14 Best Slack Apps to Boost Your Team‘s Productivity

Are you looking for ways to increase productivity and efficiency within your team? With remote and hybrid work becoming the norm, choosing the right apps and software is crucial for maintaining collaboration and alignment.

Slack has become the communication hub for countless teams and businesses. Its open API and vast integration options take workplace productivity to the next level. But with hundreds of Slack apps available, it can get overwhelming finding the perfect fits for your needs.

That‘s where this guide comes in handy! Below I‘ve compiled 14 of the top-rated Slack apps to help boost your team‘s productivity. For each app, I‘ll overview the key features and benefits to consider.

Let‘s dive in!

1. Geekbot – For Automated Standups and Daily Reports

Geekbot is one of the most popular Slack apps for automating processes like standup meetings, surveys, and daily reports.

Here are some of the useful features Geekbot offers:

• Lets you customize standup meetings based on each employee‘s time zone so no one has to join meetings at odd hours.

• Uses pre-made templates to simplify compiling reports, from sales numbers to project updates.

• Allows snoozing or rescheduling standup meetings if employees need more time to gather information.

• Great for automating regular workflows like daily standups, weekly sprints, team retrospectives, and more.

Overall, Geekbot saves time spent on manual check-ins and updates. It‘s easy to set up recurring workflows across time zones and ensures everyone stays looped in.

2. Bonusly – For Peer Recognition and Rewards

Bonusly seamlessly integrates with Slack to enable easier recognition and rewards among team members.

Here‘s an overview of what Bonusly offers:

• Lets team members give "bonuses" or recognition to peers directly within Slack conversations.

• Provides live feeds of team bonuses, milestones, and growth visible in a dedicated Bonusly Slack channel.

• Helps managers boost engagement by incentivizing behaviors linked to company values.

• Enables celebrating employee milestones like birthdays, work anniversaries, etc. together.

• Saves managers effort by auto-posting rewards and announcements in Slack.

Overall, Bonusly facilitates creating a high-performing culture centered around recognition and alignment. The Slack integration makes the process seamless and impactful.

3. Friday – To Streamline Asynchronous Communication

Friday helps teams communicate asynchronously via automated workflows customized for different roles and needs.

Here are some notable features:

• Lets managers assign repeating weekly tasks to employees and track progress.

• Enables employees to recap tasks, share blockers, post updates without scheduling meetings.

• Helps onboard new hires by automatically assigning training tasks and resources.

• Provides easy-to-understand reports to stakeholders on team productivity and goals.

• Allows customizing flows and cadences like reminders and questions to employees.

Overall, Friday improves asynchronous communication and transparency within teams. The Slack integration makes it easy to set up automated workflows and share updates.

4. Roots – For Streamlining HR Workflows

Roots helps HR teams manage workflows like onboarding, time-off requests, and organization charts directly within Slack.

Here are some key Roots features:

• Provides templates to instantly create automated onboarding checklists when new employees join.

• Lets employees submit PTO requests which managers can review and approve within Slack.

• Maintains a visually shareable org chart for everyone to see team structures and reporting lines.

• Runs quick pulse surveys to gather employee feedback that managers can analyze.

• Facilitates team bonding initiatives like interest groups and virtual meetups.

Overall, Roots creates smoother HR workflows and provides better visibility into team dynamics right within Slack. Easy to set up and get started with.

5. monday.com – For Project Management Visibility

monday.com integration keeps project management data synchronized in real-time between Slack and monday.com.

Key features include:

• Auto-updates Slack channels when changes occur in monday.com boards.

• Lets you create and assign tasks to teammates directly within Slack.

• Syncs conversations from Slack channels related to the project into monday.com.

• Ensures due dates and notifications are visible in both tools simultaneously.

• Provides quick access to monday.com data like task status and progress without switching apps.

The monday.com Slack integration is great for keeping everyone looped in on real-time project updates. Smooth bi-directional sync with no manual data duplication.

6. Donut – For Facilitating Internal Connections

Donut is designed to help employees make meaningful connections across different roles and teams.

Here‘s an overview of the key features:

• Matches employees randomly each week for a 30 minute virtual coffee chat.

• Lets you create private Slack channels for small groups to get to know each other.

• Provides icebreaker suggestions and reminders before each scheduled meetup.

• Integrates calendaring to automatically find mutual time available between employees.

• Gives control to join new connections or pause without any peer pressure.

Donut makes facilitating organic networking and knowledge sharing easy right within existing Slack channels.

7. HeyTaco! – For Recognition and Rewards

HeyTaco! is a fun, interactive way to recognize team members for great work and milestones.

Here are some standout features:

• Lets you award tacko "gifts" to peers which get posted in a feed visible to everyone.

• Leaderboard celebrates top team members receiving the most peer recognition.

• Integrates with Slack emoji reactions to enhance engagement.

• Provides analytics on team recognition patterns and trends.

• Customizable rewards and gifting for special occasions like birthdays, anniversaries etc.

Overall, HeyTaco! incentivizes a thriving culture of appreciation and boosts employee morale through positive reinforcement.

8. Polly – For Quick Surveys and Feedback

Polly makes gathering team feedback and opinions fast and seamless right within Slack.

Notable features include:

• Lets you create polls instantly with a simple /poll command.

• Provides quick visualization of poll results and feedback.

• Automatically exports results into a shareable CSV file for analysis.

• Scheduling recurring polls for routines like daily standups or weekly check-ins.

• Anonymous voting option to gather unbiased perspectives on sensitive topics.

Polly streamlines collecting feedback and making data-driven decisions, without the hassle of switching between tools.

9. Jibble – For Time Tracking and Activity Logs

Jibble offers easy Slack time tracking integration right within your conversations and channels.

Notable features:

• Lets team members track time logged into projects using simple slash commands.

• Managers can view timesheets, work logs, and productivity analytics.

• Provides overview of projects and tasks employees are working on.

• Daily and weekly automatic summaries of time logs and accomplishments.

• Real-time feed of notifications when employees clock in/out.

Jibble takes the headache out of time tracking across distributed teams. And it‘s free for up to 5 users.

10. Status Hero – For Async Standups and Updates

Status Hero helps teams stay aligned and updated without syncing up work hours or schedules.

Key features:

• Customizable check-in workflows to share daily updates, progress, blockers etc.

• Conversation-style status feed with replies, reactions, and gifs.

• Insights on team member check-in rates, goals, and retrospectives.

• Syncs check-ins and activities across Slack, MS Teams, and email.

• Integrations with project management tools like Jira, Trello, Asana etc.

Status Hero improves visibility and transparency across distributed teams on different schedules. The data integrations provide manager insights too.

11. Workast – To Organize Conversations Into Tasks

Workast helps teams turn Slack conversations into trackable tasks and projects.

Notable features:

• Lets you assign tasks to individuals or groups by tagging them in any Slack channel or DM.

• Tasks get organized into different boards and lists for easy filtering and tracking.

• Integrates with calendars to schedule due dates for tasks and set reminders.

• Provides portal for managers to view real-time status of team member tasks.

• Native Slack integration requires no separate logins or new workflows for users.

Workast brings structure to Slack conversations around work and action items. The visual boards provide clarity on who‘s doing what by when.

12. Range – For Async Meeting Notes and Readouts

Range facilitates asynchronous communication through features like readouts and meeting notes.

Some key features:

• Lets you export meeting notes from Range into Slack channels after meetings end.

• Share readouts before meetings so attendees can review the agenda and prep notes.

• Collaborate on docs and notes together within Slack channels.

• Cut down on redundant status updates by relying on documented readouts.

• Managers can track tasks and next steps from meetings in one place.

Range upgrades Slack channels into an asynchronous hub for meeting notes, readouts, and collaboration.

13. Simple Poll – For Quick Decision Making

Simple Poll makes it easy to create polls, surveys, and collect team decisions right within Slack.

Notable features:

• Create polls instantly using simple slash command /poll.

• Anonymous voting option to gather unbiased input.

• Set due dates for poll responses to keep decision making moving.

• Limit number of votes per person or allow multiple votes.

• Embed polls and results directly into any Slack channel or conversation.

Simple Poll streamlines gathering team input to inform decisions and next steps. It‘s lightweight, free, and takes just minutes to set up.

14. Evergreen – For Peer Recognition and Reforestation

Evergreen combines peer recognition with environmental impact.

Here‘s an overview:

• Lets team members send "seeds" as a form of recognition to peers.

• For every seed sent, Evergreen plants a real tree through partnerships.

• Tracks total trees planted through the team‘s recognition.

• Analysis of top senders and receivers of seeds.

• Tags seeds using company values for culture tracking.

Evergreen incentivizes employee recognition while directly supporting reforestation efforts – a unique win-win model.

Key Questions About Slack Productivity Apps

Here are some common questions when exploring Slack apps for boosting team productivity:

Where can I browse Slack app options?

The Slack App Directory offers categories and recommendations for discovering relevant apps for your needs. You can filter by top-rated, free, or paid options.

What are some must-have free Slack apps?

Some of the best free Slack apps include Polly, Jibble, Simple Poll, Status Hero, and Donut. These provide a lot of value at no cost for small teams.

How do I manage Slack apps our team has installed?

Workspace admins can add, remove, and manage app integrations from the Slack App Directory‘s "Manage" section. Be sure to log in to Slack before browsing the directory.

Key Takeaways

• Slack apps and integrations enable smoother communication, task tracking, and automation for teams.

• Options like Donut and Roots make it easier to facilitate connections and HR workflows in Slack.

• Apps like StatusHero and Range provide structure for asynchronous standups and meetings.

• Time-saving tools like Geekbot, Friday, and monday.com integrate directly with Slack workflows.

• Recognition apps like Bonusly, HeyTaco!, and Evergreen boost morale through peer appreciation.

Slack already helps centralize team communication. But leveraging the right app integrations takes the benefits to the next level for productivity and alignment.

Evaluate your team‘s biggest needs and friction points. Then explore options that can optimize those areas directly within Slack for the biggest impact. The apps above offer a great starting point to boost your team‘s productivity.