Employee experience is no longer a nice to have. As part of the UC Awards 2026, the new Employee Experience layer recognizes the platforms helping organizations attract, engage, and retain the talent that powers modern work.
The urgency around employee experience has never been higher. With the permanent shift to hybrid work, organizations face unprecedented challenges in maintaining culture, preventing burnout, and ensuring equitable experiences for distributed teams. At the same time, the rapid deployment of new workplace technologies requires platforms that employees actually want to use.
For enterprise leaders, employee experience is no longer just an HR initiative; it is an urgent operational requirement. Organizations must now deploy intelligent platforms that optimize space, streamline the talent lifecycle, and drive genuine connection without adding unnecessary friction to the daily workflow.
Without a reliable foundation of engaged employees, even the most innovative business strategies will fail. This new layer celebrates the technology providers, ensuring that brands can deliver exceptional workplace experiences while driving measurable business outcomes.
Here is a closer look at the three categories within the EX layer, including exactly what our expert judging panel is looking for in a winning submission.
Best Employee Engagement Platform
Tools that drive genuine connection, recognition, and belonging.
This category recognizes the platform that most effectively helps organizations build genuine employee connection, recognition, and belonging.
What the judges want to see
"Tell us what engagement looks like in an organization using your platform. Not the features, the outcomes. Lower attrition? Higher eNPS scores? A culture that measurably changed? The judges want to understand what a year with your platform actually does to a company."
Who should enter:
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Engagement platforms
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Recognition software vendors
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Feedback and survey tools
Best Talent / HCM Platform
Human capital management solutions that attract, develop, and retain the best talent.
This category recognizes the HCM platform that most genuinely helps organizations attract, develop, and retain talent across the entire employment lifecycle.
What the judges want to see
"Tell us about the talent lifecycle on your platform. Where does it start, how does it develop people, and what happens to retention and performance in organizations that use it seriously? Give the judges a before and after."
Who should enter:
