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The 10 Best Employee Communication Apps for 2023

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Table Of Contents

The key to good teamwork lies in effective communication! 

And what the pandemic has taught us is that email no longer works for the new remote-first and hybrid work models as a communication channel. 

Employee communication apps existed before the pandemic, but the extreme and sudden switch to online work and predominantly written communication made them bloom and develop in the right direction. 

In this week’s blog, we’re listing 10 employee communication apps for 2023 to consider for faster, more precise, and more effective communication among your teams and team members. 

Slack 

Slack is a widely-used employee communication app that integrates with over 1500 other tools, which can significantly reduce distraction and improve your team’s overall productivity. For example, you can add leave management software, such as Vacation Tracker, and allow your employees to take care of everything time-off-related without leaving the company chat! 

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Slack is known for its internal organization into smaller channels based on a specific topic, project, group of employees, etc. It supports DMs, audio and video clips, file sharing, as well as audio-first calls known as Slack’s huddles with the option of screen sharing.

It’s available as a desktop, mobile, and in-browser app. You can use Slack’s free version (with limited features, of course) for as long as you like. 

Microsoft Teams 

Teams is an employee communication app developed by Microsoft. As such, it integrates natively with Office 365 tools, giving more options to teams using other Microsoft technology. 

Not only. It also integrates with other useful tools non-related to specific technologies, such as Vacation Tracker. Vacation Tracker is leave management software that helps your team put all time-consuming tasks regarding time off on autopilot through the company chat. 

Microsoft Teams allows you to chat in groups, via DMs, hold video meetings, and share and edit Word docs, PowerPoint, and Excel files. Users like it for its excellent video quality, so they don’t need to switch to other tools when needing to jump on a call. 

It is available for desktop and mobile devices. Teams’ free plan is for “personal” use only, and it has pretty limited options. 

Zoom

Speaking of video calls, Zoom is by far the number one employee communication app for teams whose business model or organization forces them to communicate via video calls. 

Zoom also has a team chat that allows file sharing, regular phone calls, conference room systems, etc. Its free version hosts high-quality video calls for up to 100 participants with a 40-minute limit. For bigger appetites, Zoom has other plans with advanced features that can host video calls of unlimited length for up to 1000 participants. 

Loom

Loom is the perfect employee communication app when hopping on a video call is unnecessary but writing it out in a message is a bit too complicated. 

It allows you to record your screen, part of your screen, or yourself and screen simultaneously, and as such, it helps cut down on unnecessary meetings. All you need to do is share the video’s link; anyone can watch it without creating an account. 

It’s available as a desktop or mobile app and Chrome extension. Loom’s free version limits the number of videos and their duration, and it also doesn’t allow custom recording. 

Google Meet

Google Meet, formerly known as Hangouts, is an employee communication app that offers DMs, group chats, and voice and video calls with screen-sharing options.

It is not that developed for a company chat, but it’s particularly suitable for companies that already use other G-suite tools for its advanced integration options. Namely, Google Meet can help avoid context switching and help stay more focused and productive for those who spend lots of time on their G-mail dashboard. It’s available as a Google Chrome desktop extension. 

Its free plan is pretty robust despite the limitations in storage and video duration.  

Connecteam 

Connecteam can be considered an employee communication app and people management software for its employee directory, options to conduct a survey, and the HR suggestion box.

Other than this, Connecteam offers DM and group chats, immediate updates sharing and tracking who’s viewed them, and even insights on social media posts. Furthermore, it provides its users with specific organizational features such as a calendar, an up-to-date company phone book, events registration for company events, etc. 

As you may see, Connecteam goes way beyond a simple company chat! It offers a free plan only for small businesses with up to 10 users with limited features, of course. 

Chanty 

The absence of some features typical for more widely-known employee communication apps such as Slack or Teams is, at the same time, Chanty’s main advantage and disadvantage depending on the teams’ needs. 

It provides in-app private and group chats, video calls with high-quality screen sharing, and light task-management options such as turning messages into tasks, among others. In addition, it has a feature named “teambook”, where you can see all messages, contacts, and tasks in one place. 

Chanty’s free plan offers unlimited message history. However, it’s limited to smaller teams with up to 10 people.  

Calendly 

Calendly is an employee communication app useful for busy decision-makers because it allows them to schedule both internal and external meetings. 

It’s perfect for eliminating the back-and-forth emailing and trying to find the right moment to meet while at the same time manually calculating the time zone difference if any. 

All you need to do is share your Calendly link on your company chat, in your email signature, LinkedIn profile, etc., and anyone can see your availability and schedule a meeting with you. 

Calendly’s basic plan is free of charge. 

Spike 

Spike is an employee communication app that works as your inbox, company chat, and project management platform. 

It allows you to benefit from its features, such as streamlined DM and group chats, emails, video meetings, voice calls, voice messages, to-do lists, calendars, and many more from a single dashboard. Furthermore, you can set up your priority inbox to stay focused on messages that have to do with your priority tasks. 

Spike is available for desktop and mobile devices. Its free plan is for everyday use, and it’s limited in terms of the number of participants, storage, and file upload. 

Pumble 

Pumble is an employee communication app that allows you to send DMs, and group messages, create channels, and let external collaborators participate in the conversations through guest access.

Furthermore, it has options to share files, browse through messages and file history, and hop on a video or regular call with the possibility of screen sharing. It has a clear and easy-to-use interface, so even your least tech-savvy users can learn to benefit from it fully. 

Pumble’s free plan allows unlimited users with unlimited message history. 

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Summary 

Employee communication apps have become far more than “just” a company chat. They now offer a series of features and integrations that allow you to manage other aspects of your work without ever leaving the platform. As a result, these apps became highly-sophisticated communication systems fully adapted to the new work models. 

As the new work models grow and develop, so will the employee communication apps. Ours is to use them to their full potential and respect the online communication etiquette for an improved, more effective work environment.

Jelena Cerovic
Jelena Cerovic

Jelena turned her love for storytelling and the written word into a full-time job as a B2B content writer and copywriter in the SaaS industry. She reads, dances, and explores new places in her hometown and beyond in her spare time.

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