The panorama of worker expertise (EX) administration is present process a big transformation. As organisations more and more recognise {that a} thriving workforce is central to enterprise success, the instruments and methods used to know and enhance EX are evolving at tempo. A pivotal new information for navigating this complicated market is The Forrester Wave™: Worker Expertise Administration Platforms, Q2 2025. This complete report provides essential insights for EX and HR professionals, enterprise leaders, and folks groups striving to boost their office methods.
The analysis highlights how the EX administration market continues to evolve, pushed by altering trade wants and the promise of rising applied sciences comparable to generative AI (genAI). It firmly positions “deep listening” and the clever utility of AI because the cornerstone of future EX administration.
Past Conventional Surveys: The Evolution of EX Administration
Forrester observes that for a lot of corporations, EX initiatives typically start with, or acquire sturdy momentum from, buyer expertise (CX) initiatives. This means a rising understanding that optimistic worker experiences instantly contribute to higher buyer outcomes. Different catalysts for EX efforts embody compelling occasions comparable to surprising worker attrition or failed organisational adjustments that underscore the necessity for larger consciousness of worker views.
For a lot of corporations, EX initiatives typically start with, or acquire sturdy momentum from, buyer expertise (CX) initiatives.
On the seller aspect, innovation is quickly responding to those realities. The normal method of periodic worker surveys is being augmented, and in some instances reworked, by superior applied sciences. GenAI, pure language processing (NLP), and emotion detection fashions are enabling platforms to passively distil highly effective insights from the “digital exhaust” of workers’ day by day communications and work. This passive information assortment, mixed with CX and EX information, permits for a a lot richer, steady understanding of worker sentiment and engagement than ever earlier than potential.
Choosing the proper vendor for an EX platform is now not merely a technological resolution. It should be profoundly influenced by the extent of organisational assist accessible, the corporate’s tolerance for “deep listening” and its potential implications, and its overarching enterprise and strategic targets.
Deep Listening: The New Frontier of Worker Insights
The core message from the Forrester Wave™ is evident: “Deep Listening Is The Future Of EX Administration”. However what does this really entail for HR and EX leaders?
Deep listening extends past structured survey responses. It includes the subtle evaluation of unstructured information from numerous inner sources, comparable to collaborative platforms, communication instruments, and inner social channels. This “digital exhaust” comprises a wealth of implicit suggestions that, when processed by superior AI and NLP fashions, can reveal nuanced insights into worker sentiment, ache factors, and engagement ranges. The flexibility to mix this passive listening with lively suggestions (surveys) and even CX information creates a complete image of the worker journey and its influence on the enterprise.
The aim is to offer steady, real-time understanding, permitting organisations to reply proactively to rising points reasonably than reactively to signs like attrition. This proactive method helps a tradition of steady enchancment and worker success.
Navigating the Panorama: Understanding the Forrester Wave™
The Forrester Wave™ analysis serves as a information for consumers, highlighting Leaders, Sturdy Performers, and Contenders available in the market. It assesses distributors throughout three key classes:
- Present Providing: This represents the power of the seller’s current product capabilities, indicating its place on the vertical axis of the Wave graphic.
- Technique: This assesses the power of the seller’s future plans, together with their imaginative and prescient and innovation roadmap, figuring out their placement on the horizontal axis.
- Buyer Suggestions: A “halo” on a vendor’s marker signifies above-average buyer suggestions, whereas a “double halo” denotes excellent suggestions, making the seller a “Buyer Favorite”.
Forrester encourages purchasers to make use of this analysis as a place to begin solely, adapting the findings based mostly on their particular organisational priorities.
Leaders within the Discipline: A Nearer Look
The report identifies a number of key gamers main the cost in EX administration platforms:
Qualtrics
Based in 2002, Qualtrics is highlighted for its skill to combine CX and EX capabilities inside a strong expertise administration platform. Its strengths lie in a wealthy set of surveying capabilities, providing myriad focusing on, deployment, and triggering choices, alongside a big library of survey templates for benchmarking. Qualtrics leverages AI to analyse feedback and detect developments like attrition danger, offering actionable suggestions. A key promoting level is its customisability and suppleness for giant, complicated organisations. Critically, its skill to collect insights from social messaging information makes it a powerful choice for organisations planning deep listening by enterprise social and exercise analytics. Prospects worth its capability to analyse CX and EX information collectively to establish patterns and correlations, thereby enhancing enterprise outcomes.
Medallia
Medallia, established in 2001, stands out for its fusion of CX and EX capabilities with superior AI and machine studying. This allows it to combine each structured and unstructured information, together with textual content, video, and speech, to ship predictive insights and actionable suggestions. Medallia’s EX technique focuses on empowering workers and integrating suggestions assortment into the circulate of labor. Its capabilities lengthen to options designed for deskless employees, comparable to cellular video and audio suggestions processed with AI. Medallia is taken into account match for bigger organisations aiming to hyperlink their CX and EX initiatives.
PG Forsta
Fashioned in 2022 from the acquisition of Forsta by Press Ganey, PG Forsta provides a potent mixture of capabilities for EX and CX listening and analysis. Their technique focuses on deep listening by passive sources, connecting insights throughout expertise domains. Strengths embody sturdy surveying, information evaluation, and visualisation, mixed with efficient AI and NLP capabilities, and evaluation of passive listening information. A novel function famous is assist for digital focus teams. PG Forsta is especially well-suited for bigger organisations trying to hyperlink EX and CX, particularly inside the healthcare trade, and people eager to experiment with deep listening by passive information sources.
Perceptyx
Based in 2003, Perceptyx specialises in worker listening and EX. Its distinction comes from its worker crowdsourcing, and talent to drive behaviour change and expertise improvement by strategic acquisitions. Perceptyx’s technique centres on remodeling worker expertise by listening, analytics, and behavioural science, empowering managers and activating workers for significant organisational change. Its strengths are highlighted as intuitiveness, configurability, advert hoc listening capabilities, and a complete full-service method to EX programme design. The platform’s teaching and nudging capabilities are notably sturdy and effectively thought out. Perceptyx is an efficient match for large- and medium-sized enterprises in search of a full-service method and the power to drive behaviour change to enhance tradition.
Sturdy Performers and Contenders: Numerous Choices
Past the leaders, the report additionally highlights sturdy performers and contenders, every with distinctive strengths:
- Quantum Office: Finest recognized for its “Finest Locations to Work” information and awards, it provides a platform for EX analysis, evaluation, visualisation, and efficiency administration. It’s superb for organisations targeted on enhancing EX by surveys and actions, and people in search of to lift their public profile as an employer of selection.
- Microsoft: Its EX administration options underneath the Viva model, notably Glint, profit from deep integration into the Microsoft 365 platform with Viva Interact, Viva Insights, and Groups. That is a straightforward add-on for corporations already utilizing Microsoft 365, appropriate for small to medium-sized organisations with less complicated EX analysis necessities.
- Tradition Amp: Provides a complete, well-integrated EX-focused platform, constructed round organisational psychology and information science. It’s a good match for medium and bigger organisations in search of a confirmed methodology for elevating their tradition by listening and subsequent behaviour change.
- Effectory: With a concentrate on Europe, Effectory provides a “tech and contact” method, guiding purchasers to maneuver past information assortment to driving motion. Its strengths embody well-honed survey methodologies and a prescriptive consultative method, notably advantageous for GDPR compliance.
- WTW: Often called a industrial insurer and HR consultancy, WTW’s Interact platform is a key part of its general consultative method. It provides limitless surveying utilizing science-based methodologies, predictive analytics, and industrywide benchmarks. It’s appropriate for organisations in search of a consulting-led EX method.
- Workday (Peakon Worker Voice): This platform focuses on worker retention and happiness with prescriptive surveying capabilities and predictive analytics for attrition dangers. It’s a good match for medium and bigger organisations, notably current Workday prospects, with world or distributed workforces.
- Leapsome: An built-in HR platform interesting primarily to HR leaders in midsized corporations. It provides strong worker expertise surveys and analytics, alongside different HR functionalities like efficiency administration and studying.
- Workleap: Previously GSoft, this platform is tailor-made for small- and medium-sized companies in hybrid and distributed work environments. It integrates instruments for engagement surveys, efficiency administration, and studying, emphasising simplicity and suppleness.
Strategic Issues for HR Leaders
For HR leaders and enterprise executives, the Forrester Wave™ report underscores that choosing an EX platform is a strategic resolution that goes past function lists. Organisations should take into account their distinctive wants, the extent of inner assist for EX initiatives, and their consolation with integrating “deep listening” applied sciences.
The market provides a various vary of options, from extremely customisable platforms superb for complicated world enterprises to extra prescriptive, out-of-the-box choices appropriate for smaller or much less mature EX programmes. The secret is to decide on a accomplice that not solely meets present necessities but additionally aligns with the organisation’s long-term imaginative and prescient for worker expertise and its readiness to leverage superior analytics for actionable insights.
The Way forward for EX: A Strategic Crucial
In conclusion, the report reaffirms that EX administration is now not a peripheral HR perform, however a central strategic crucial. The shift in direction of deep listening, powered by AI and built-in with CX information, represents the following frontier in understanding and enhancing the worker journey. By rigorously evaluating the choices of main suppliers towards their particular wants, organisations can put money into platforms that actually foster engagement, drive retention, and in the end, future-proof their workforce for sustained success.
