A complete guide to third party survey companies for employee engagement
Picture this: you’re driving to an important event when suddenly the car sputters and the engine light flashes. You pop the hood, stare at a mess of wires and parts, and think, “Maybe it’s the battery… or the alternator… or something else entirely.” You could tinker around, but chances are you’d waste hours and still not fix the real issue.
That’s when you call the mechanic. They’ve seen the same breakdown hundreds of times, run quick diagnostics, and pinpoint the exact problem in minutes. With the right tools, they get you back on the road safely and quickly.
That’s exactly what third party survey companies do for organizations. Instead of guessing what’s wrong, they diagnose issues through employee feedback accurately, cut through the noise, and provide clear insights leaders can act on, ensuring the engine of culture keeps running smoothly. Read on to discover how a third party survey company can be the turning point for your culture strategy.
What is a third-party survey company, and why do they exist?
A third-party survey company is an independent partner that helps organizations design, distribute, and analyze employee engagement surveys with neutrality and expertise. Unlike in-house surveys, where HR teams manage everything internally, employee survey vendors specialize in building structured feedback systems that employees can trust.
Their value lies in separating the process from management influence, which encourages employees to be more open and honest in their responses. These external employee survey providers offer more than just digital survey forms. They bring industry benchmarks, research-backed templates, advanced analytics, and anonymity safeguards, factors that in-house tools often lack.
They exist because organizations need more than raw data; they need insights that can guide leadership decisions on engagement, retention, and culture. In today’s competitive talent market, these vendors play a crucial role in helping HR leaders capture authentic feedback and translate it into actionable strategies that strengthen the overall employee experience.
The #1 reason companies switch to external survey providers
The biggest reason organizations move from internal surveys to external partners is trust. Employees are often hesitant to be fully honest when surveys are run in-house, fearing their feedback may be traced back to them. This is where employee engagement companies play a game-changing role.
By acting as a neutral third party, they create a safe environment that encourages transparency and candor, ensuring leaders receive genuine feedback instead of filtered responses. Beyond anonymity, these providers also bring advanced employee survey tools that HR teams can’t easily replicate in-house.
From benchmarked templates and multilingual delivery to real-time analytics and participation tracking, they streamline the entire process. For enterprises managing large and diverse teams, switching to an external partner isn’t just about convenience; it’s about building a culture of openness where employees feel secure and leaders get data they can confidently act on.
Top 10 benefits of hiring a third party for employee feedback
When companies try to manage surveys internally, they often miss out on depth, neutrality, and participation. That’s why many HR leaders turn to third-party providers who specialize in making feedback both safe and actionable. Below are ten key benefits of hiring external partners for employee feedback:
1. Improved trust and honesty
External partners act as neutral channels, encouraging employees to share openly without fear of consequences. Trust grows because employees know their input isn’t filtered through management. Leaders, in turn, receive a more authentic picture of workplace sentiment. This honesty lays the foundation for meaningful cultural and engagement initiatives.
2. Anonymity by design
Working with anonymous survey companies ensures responses remain anonymous, building long-term trust. Employees are far more willing to voice concerns when privacy is guaranteed. For HR, this means fewer “safe answers” and more actionable insights. Anonymity transforms surveys from a formality into a powerful truth-telling tool.
3. Stronger participation rates
Employees are more likely to respond when they believe surveys are secure and handled independently. Higher participation means data reflects a larger portion of the workforce. This reduces blind spots in analysis and builds confidence in the findings. Stronger participation ensures feedback represents diverse roles, levels, and perspectives.
4. Access to benchmarks
Comparisons with industry standards help leaders see how their organization stacks up against peers. Benchmarks provide context for interpreting scores, whether engagement is above average or lagging. They also highlight areas where competitors are excelling. This external view prevents inward bias and pushes organizations to raise the bar.
5. Advanced analytics
Vendors bring tools that turn raw feedback into patterns, trends, and actionable insights. Dashboards visualize engagement drivers and hotspots across teams. Predictive models can even identify retention risks before they escalate. With these insights, leaders move beyond data collection and into proactive, evidence-based decision-making.
6. Unbiased reporting
Partnering with unbiased employee feedback providers eliminates internal bias in how data is collected and analyzed. Results are presented neutrally, without internal politics shading the interpretation. This transparency helps leadership teams build credibility when sharing results. It also fosters fairness, as decisions are rooted in independent evidence.
7. Time and resource savings
HR teams avoid the heavy lift of building surveys from scratch and analyzing results manually. External providers streamline the entire process with prebuilt frameworks and automated tools. This frees HR to focus on strategy rather than administration. Over time, outsourcing reduces burnout and maximizes team efficiency.
8. Multilingual capabilities
Third parties deliver surveys in multiple languages, ensuring inclusivity across global teams. Employees can respond in the language they’re most comfortable with. This improves response quality and cultural accuracy. For multinational organizations, multilingual support ensures no team is excluded from the feedback loop.
9. Customizable templates
Pre-built frameworks are tailored to engagement, performance, or culture needs, saving time and improving design. Templates reflect proven question sets while allowing flexibility for unique contexts. HR teams can quickly launch surveys without compromising quality. Customization ensures feedback stays aligned with organizational priorities.
10. Scalability for growth
As headcount grows, external platforms automate survey distribution and reporting across large, diverse workforces. This makes scaling seamless without overwhelming HR teams. Automation also keeps feedback consistent across regions and departments. Scalability ensures that feedback remains reliable even as the organization evolves.
Top 7 employee third-party survey companies
With so many providers in the market, finding the right survey partner can feel overwhelming. Each company brings its own mix of strengths, some focus on analytics, others on design flexibility, and some on global scale.
Below we explore seven notable third-party survey companies, highlighting their core capabilities to help HR leaders make more informed choices.
1. CultureMonkey
CultureMonkey is an employee survey platform built to meet the needs of modern enterprises. The platform combines secure survey delivery, advanced analytics, and seamless integrations to help leaders understand feedback at scale.
With the focus on global readiness and actionable insights, CultureMonkey supports organizations in building trust and driving cultural growth. Here’s what makes CultureMonkey stand out as a strategic survey partner.
| Feature | Advantages |
|---|---|
| Multilingual surveys | Deliver surveys in 150+ languages to include global and diverse teams. |
| Customizable survey templates | Access 50+ prebuilt templates or create your own, tailored to engagement and culture needs. |
| Enterprise-grade security | GDPR and SOC 2 compliant with strict privacy safeguards for employee trust. |
| HRMS & comms integrations | Works seamlessly with HRMS, Slack, Microsoft Teams, WhatsApp, and more. |
| Lifecycle surveys | Automate onboarding, exit, and milestone surveys to capture experiences at every stage. |
| Guaranteed anonymity | Built-in anonymity controls ensure employees feel safe sharing honest feedback. |
| In-depth heatmap analytics | Visualize engagement trends across locations, teams, and managers instantly. |
| AI-powered sentiment analysis | Detect emotional tone and categorize open-text feedback into themes. |
| Omnichannel reminders | Reach employees via Slack, WhatsApp, email, SMS, QR code, or kiosks for higher participation. |
| Benchmarking | Compare internal scores over time and with external industry benchmarks. |
| Manager dashboards | Provide team-level insights so managers can act quickly on employee feedback. |
| Follow-up action planning | Turn survey insights into actionable steps with built-in planning and tracking tools. |
Key Takeaways
| Takeaway | Details |
|---|---|
| Pricing | Contact sales |
| G2 score | 4.7 |
| Capterra score | Not available |
| Pros | Simple design and anonymous feedback options make it easier for employees to share openly and build trust. |
| Cons | Some features may feel more advanced than smaller teams require, though overall usability remains strong. |
2. Qulatrics
Qualtrics is a familiar name in the employee experience space, offering tools that support feedback collection across the entire employee lifecycle. Known for its broad feature set and integrations, the platform helps HR teams design and distribute surveys, track sentiment, and analyze results to inform engagement strategies at scale.
| Feature | Advantages |
|---|---|
| Comprehensive feedback types | Includes pulse, onboarding, exit, lifecycle, and satisfaction surveys to cover the full employee journey . |
| Deep question library | Access to benchmarkable items and expert-validated content to support rigorous EX design. |
| Real-time listening | Launch frequent, agile pulse surveys that capture evolving sentiment at scale . |
| AI-powered insights | Uses generative and predictive AI tools to summarize trends and guide follow-up action. |
| Integrated EX platform | Seamlessly connects feedback, analytics, and HR workflow with Experience Management tools. |
Key Takeaways
| Takeaway | Details |
|---|---|
| Pricing | Contact sales |
| G2 score | 4.4 |
| Capterra score | NA |
| Pros | Benchmarks compare results across industries, and dashboards provide clear visual reporting. |
| Cons | May feel heavy to learn and navigation can seem complex. |
3. Workday Peakon
Workday Peakon, now called Workday Employee Voice, is designed to capture continuous feedback across the employee lifecycle. The platform blends AI, benchmarks, and analytics to help leaders understand engagement trends.
Peakon’s focus lies in turning employee sentiment into actionable insights for organizational decision-making.
| Feature | Advantages |
|---|---|
| Intelligent survey flows | Surveys adapt in real time, follow-up questions change based on earlier responses for richer feedback. |
| Benchmarking | Delivers industry-adjusted comparisons, helping organizations measure engagement accurately. |
| Attrition risk forecasts | Uses AI to identify turnover risks early, enabling proactive retention strategies. |
| NLP-powered insights | Natural language processing surfaces trends, sentiment, and feedback drivers from open text. |
| Science-based question libraries | Built-in behavioral science ensures question validity and reliable feedback across the employee lifecycle. |
Key Takeaways
| Takeaway | Details |
|---|---|
| Pricing | Contact sales |
| G2 score | 4.6 |
| Capterra score | 4.8 |
| Pros | Wide range of survey questions ensures key employee and organizational topics are well covered. |
| Cons | May feel costly compared to alternatives, and exporting raw data can be limited. |
4. Officevibe Workleap
Workleap (formerly Officevibe) delivers an engaging, modular survey and feedback platform built on simplicity and AI-led insights. Designed to create ongoing dialogue, it helps HR and people teams measure morale, pulse key engagement metrics, and encourage meaningful interactions across teams.
| Feature | Advantages |
|---|---|
| Automated pulse surveys | Sends frequent, compact check-ins using varied formats, sliders, ratings, multiple choice, for quick insights. |
| Anonymous messaging follow-up | Enables continued anonymous conversation after initial feedback, helping to deepen insights. |
| AI-summarized feedback insights | Uses AI to highlight trends and themes in real-time, making ongoing improvement workflows effortless. |
| Feedback reporting dashboard | Shows trends and usage metrics in one place, helping managers track engagement and feedback activity. |
| Peer recognition tools | Facilitates recognition with "Good Vibes" cards and prompts that reinforce positive behaviors. |
Key Takeaways
| Takeaway | Details |
|---|---|
| Pricing | $5.00/user/mo |
| G2 score | 4.7 |
| Capterra score | 4.8 |
| Pros | Easy to collect and analyze feedback with intuitive survey templates and real-time reporting. |
| Cons | Surveys may feel limited in customization, and integrations might not cover all existing tools. |
5. 15Five
15Five centers around continuous feedback and engagement, combining pulse surveys with lifecycle tracking and check-ins. Built to guide HR and people teams, it helps surface sentiment, identify trends, and support ongoing culture development, without overwhelming managers or teams.
| Feature | Advantages |
|---|---|
| Pulse in check‑ins | Integrates quick sentiment check-ins (“How did you feel?”) into regular check-ins to capture real-time employee mood. |
| Automated lifecycle surveys | Sends feedback surveys at key career stages, onboarding, milestones, exit delivering timely insights with minimal admin. |
| Adaptive engagement campaigns | Offers prebuilt, research-backed engagement surveys and allows custom topic-based assessments. |
| Pulse dashboard analytics | Shows team sentiment trends in real time with average scores and group visibility filters. |
| AI-powered action planning | Engagement feature includes predictive insights and action plan tools to help HR close the feedback loop. |
Key Takeaways
| Takeaway | Details |
|---|---|
| Pricing | $4/user/month |
| G2 score | 4.6 |
| Capterra score | 4.7 |
| Pros | Clean and easy to use, with smooth setup and guided access to features like feedback and check-ins. |
| Cons | Engagement survey data may not always feel fully accurate, making reporting tougher at times. |
6. Culture Amp
Culture Amp is an all in one platform offering tools to measure and improve employee experience across engagement, performance, and development. Known for its behavioral science foundation and breadth of survey formats, the platform empowers HR teams to gather insights and turn them into measurable action.
| Feature | Advantages |
|---|---|
| Science-backed templates | Offers 40+ research-backed survey templates that ensure credibility and reduce guesswork. |
| AI-driven comment analysis | Summarizes open-text feedback using AI, making large-scale qualitative data digestible. |
| Benchmarking across industries | Compare your results with thousands of organizations using collective data insights. |
| Holistic performance feedback | Integrates 360-degree reviews, goals, and well-being into an engagement-first feedback system. |
| Survey summary transparency | Share high-level results securely across teams, including favorability, focus questions, and demographic breakdowns. |
Key Takeaways
| Takeaway | Details |
|---|---|
| Pricing | Contact sales |
| G2 score | 4.5 |
| Capterra score | 4.6 |
| Pros | Easy to use with practical features, simplified information, and score tracking over time. |
| Cons | Insights may require staff consultation, and support response times can feel slower in urgent situations. |
7. Microsoft Viva Glint
Microsoft Viva Glint is part of the Microsoft Viva suite and focuses on collecting employee feedback through surveys. It provides different survey formats, from quick pulse checks to lifecycle surveys, to help organizations understand employee sentiment and identify areas for improvement.
| Feature | Advantages |
|---|---|
| People science‑based templates | Templates covering engagement, lifecycle, and special topics are research-backed for reliability. |
| Always-On feedback | Offers continuous access to feedback through surveys that employees can submit anytime. |
| Copilot-powered insights | Leverages AI (Copilot) to summarize comments and highlight trends quickly. |
| Flexible benchmarking | Enables internal, external, and trend-based comparisons for robust context. |
| Configurable reporting thresholds | Sets privacy thresholds (e.g., minimum responses) to protect anonymity in insights. |
Key Takeaways
| Takeaway | Details |
|---|---|
| Pricing | Contact sales |
| G2 score | 4.6 |
| Capterra score | 4.6 |
| Pros | Easy to use with diverse analytics that make survey results clear and actionable. |
| Cons | Might feel complex to navigate without deep knowledge, and surveys can seem less interactive or colorful. |
Common mistakes companies make when running internal surveys
Designing and managing surveys in-house may feel convenient, but it often leads to gaps that compromise results. Without the right structure and neutrality, feedback can easily lose its value. The following are some common mistakes organizations make with internal surveys:
- Lack of anonymity: Employees hesitate to share honest feedback if they believe their identity can be traced.
- Unclear objectives: Surveys launched without clear goals collect data but fail to provide actionable insights.
- Overly long surveys: Lengthy forms discourage participation and reduce the overall quality of responses.
- Poor question design: Ambiguous or leading questions skew results, making data difficult to interpret.
- Inconsistent follow-up: Not acting on survey results damages credibility and reduces trust in future feedback.
- Limited tools and analytics: Internal surveys often lack the depth of insights that employee feedback vendors provide.
- Scalability issues: As organizations grow, managing in-house surveys becomes inefficient compared to a third party engagement survey partner.
Internal vs. external surveys: What’s the actual difference?
| Attribute | Internal Surveys | External Surveys |
|---|---|---|
| Trust & anonymity | Employees may hold back feedback due to lack of anonymity. | Third party survey companies ensure anonymity, encouraging honest responses. |
| Survey design | Built manually with limited expertise and generic tools. | Employee engagement survey providers use research-backed templates and proven frameworks. |
| Analytics & insights | Reporting is basic, often limited to raw data or charts. | Advanced analytics deliver benchmarks, trends, and actionable insights. |
| Scalability | Becomes harder to manage as workforce grows. | Scales seamlessly for enterprises with automated distribution and reporting. |
| Resource demand | HR teams spend significant time on setup and analysis. | External partners save time by streamlining survey creation and feedback analysis. |
When NOT to hire a third party survey company
While external providers bring credibility, expertise, and advanced analytics, they aren’t always the right choice for every organization. Smaller teams or early-stage companies may find that internal surveys are sufficient to capture quick insights. Before engaging a strategic employee survey vendor, it’s worth considering these scenarios:
- Very small teams: When headcount is low, direct conversations may be more effective than formal surveys.
- Limited budgets: If resources are tight, investing in external providers may not be feasible right away.
- Simple feedback needs: When the goal is only to gather quick input, a basic internal tool is often enough.
- Lack of readiness: If leadership isn’t committed to acting on feedback, partnering with a vendor won’t create impact.
- Short-term projects: For temporary initiatives, building a long-term relationship with a survey partner may not add value.
Checklist to evaluate a third party survey company in 2025
With so many employee survey companies in the market, choosing the right partner requires careful evaluation. The best solutions balance ease of use, security, and advanced analytics while aligning with your organization’s scale and culture goals.
Below is a checklist HR leaders can use when comparing providers in 2025:
- Proven expertise: Look for providers with deep experience in employee engagement and survey design. This ensures their frameworks are tried, tested, and effective.
- Anonymity and trust: Ensure the platform prioritizes anonymity to encourage honest responses. Employee confidence in the process directly impacts survey accuracy.
- Customization options: Check if surveys can be tailored to your company’s unique culture and goals. Flexibility allows you to adapt as priorities evolve.
- Multilingual support: The best third party survey companies make it easy to engage global teams. Language inclusivity helps gather feedback from every corner of the workforce.
- Integrations: Confirm the platform works with your HRMS, communication tools, and existing workflows. Seamless integrations reduce friction for both HR and employees.
- Analytics depth: Prioritize advanced reporting features like heatmaps, sentiment analysis, and benchmarks. These insights allow leadership to identify trends and take data-driven action.
- Ease of use: Evaluate how intuitive the platform is for both HR teams and employees. A user-friendly design boosts adoption and ongoing participation.
- Scalability: Select a solution that can grow with your organization’s size and complexity. Scalability ensures long-term value instead of frequent vendor switches.
- Action planning tools: Check for features that help managers translate survey insights into next steps. Closing the loop on feedback builds employee trust.
- Support and onboarding: Strong customer success and onboarding resources ensure smoother implementation. Ongoing support guarantees you maximize value from the platform.
How to interpret and act on results from third party surveys?
Collecting data is only half the job; what truly matters is turning feedback into action. Third-party surveys provide rich insights, but without proper interpretation, even the best results lose their value.
Here’s how organizations can maximize the impact of workplace survey outsourcing:
- Segment the data: Break down results by department, role, or location to identify patterns and specific challenges. This helps leaders address problems at the right level.
- Spot recurring themes: Look for consistent feedback trends, whether positive or negative, that demand leadership attention. Repeated issues often highlight systemic gaps.
- Prioritize critical issues: Focus first on areas that directly impact engagement, retention, and employee well-being. Quick wins here build momentum and credibility.
- Benchmark against industry: Use external comparisons to see how your organization stacks up against peers. Benchmarks reveal whether challenges are internal or market-wide.
- Share results transparently: Communicate findings across the workforce to build trust and accountability. Transparency shows employees their voices truly matter.
- Link insights to action: Turn survey outcomes into concrete plans and assign responsibility for follow-through. This ensures feedback translates into measurable results.
- Track progress over time: Measure improvements by running follow-up surveys and adjusting strategies where needed. Regular tracking makes feedback a continuous cycle, not a one-off event.
Can a third-party partner help with global teams and multilingual surveys?
For multinational organizations, one of the biggest challenges is running surveys that resonate across diverse cultures and languages. Internal tools often struggle with inclusivity, resulting in skewed or incomplete feedback. This is where external employee survey providers prove invaluable by delivering capabilities tailored to global workforces.
- Multilingual delivery: Surveys can be launched in 150+ languages, ensuring inclusivity worldwide. This helps employees respond in the language they’re most comfortable with.
- Cultural sensitivity: Questions are designed to respect cultural differences and avoid bias. Providers adapt frameworks so feedback is both accurate and respectful.
- Consistent reporting: Data is centralized into a single dashboard for global comparison. Leaders can easily track regional differences without losing the bigger picture.
- Global benchmarks: Vendors provide comparative data across industries and regions. Benchmarks help leaders see where their teams stand globally.
- Enterprise scalability: Third-party partners streamline survey distribution for thousands of employees. This automation makes scaling feedback effortless as the workforce grows.
The role of CultureMonkey as a hybrid feedback platform + strategic survey partner
Among the best third party survey companies, CultureMonkey stands out by offering a hybrid approach, combining the neutrality of external providers with the depth of an enterprise-ready engagement platform. It not only gathers employee feedback but also helps HR leaders interpret and act on it with precision. Here are some standout features:
- Customisable survey templates: Choose from prebuilt templates or design custom ones tailored to your company’s unique culture and needs.
- Multilingual surveys: Reach global teams by delivering surveys in 150+ languages, ensuring inclusivity at scale.
- People science–backed reporting: Every survey insight is grounded in behavioral science, providing context that HR leaders can trust.
- Benchmarking: Compare your engagement data with internal and external benchmarks to identify gaps and strengths.
- Integration: Seamlessly connect with HRMS and communication tools, streamlining distribution and reporting.
- In-depth visual heatmaps: Spot trends across teams and regions instantly with intuitive, color-coded heatmaps.
- AI-powered action planning: Transform survey insights into concrete steps with AI-driven action plans for managers and leaders.
Conclusion
Choosing the right survey partner is about more than collecting data; it’s about creating a safe channel where employees feel heard, and leaders gain the clarity they need to act. While many third-party survey companies offer solid tools, the real impact comes from solutions that balance anonymity, analytics, and action.
This ensures feedback doesn’t sit in dashboards but translates into meaningful change across culture, retention, and performance. For enterprises, the decision often comes down to trust and scalability. Tools must be intuitive for employees, flexible for HR, and robust enough to handle complex, global organizations. That’s why many leaders today look beyond basic survey execution and seek a strategic partner who can guide them through the entire feedback cycle.
With features built for modern enterprises, CultureMonkey provides a hybrid approach, combining advanced survey technology with actionable insights that help organizations close the loop on employee engagement.
FAQ
1. What is a third party survey company in HR?
A third party survey company in HR is an external provider that designs, runs, and analyzes employee surveys on behalf of organizations. Unlike internal forms, these employee survey companies ensure anonymity and neutrality, helping employees share honest feedback. They deliver trusted insights HR leaders can use to improve engagement, retention, and workplace culture.
2. Why do companies hire third party vendors for employee feedback?
Companies hire a third party employee engagement survey company to gain unbiased insights that employees may hesitate to share internally. These providers ensure anonymity, improving trust and response quality. By using advanced employee engagement tools, they help HR teams track employee satisfaction, spot cultural gaps, and turn feedback into actionable strategies that strengthen retention and overall workplace experience.
3. What’s the best third party survey platform for employee feedback?
The best third party survey platforms combine anonymity, customizable templates, and advanced reporting tools that make feedback actionable. Leading employee engagement survey vendors also offer multilingual support, benchmarks, and seamless integrations. CultureMonkey stands out by blending these features with AI-driven insights and action planning, helping enterprises turn honest employee feedback into measurable engagement improvements.
4. Can third party surveys be customized for different teams?
Yes, third party surveys can be tailored by role, location, or department, allowing HR leaders to address unique team needs. Customization supports improving employee engagement by making questions more relevant. Many providers also offer real time feedback dashboards and flexible survey frequency, ensuring leaders capture timely insights and adapt strategies quickly for different groups across the organization.
5. Do third party surveys really boost employee engagement?
Yes, third party surveys can significantly boost engagement by uncovering key insights that internal surveys may miss. By conducting surveys through an external partner, employees feel safer sharing honest opinions. This transparency helps leaders address issues quickly, involve the entire team in solutions, and build a culture where feedback directly translates into meaningful improvements.
6. How does CultureMonkey compare to traditional third party survey vendors?
CultureMonkey goes beyond traditional third party survey vendors by supporting the entire survey process, from design to action planning. CultureMonkey ensures anonymity, offers multilingual delivery, and provides advanced benchmarking data for context. By turning feedback into targeted actions, CultureMonkey helps leaders strengthen trust and improve employee retention, making it a strategic partner rather than just a survey provider.
