows teams to document and share vital information seamlessly.

Tettra: Specifically designed as a company wiki, Tettra offers integrations with tools like Slack, ensuring the central repository of knowledge is always accessible.

10. Task & Project Management Tools

Monday.com: This tool offers a visual project management experience, allowing teams to track progress, allocate resources, and ensure timely completion of tasks.

Jira: Particularly favored by development teams, Jira by Atlassian provides comprehensive issue and project tracking, facilitating agile methodologies and collaborative workflows.

How to Choose Employee Communication Tools

Choosing the right employee internal communications platform for your organization is no trivial task. It demands a comprehensive understanding of both the tool’s capabilities and the unique communication needs of your workforce.

Start by assessing the size and diversity of your team. Smaller teams might benefit from more streamlined tools, while larger, dispersed teams may require platforms with more robust collaboration features.

Consider the tool's scalability. As your organization grows, the tool should adapt without becoming a bottleneck. Additionally, evaluate the tool's integration capabilities.

The ability to seamlessly work with other software in your ecosystem can be a defining factor, ensuring no breaks in the communication flow.

Lastly, always prioritize user experience. A tool that's intuitive and user-friendly will see faster adoption rates, ensuring smoother transitions and more effective communications.

What are Features of an Effective Employee Communication Tool?

Effective communication tools strike a balance between versatility and ease of use. Email newsletters are one of the main elements of effective internal communication, and a solid email builder that makes crafting newsletters easy and professional is a great thing to look for.

Another primary feature is real-time collaboration. In the fast-paced business world, being able to collaborate on documents or projects in real-time is crucial. Coupled with this, robust notification systems ensure team members are always in the loop.

Security cannot be stressed enough. With sensitive corporate information being shared, a secure platform protects both the business and its employees. Customizability is also pivotal. Every organization has its unique needs, and the tool should allow tweaks to fit these specifications.

Moreover, analytics and insights can be game-changers. Understanding how communications are received and which methods are most effective can drive more strategic, impactful messaging.

Wrap Up

With a wide-ranging selection of employee communication tools, making informed choices can be the difference between a disjointed workforce and a harmoniously connected team.

From understanding your unique organizational needs to recognizing the hallmarks of effective platforms, the journey to better communication starts with the right tools. And, with right tools like a robust email builder, you will undoubtedly save time, reduce costs, and drive engagement.