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Ask your employees if they want more coaching at work and the answer is likely to be a resounding “yes!”. HR Dive reports that 71% of employees say upskilling is necessary for career advancement and that career development is one of the top ways to restore their sense of control and reduce burnout. And given all the ups and downs in the workforce recently, anything that can help employees feel a sense of calm is worth a closer look!
From the HR or L&D leader’s perspective, investing in employee coaching can provide a significant return on investment, too. According to our research, 81% of HR professionals agree that corporate coaching has a positive impact on individual development and 77% agree it has a positive impact on organizational performance.
But even if you’ve decided to offer coaching for your employees as part of your learning and development strategy, you still have a big decision to make: How do you select the best online platform for employee coaching? There are so many online coaching platforms, so little time. That’s why we’ve put together this list to help you understand the top employee coaching platforms. We’ll share a few key features for each coaching platform, some pros and cons, and a few quotes directly from their customers, so you have all the information you need to decide on the best coaching software for your company.
⏱️ Feel like you’re on a tight deadline to get your coaching program up and running? Grab a copy of our Best Practices for Running a Coaching Program ebook for an overview of everything you need to design and launch a successful employee coaching program.
What are online coaching platforms?
When you think of a coaching program, the first thing that comes to mind is likely the people who participate—the coaches and coachees. And they’re definitely essential elements—you can’t have a coaching program without people to coach or be coached! But it’s also important to consider the tool you’ll be using to help organize and facilitate these relationships.
Online coaching platforms can help match coaches and coachees, schedule and remind them of their appointments, and provide data that helps you measure the success of your program.
Let’s quickly consider a few of the ways you might use an online coaching platform at your company:
- For your performance coaching program that helps employees develop specific skills (e.g. helping a junior employee feel more comfortable presenting to a group)
- For leadership development coaching that helps individual contributors prepare for management or leadership roles
- For new manager training or coaching for managers that develops their skills or trains them in your company’s specific processes
- For executive coaching that provides senior leaders and executives with the skills they need to be successful
FAQs: Choosing the best online coaching platform
Why choose a digital or online coaching platform?
Digital or online coaching platforms enable you to create structured, trackable coaching for employees at scale. If you’re trying to run a coaching program using only spreadsheets, it’s very easy to get overwhelmed or introduce errors into the process.
Using dedicated coaching software helps automate tasks and makes it much easier to offer your program to all employees. It also gives you access to key data (including metrics like completion rates, satisfaction scores, and even what percentage of employees receive promotions after going through the program). Another benefit of an online coaching platform is that it allows you to match employees who are based in different locations so you have a much broader pool of coaches to choose from.
What is the best way to coach an employee?
Because all employees are unique, there’s not a single answer to this question. However, there are a few elements that successful coaching programs tend to have in common:
- They have clear goals about what the program is designed to achieve. For example, some coaching programs focus more on employee retention and engagement, while others are designed for upskilling and reskilling employees and creating a pipeline for future leaders. There’s no right or wrong approach, it’s just important to be clear about your goals.
- They offer some structure but also allow room for flexibility. For example, they might use a coaching plan template to create some guidelines for the interactions between coach and coachee, but they also make it possible for the coach to adapt to specific challenges the coachee is facing or topics they want to discuss.
- They track key metrics and look for opportunities for improvement. It’s difficult to know how well your coaching program is working if you’re not collecting any data. Make sure you define some key metrics you’d like to track and start establishing a baseline so you can identify opportunities for improvement in the future.
What is the best platform for online coaching?
The answer to this question depends on what matters most to your organization. For example, you might be focused on leadership development, so it will be important to choose a platform that has leadership-specific components. Or if you want to make coaching available to everyone in your organization, you’ll want to consider a vendor that offers plans that include all employees. Check out the next section to see how various vendors compare to each other.
The 7 best online platforms for employee coaching
Now that we’ve covered what online coaching platforms can do, let’s take a look at the top vendors to help you decide the best online coaching platform for your company.
1. Together
Ratings
- G2 score: 4.8 out of 5
- Capterra score: 4.9 out of 5
Overview
Together is the best online coaching and mentoring platform for large organizations aiming to build a coaching culture and strengthen employee connections. Coaching and mentorship programs run on the Together platform report multiple benefits:
- High employee engagement
- Increased employee retention
- Stronger diversity and inclusion
- Fast and efficient onboarding
- Improved job satisfaction
Plus, Together is easy to use! In fact, we’ve been voted No. 1 by users since 2022.
Read on to learn more about our core features and what sets Together apart from other coaching and mentoring platforms.
Core features
Registration
Registering on Together’s coaching platform is fast and easy. Once you’ve chosen a program template or created a custom program, send tailored invitations to specific employee groups over email, Slack or Teams. With our software, you can register as many coaches and coachees as you like.
And, at the click of a button, employees can start the registration process by filling out a questionnaire.
Our platform integrates with your HRIS to leverage employee data and make perfect coach-coachee matches.
Matching
We use information from registrations and employee data to create the best matches based on goals, experience, and skill sets. And it works—that’s why we have a 98% match success rate!
Together’s pairing algorithm lets you opt for coachee-led auto-matching, where a coachee gets suggestions for coaches and they can approve or decline them. Or, you can choose admin-led auto-matching, where you get the pairing suggestions and the coach has the option to decline.
Scheduling
Together integrates seamlessly with everyday tools like emails, calendar, GSuite, and Outlook.
Our coaching platform is hassle-free with single-sign-on, Learning Management Systems (LMS) and Core HR systems (HRIS). Check out the rest of the tools Together integrates with.
Features unique to Together
Together for Teams
The Together coaching and mentoring platform offers a seamless integration with Microsoft Teams, which means coaches and coachees can dive straight into their sessions without having to switch between apps. Participants and admins can choose to get coaching alerts in their DMs or emails so that they never miss out on key updates.
Resourcing Participants
Together’s Health Monitor tool notifies the program manager when matches need support or check-in and those who are not meeting expectations. The program is developed to quickly resolve a mismatch among participants.
Likewise, every pair has coach and coachee handbooks to assist them on their coaching journey. Every user has access to tons of resources and insightful articles.
Together also provides session agendas so coaches and coachees can have impactful conversations and stay on track. These agendas are easily customizable to suit each participant’s unique needs and goals.
Reporting
Together’s online coaching and mentoring software formulates reports based on the user's participation rates, pairing compatibility, and set goal completions, among other things. To make your job as the HR or program manager even easier, you can create a customizable dashboard that extracts data tailored to your organization's needs.
Measure
Getting feedback from employees on the program helps program admins uncover strengths and weaknesses. Together not only assists in collecting feedback but also deciphers the feedback through the survey platform.
Events
A feature unique to Together's coaching platform is the ability to plan and coordinate learning events. Together helps you empower your internal subject matter experts to share their expertise easily through live virtual events like lunch & learns, AMAs, and panel discussions.
Together takes the hassle out of hosting events by providing templates and best practices and automating invitations. Plus, you get insights on how your event performed and how employees engaged to make your next event even better.
Price
- Together offers Professional and Enterprise pricing plans.
- Together offers all-employee pricing, where you pay for all employees to participate in the coaching program and active-user pricing, where the dormant participants can stay on the platform without charges for as long as they want.
🤝 Book a 15-minute demo with our sales team to find a plan that’s well-suited for your needs.
Customers
Together’s customers include UNICEF, Heineken, New York Life, and Randstad, among hundreds of other companies.
Pros
- Together harnesses the wealth of knowledge that already exists in your organization, connecting employees with internal coaches.
- Together offers powerful tools for both coaching and mentoring programs.
- Together is easy to use, intuitive, and integrates with most third-party tools.
- Together is fully customizable—from URL and branding to pairing algorithm and reporting dashboard, you can stay on brand.
- Together has an extensive resource library that includes session agendas and guides on how to be a great coach.
- Together makes coaching programs scalable with unlimited pairings.
Cons
- There is no free version of the tool.
Customer reviews from G2 and Capterra
- “This platform has proven to be instrumental in creating scalable and customized mentoring programs. Its intelligent algorithm has facilitated meaningful connections, considering employees' goals, interests, and strengths.”
- “Together Mentorship is easy to use to pair up mentors and mentees, and a great tool to host and document mentoring meetings. The matching process is painless and offers users a wide range of options.”
- “After a couple demos from various vendors we realized that Together offered the best platform for cost and by far had an amazing and responsive team behind them.”
2. BetterUp
Ratings
- G2 score: 4.6 out of 5
- Capterra score: N/A
Overview
It’s worth noting that BetterUp has coaching programs for both individuals and businesses. When it comes to their business solutions, BetterUp bills itself as “The Human Transformation Platform” and promises to remove the guesswork from developing your people at scale. A few of their core offerings include:
- BetterUp Lead: Build the leadership capabilities needed to accelerate company performance and unlock organizational change.
- BetterUp Manage: Up-level the effectiveness of every manager.
- BetterUp Ready: Build readiness across your organization through resilience, agility, and well-being.
- BetterUp Grow: An always-on AI coach that’s personalized for every employee.
Price
The price is not listed on their website, though it’s possible to book a demo to learn more.
Customers
BetterUp’s customers include Chipotle, Salesforce, and Google.
Pros
- Ease of use
- Scalability across enterprise workforces
- Customer service
Cons
- Some users have reported the cost of the platform as a barrier
- Some users wish for greater reporting granularity
Customer reviews from G2 and Capterra
- “As someone who has used BetterUp, what I loved most was the feeling of having a personalized cheerleader in my corner. I used it to work on techniques to manage my anxiety, practiced my delivery, and even role-played answering tough questions.”
- “Depending on your plan, coaching with BetterUp can be a significant investment. It took me some time to decide if the cost was justified for my needs. Overall it was worth it, but it is still on the pricier side of things.”
- “I like how easy it is to use. From the interface to navigating both the app and the website, it's super easy! I also liked how the app recommended coaches to me when I completed my profile.”
3. CoachHub
Ratings
- G2 score: 4 out of 5
- Capterra score: N/A
Overview
CoachHub emphasizes the fact that their digital coaching platform is accessible by employees anywhere, anytime. Some of their main offerings include:
- Individual coaching that automatically matches coachees with coaches based on user preferences, coach profiles, and historical matching insights.
- Collective coaching sessions that allow peers to exchange experiences and best practices.
- CoachHub Executive coaching that provides executives with the tools they need to unlock their leadership potential and make a lasting impact.
Price
The price is not listed on their website, though it’s possible to book a demo to learn more.
Customers
CoachHub’s customers include Booking.com, Coca-Cola, and Virgin Atlantic.
Pros
- Access ease
- Platform quality
- Professional coaching
Cons
- Some users have reported technical or usability issues within the platform
Customer reviews from G2 and Capterra
- “Ease of access to some high quality, ICF accredited coaches.”
- “Only B2B, so it needs to be provided by your company.”
4. EZRA
Ratings
- G2 score: 4.6 out of 5
- Capterra score: N/A
Overview
EZRA combines the best of behavioral science with personalized learning experiences. Their offerings are tailored to four main business areas: high performance culture, change & transformation, leadership, and talent acceleration. EZRA offers several core products, including:
- EZRA Edge: 1:1 unlimited coaching for a variety of use cases and audience levels.
- Focus by EZRA: An 8- to 10-week 1:1 development intervention focused on a specific topic, combining coaching and behavioral nudges.
- EXRAX: A coaching experience designed specifically for executive leaders.
Price
The price is not listed on their website, but it is possible to book a free trial or demo to learn more.
Customers
EZRA’s customers include Vodafone, Deloitte, and Condé Nast.
Pros
- One of the largest providers of external coaches worldwide with a bench of 2,000+ coaches.
- The built-in EZRA Measure assessment allows leaders to understand aggregate data about what outcomes they've received and what behavioral changes have taken place.
Cons
- Time limits on how much time coachees can schedule with their coach.
- A digital-only platform means it’s not possible to meet coaches in person.
- Focuses more on connecting employees with external coaches, rather than harnessing the power of internal subject matter experts
Customer reviews from G2 and Capterra
- “I love how simple it is with Ezra. They make the complex training simple and consumable for everyone.”
- “Limited information shared and the time limit is limited.”
- “High quality bench of coaches, sleek user experience, proactive customer service.”
5. Sounding Board
Ratings
- G2 score: N/A
- Capterra score: 5 out of 5
Overview
Sounding Board offers modern, scalable coaching and mentoring software, world-class coaching, and strategic program design in a flexible platform. Their core offerings include:
- 1:1 coaching for individual contributors, new and mid-level managers, and executives
- Group coaching to accelerate leadership capabilities and tackle leadership gaps
- A mentorship module that lets you utilize your internal experts and pair them with mentees
- On-demand coaching that allows leaders to lean on an outside perspective when they need it most
Price
The price is not listed on their website, but you can book a demo to learn more.
Customers
Sounding Board’s customers include Wellstar Health System, Pivotal Labs, and UserTesting.
Pros
- Can be used for matching coachees with both internal and external coaches
- A variety of programs for employees at all levels
Cons
- Some users have said it is a little rigid when it comes to designing your coaching plan and goals
- No in-person training and customer support isn’t available 24/7
Customer reviews from G2 and Capterra
- “Sounding Board has a friendly interface where I was able to work with my coach to set up a Coaching Plan. One of the cool features is that Sounding Board was able to get the input of my manager on the development areas he wanted me to pay attention to as well as collect his feedback a few months after the program started to get his insights on my actual development.”
- “Sounding Board has a list of development areas to choose from when you set up your Coaching Plan and goals. Although this is helpful, more customized areas could also be added as a component to the plan.”
6. Torch
Ratings
- G2 score: 4.5 out of 5
- Capterra score: 4.1 out of 5
Overview
Torch promises to help your organization evolve and grow by connecting individual development to organizational goals. Their “contextual coaching” approach offers both individual and organizational insights, real-time theme tracking, and a clear view of emerging trends.
Price
The price is not listed on their website, but you can book a demo to learn more.
Customers
Torch’s customers include Twitch, Reddit, and Tripadvisor.
Pros
- Coaching quality
- Customer support
- Mentorship
Cons
- Some users have commented on the platform’s difficult usability
- Some users have reported low engagement with the platform
- Lack of flexibility in choosing or switching coaches
Customer reviews from G2 and Capterra
- “The software provides a way to keep the mentor/mentee commitments on track. It also has several resources around educating both mentor and mentee so their partnership can be successful.”
- “Torch has been a great resource for our mid-level leaders in our organization. They are paired with a coach that understands their strengths and areas for improvement to help develop and mentor our team members.”
- “Despite its many features, maintaining user engagement has been challenging. The platform can occasionally feel static, and without regular prompts or interactive elements.”
7. Bravely
Ratings
- G2 score: 4.5 out of 5
- Capterra score: 4 out of 5
Overview
Bravely is a coaching and training platform that provides employees with personalized professional development. Their main offerings include:
- Bravely Advance: A leadership development program that features unlimited coaching sessions and personalized development plans designed to help managers foster a thriving working culture, improve engagement, and elevate overall performance.
- Bravely Boost: Gives employees of all levels access to on-demand, 1:1 coaching for skill development.
- Bravely Exec: Executive coaching that develops executives’ ability to inspire, communicate, and innovate.
- Bravely Workshops: If you’d like to train a group of employees together, you can choose from Bravely’s selection of workshop topics, including Feedback Skills for Managers, Leading with Emotional Intelligence, and Managing Up.
Price
Their price is not listed on their website, but you can book a demo to learn more.
Customers
Bravely’s customers include Autodesk, Pinterest, and Zillow Group.
Pros
- Useful feedback and career advice
- Good coaches
Cons
- Some users have reported login and accessibility issues
- Some users have reported poor interface design creates usability issues
Customer reviews from G2 and Capterra
- “I manage learning and career development offerings at a public tech firm and Bravely is a very important part of our portfolio. It's not only used as a standalone on demand coaching, but also as an additional tool for career development conversations. I love how clean and easy to use the product is, the quality of coaches is top notch, and finally I can't be happier with the account management team. One of my favorite vendors to work with!”
- “Bad mobile app UI, cannot login using my company SSO. Have to manually log in via a mobile web browser.”
- “It really helps in monitoring the pulse of the company, how employees are being engaged, are they happy or not, and the best part is that it provides guidance at all levels in the firms not just senior leadership.”
Take the next steps toward launching your employee coaching program
Now that you have an overview of the top employee coaching software, you’re one step closer to creating a more scalable and measurable coaching program! But your work isn’t done yet. If you haven’t already, this is a good time to clarify your coaching program goals and budget. Are there any other considerations you need to keep in mind when evaluating vendors, like key integrations? Make sure you get input from other people who are likely to be involved in this decision. As you continue to evaluate different vendors, share your goals and requirements with them to make sure you’re aligned.
Has your search for the best online platform for employee coaching sparked your interest in Together? Get in touch to book a demo—we’d love to explore how we can help you meet your goals.
