Slack supports free communication between different areas of the business and different projects by creating an unlimited number of work boards and conversation streams. Each one supports file upload and open lines of communication while also supporting private conversations where necessary.
As a remote working tool, Slack is ideal as an alternative to email with faster responses and more of a conversational working style. You can get a sense of employee sentiment through their conversational engagement, measure employee feedback with a survey plugin, drive peer recognition with shout out channels, or monitor their productivity with various shortcut workflows and channel analytics.
Best of all, it keeps entire companies and teams connected with notifications and the ability to send video updates and news bulletins as well as project updates.
Pricing: Free plan available
Asana is a project management tool. It offers a range of solutions that allow companies to create task lists and job boards which focus on assigning jobs to individual employees and updating those jobs with comments and deadlines. Every user on Asana has their task list to follow, which means deadlines are easy to track, with colour coding and other tools available to help prioritise and connect the right people to the right tasks.
As a time-saving and productivity tool, Asana enables anyone to log in and see the progress of a project without the need to call meetings and send emails - particularly beneficial for large teams and international companies.
Pricing: Free plan available
Calendly is scheduling software that finally removes all those endless emails and conversations as you try to find a time to set a meeting. This software is an excellent time-saver by updating individuals’ calendars with their work status and inviting users to book or schedule a call with them automatically. Plus, there are options to send automatic reminders to improve attendance to your calls.
In terms of usability, Calendly is particularly popular with small business owners and entrepreneurs as it is low cost (starting from the most basic membership a £0) and makes the most of every spare minute in your schedule - allowing you to book more sales and marketing calls, and manage everything from one central system.
On top of that, Calendly integrates with other commonly used software and platforms for seamless business management.
Pricing: Free plan available
Loom is a one-of-a-kind video messaging platform that allows you to create recordings of your screen and your camera together. It is the ideal software to use when you want to create and send out instruction videos and direct guides, with hybrid workspaces and remote managers, in particular, drawing on Loom as a way to make communication more effective.
Loom creates automatic subtitles so that you don't have to waste time typing out what you mean, and it allows for quick and easy responses to questions and comments. As a software for managing and engaging remote employees and colleagues, Loom is one of the best platforms right now.
Pricing: Free plan available
Google Workspace is Google’s online Workplace - and it literally is the hub of all Google activity, including email, video messaging, chat, your calendar, Google Drive, online documents and spreadsheets, and so much more. While this can seem quite overwhelming, users need only tap into the areas of Google Workspace that they actually need to use - linking accounts and ensuring that only the right users are given access to different areas of the business Google Workspace.
The automated linking between video chat, calendars, mail and more means that remote meetings can be scheduled and held much faster, decisions can be made more quickly, and different projects can be updated and signed off in one place.
Pricing: From 4.14 per employee
Following on from Google Workspace, Google Meet is included as part of the Google Workspace software. It is automatically integrated with other aspects of your workspace, such as Google Calendar and Gmail. In addition, the video aspect of Google Meet makes it very similar to Zoom. It is incredibly interactive - allowing this software to feel more personal and more comprehensive check-ins than other messaging apps like Slack and Asana.
All in all, Google Meet is about bringing the team together for check-ins and updates on more of a face to face level, with a high-quality user experience and integration with other Google apps making it a seamless one to bring into your remote working package.
Pricing: Free with Google Workspace
While you can get a quick sense of how someone feels through Slack, Officevibe can measure employee satisfaction more thoroughly and provide actionable insight to managers. This is a safe place for individuals to provide honest feedback so leaders can take the guesswork of understanding what their team needs or wants.
This engagement software creates an environment for healthy internal communication, measurable surveys, and anonymous feedback to help organisations reinforce their company culture.
Pricing: Free plan available
BONUS: SHOP STREET
Remember our first tool, Moonworkers? Well, Shop Street is a bonus that we offer as part of a Moonworkers sign up - and it's all about engaging and motivating your team with added benefits and discounts that they can enjoy outside of the office.
While in-office yoga and snacks are used across the UK and beyond to keep employees on site and address their wellbeing by a large portion of businesses, other benefits can be a driving force in employee satisfaction and retention, with Shop Street making it super easy for employees to log into one place and see all the discounts and offers they can benefit from when browsing and shopping for everyday essentials (and the odd treat or two!).
Pricing: Free with Moonworkers
The Takeaway
Each of these different software options present solutions to some of the more prominent challenges that have arisen with the new remote and hybrid working style of companies - allowing teams to work together and support each other from the comfort of their own home office.
The right strategy and toolset will increase productivity, improve employee satisfaction and morale, and unify organisational goals.
Whether you're looking to engage employees with an internal communication strategy or bring different teams together to benefit from a united way of working, all of these tools offer their advantages - with Moonworkers sticking out as the first platform of its kind to provide a single place for all HR operations, employee updates and employee benefits.
For more information on Moonworkers and our bonus Shop Street, get in touch or visit our website.
Total cost of all the solutions listed above: £6.64 per employee
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