Donut.com Reviews

Based on looking at the website, Donut.com appears to be a legitimate and comprehensive employee experience platform designed to enhance team engagement, productivity, and culture within organizations.

It primarily operates as an integration with existing communication tools like Slack and Microsoft Teams, offering automated solutions for critical people programs such as onboarding, mentorship, and team building.

The platform aims to streamline HR processes, foster connection, and ultimately drive business results by improving employee retention and performance.

The platform distinguishes itself by focusing on automating and scaling employee engagement initiatives directly within familiar workflows, moving beyond traditional, often cumbersome, HR software.

By alleviating administrative burdens, Donut.com enables teams to concentrate on strategic challenges, promoting a more innovative and collaborative environment.

Its core offerings, like Donut Journeys for structured program automation and Donut Channels for fostering casual connections, reflect a holistic approach to employee well-being and organizational success, making it a noteworthy consideration for companies seeking to optimize their internal communication and talent development efforts.

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IMPORTANT: We have not personally tested this company’s services. This review is based solely on information provided by the company on their website. For independent, verified user experiences, please refer to trusted sources such as Trustpilot, Reddit, and BBB.org.

Elevating Employee Experience: Donut.com’s Core Value Proposition

Donut.com positions itself as an indispensable tool for modern workplaces, focusing on transforming employee engagement into tangible productivity and growth.

Its core value proposition revolves around automating and scaling essential people programs, thereby liberating HR teams and employees from time-intensive administrative tasks. This automation isn’t just about efficiency.

It’s about fostering genuine connections, improving communication, and building a stronger, more cohesive organizational culture.

By integrating seamlessly with platforms like Slack and Microsoft Teams, Donut.com ensures that these programs are not an added burden but a natural extension of daily workflows.

The Shift from Manual to Automated People Programs

Historically, managing employee engagement, onboarding, and mentorship has been a largely manual, resource-intensive process.

Companies often relied on a patchwork of tools, spreadsheets, and ad-hoc communications.

This fragmented approach frequently led to inconsistencies, overlooked opportunities for connection, and a significant drain on HR resources.

Donut.com directly addresses these challenges by offering an automated framework.

• Streamlined Onboarding: New hires often face an overwhelming amount of information and a steep learning curve. Donut.com automates the onboarding journey, ensuring new employees receive timely information, introductions to key colleagues, and a structured pathway to integration. This not only reduces the administrative load on HR but also significantly improves the new hire experience, leading to faster ramp-up times and higher retention rates.
• Scalable Mentorship Programs: Building a robust mentorship program can be complex, especially in larger organizations. Donut.com automates the matching process, schedules introductory meetings, and provides prompts for meaningful interactions. This allows companies to scale mentorship opportunities across their entire workforce, fostering professional development and knowledge transfer without requiring extensive manual coordination.
• Consistent Training Initiatives: Delivering consistent and effective training is crucial for employee development. Donut.com can automate the delivery of training modules, reminders, and follow-ups, ensuring that employees receive the necessary information at the right time. This consistency helps maintain high standards of skill development and compliance across the organization.

Beyond Efficiency: Driving Impact Through Connection

While automation brings undeniable efficiency, Donut.com emphasizes that its ultimate goal is to drive impact fueled by trust and connection.

The platform recognizes that a highly engaged workforce is not just productive but also more innovative and resilient. Relanote.com Reviews

The automated programs are designed to create opportunities for genuine human interaction, even in distributed work environments.

• Fostering Cross-Functional Collaboration: Many organizations struggle with silos. Donut.com’s automated “Intros” facilitate connections between employees who might not otherwise interact, breaking down departmental barriers and encouraging cross-functional collaboration. This can lead to new ideas, improved problem-solving, and a more integrated organizational structure.
• Building a Sense of Belonging: In remote or hybrid work models, it can be challenging to cultivate a strong sense of community. Donut.com uses features like “Watercooler” topics and automated celebration prompts to mimic informal office interactions, helping employees feel more connected and valued. This sense of belonging is critical for employee morale and retention.
• Enhancing Communication Transparency: By standardizing and automating various communication touchpoints, Donut.com helps ensure that important information, recognition, and opportunities for interaction are consistently shared across the organization. This reduces miscommunication and fosters a more transparent and open communication environment.

The shift towards automated people programs represents a strategic move for organizations looking to optimize their human capital.

Donut.com positions itself as a critical enabler in this transformation, offering a platform that marries efficiency with genuine human connection to unlock greater productivity and foster a thriving organizational culture.

Donut Journeys: Automating Key Employee Milestones

Donut Journeys is one of the foundational pillars of Donut.com, designed to automate and streamline critical employee lifecycle programs.

This feature acts as a configurable framework for delivering structured sequences of messages, tasks, and introductions, ensuring consistency and effectiveness across various initiatives.

From the moment a new hire joins to ongoing training and mentorship, Donut Journeys aims to provide a seamless and engaging experience for employees while significantly reducing the administrative burden on HR teams.

Onboarding: Creating a Lasting First Impression

The onboarding process is paramount for new hire retention and productivity. Statistics suggest that organizations with a strong onboarding process improve new hire retention by 82% and productivity by over 70%. Donut Journeys simplifies this complex process, transforming it into an automated, engaging experience.

• Automated Welcome Sequences: New hires can automatically receive welcome messages, essential documents, and introductory information directly in Slack or Teams. This ensures they feel welcomed and informed from day one.
• Structured Introductions: Donut Journeys can automatically pair new hires with colleagues for informal coffee chats or introduce them to key team members, helping them build their internal network quickly. This is crucial for integrating into the team culture.
• Milestone Reminders and Check-ins: The platform can schedule automated check-ins at 30, 60, or 90-day marks, prompting managers or mentors to engage with new hires and address any concerns. This proactive approach helps identify and resolve issues early, improving satisfaction.
• Resource Sharing: Essential resources, such as company policies, team directories, and software tutorials, can be delivered incrementally through the journey, preventing information overload and making it easier for new employees to absorb critical knowledge.

Mentorship: Cultivating Growth and Knowledge Transfer

Mentorship programs are invaluable for employee development and retention, with studies showing that 70% of Fortune 500 companies leverage mentorship programs. However, managing these programs can be challenging. Donut Journeys automates much of the logistical work, making mentorship accessible and impactful.

• Automated Pairing Logic: Donut Journeys can facilitate the pairing of mentors and mentees based on various criteria, such as skills, interests, or departmental needs, ensuring relevant and beneficial matches.
• Structured Conversation Prompts: To guide initial interactions, the platform can provide conversation starters and topic suggestions, helping both mentors and mentees make the most of their meet-ups.
• Scheduled Follow-ups: It automates the scheduling of regular check-ins and reminders for mentorship pairs, ensuring consistent engagement and progress. This helps maintain momentum and accountability within the program.
• Feedback Collection: Donut Journeys can also be configured to collect feedback from both mentors and mentees, providing valuable insights into the effectiveness of the program and areas for improvement.

Training & Development: Ensuring Continuous Learning

Continuous learning is vital for keeping employees engaged and competitive.

Donut Journeys can automate various aspects of training and development programs, from mandatory compliance training to specialized skill-building initiatives. Sideway.com Reviews

• Course Assignment and Reminders: Donut Journeys can assign specific training modules or courses to employees and send automated reminders to ensure completion. This is particularly useful for large-scale training deployments.
• Progress Tracking: While Donut.com itself isn’t an LMS, it can integrate with existing learning platforms to nudge employees through their training journey and provide updates on their progress within the communication channel.
• Knowledge Reinforcement: The platform can schedule follow-up questions or quizzes to reinforce learning outcomes, ensuring that employees retain critical information long after the initial training session.
• Skill-Based Introductions: After completing certain training, employees could be introduced to others who share similar new skills or interests, fostering peer-to-peer learning and application of new knowledge.

By automating these crucial employee milestones, Donut Journeys empowers organizations to deliver highly effective and consistent experiences.

This not only elevates the employee journey but also frees up valuable HR resources, allowing them to focus on more strategic initiatives.

Donut Channels: Fostering Organic Connection and Engagement

Donut Channels focuses on nurturing connections and engagement for all types of teams by facilitating automated introductions, prompting watercooler topics, and organizing celebrations—all within familiar communication environments like Slack and Microsoft Teams.

While Donut Journeys provides structured, programmatic automation, Donut Channels is about creating more organic, spontaneous opportunities for interaction that build trust and foster a sense of belonging.

This is particularly crucial in hybrid or remote work settings where informal interactions can be rare.

Automated Intros: Breaking Down Silos

One of the most praised features of Donut Channels is its automated “Intros” functionality.

This feature randomly pairs colleagues for virtual coffee chats, informal one-on-one meetings, or even group meet-ups, providing a simple yet powerful way to break down organizational silos and encourage cross-functional understanding.

• Randomized Pairings: Donut.com intelligently pairs employees who might not otherwise interact, fostering serendipitous connections across departments, seniority levels, and even geographic locations. This helps broaden individual perspectives and build a more integrated company culture.
• Customizable Pairing Frequencies: Organizations can set the frequency of these intros, from weekly to monthly, tailoring the rhythm to their specific needs and team dynamics. This flexibility ensures that connections are made consistently without overwhelming employees.
• Conversation Prompts: To ease initial interactions, Donut provides icebreaker questions or conversation starters, making it less awkward for individuals to connect and find common ground. This helps kickstart meaningful discussions and build rapport.
• Dedicated Channels for Intros: These automated introductions often occur within a dedicated Slack or Teams channel, making it easy for participants to manage their pairings and schedule their meet-ups. The channel also serves as a central hub for related discussions and success stories.

Watercooler Topics: Mimicking Informal Office Chats

The “Watercooler” feature aims to replicate the informal, spontaneous conversations that naturally occur in a physical office space.

By posting engaging questions or topics in a public channel, Donut encourages broader team interaction and helps foster a sense of community, even among distributed teams.

• Engaging Prompts: Donut.com offers a library of ready-to-use “watercooler” questions, ranging from lighthearted “What’s your favorite weekend activity?” to more reflective “What’s one professional skill you’re working on?” These prompts spark diverse conversations.
• Scheduled Posting: Companies can schedule these topics to be posted at regular intervals, ensuring a consistent stream of engaging content that encourages participation throughout the week.
• Encouraging Broader Participation: Unlike one-on-one intros, watercooler topics encourage participation from the entire team or a specific channel, fostering a more inclusive environment where everyone can contribute and feel heard.
• Building Team Cohesion: These informal interactions help employees discover shared interests, learn more about their colleagues’ personalities outside of work-related tasks, and ultimately strengthen team bonds. Research by Gallup suggests that employees who have a best friend at work are 7x more engaged.

Celebrations: Recognizing and Rewarding Effort

Employee recognition is a critical driver of engagement and motivation. Monotype.com Reviews

Donut Channels facilitates automated celebrations, ensuring that important milestones, achievements, and individual contributions are acknowledged and appreciated.

• Automated Birthday & Work Anniversary Reminders: Donut can be configured to automatically post messages celebrating birthdays and work anniversaries in designated channels, ensuring no significant milestone goes unnoticed. This simple gesture can significantly boost morale.
• Shoutouts & Recognition: While in beta, Donut Shoutouts aims to provide a structured way for colleagues to recognize and appreciate each other’s efforts directly within Slack. This fosters a culture of appreciation and positive reinforcement.
• Team Wins & Achievements: The platform can also be used to automatically share team successes or project completions, celebrating collective achievements and reinforcing a sense of shared purpose.
• Customizable Celebration Messages: Organizations can tailor the celebration messages to align with their company culture and values, making the recognition feel more authentic and personal.

By leveraging Donut Channels, organizations can actively cultivate a vibrant and connected workplace culture.

The automated nature of these features ensures that opportunities for connection are consistently created, leading to a more engaged, collaborative, and ultimately, a more productive workforce.

Donut Integrations: Seamlessly Weaving into Existing Workflows

A significant advantage of Donut.com is its deep integration capabilities with leading internal communication tools and HRIS Human Resources Information Systems. The platform is designed to operate seamlessly within the tools employees already use daily, primarily Slack and Microsoft Teams.

This approach minimizes disruption, reduces the need for employees to learn new software, and ensures that people programs are embedded directly into existing workflows.

Donut.com emphasizes its ability to integrate and automate repetitive administrative tasks often required to power employee engagement programs, distinguishing itself from cumbersome HR platforms or standalone point solutions.

Primary Integrations: Slack and Microsoft Teams

The foundation of Donut.com’s integration strategy lies in its native support for two of the most widely adopted collaboration platforms: Slack and Microsoft Teams. These integrations are not merely superficial.

They allow Donut to leverage the full capabilities of these platforms for communication, scheduling, and notifications.

• Direct Messaging and Channel Integration: Donut.com interacts directly within Slack and Teams channels and direct messages. This means introductions, watercooler topics, and program updates appear as native messages, making interactions feel organic and familiar to users.
• User Management and Synchronization: Donut can synchronize user lists and profiles from Slack and Teams, ensuring that all relevant employees are included in programs without manual data entry. This streamlines participant management and ensures accuracy.
• Notification and Reminder Delivery: All notifications, reminders for meetings, and program-related updates are delivered directly within the chosen communication platform, ensuring high visibility and timely engagement.
• Simplified Onboarding and Adoption: Since Donut operates within familiar interfaces, the learning curve for employees is virtually nonexistent. This significantly accelerates adoption rates and reduces the need for extensive training. A 2022 survey by Slack found that 87% of users believe Slack has improved communication and collaboration within their organization.

Beyond Communication: HRIS and Other Tools

While Slack and Teams are the primary interaction points, Donut.com also highlights its ability to integrate with HRIS and other internal communication tools.

This indicates a broader vision for data synchronization and automated program triggering based on HR data. Matcha.com Reviews

• Automated Onboarding Triggers: Integration with HRIS could allow Donut Journeys to automatically kick off an onboarding program the moment a new employee is added to the HR system. This ensures consistency and prevents delays.
• Data Synchronization: Information from HRIS, such as start dates, department affiliations, and managerial relationships, can be used by Donut to inform pairing logic for mentorship or to segment employees for targeted programs.
• Reduced Manual Data Entry: By connecting with HR systems, Donut aims to eliminate manual data entry for employee lists and program enrollment, drastically reducing administrative errors and saving HR teams countless hours.
• Comprehensive Employee Profiles: While not explicitly detailed, potential integrations could allow Donut to pull relevant employee profile information e.g., skills, interests from other systems to enhance the effectiveness of pairing algorithms for programs like mentorship or cross-functional intros.

The Advantage of a Centralized Platform Approach

Donut.com positions itself as a single, centralized platform for designing and managing critical people programs, contrasting itself with organizations that rely on numerous “point solutions” for each HR initiative.

• Unified Employee Experience: By consolidating various programs onboarding, mentorship, team building within Donut, the employee experience becomes more cohesive and less fragmented. Employees interact with one familiar system for multiple engagement initiatives.
• Simplified Management for HR: HR and people operations teams benefit from managing all their engagement programs from a single dashboard within Donut, rather than juggling multiple disparate tools. This reduces complexity and improves oversight.
• Better Data Insights Potential: While not heavily emphasized on the homepage, a centralized platform theoretically allows for better tracking and analysis of engagement data across different programs, offering more holistic insights into employee well-being and program effectiveness.
• Cost Efficiency: Consolidating solutions can often lead to cost savings compared to subscribing to multiple specialized tools that might offer overlapping functionalities.

The robust integration capabilities of Donut.com are a cornerstone of its appeal, allowing it to seamlessly become part of an organization’s existing tech stack.

This “in-workflow” approach is crucial for high adoption and sustained engagement, making Donut a practical choice for businesses looking to enhance their employee experience without overhauling their entire operational infrastructure.

Solutions Tailored for Key HR Initiatives

Donut.com categorizes its offerings under distinct “Solutions” that directly address common HR and people operations challenges: Onboarding, Mentorship, Training, Belonging, and Collaboration.

This structured approach highlights how the platform’s core features—Journeys, Channels, and Integrations—can be specifically applied to achieve measurable outcomes in each of these critical areas.

By focusing on these distinct solutions, Donut.com demonstrates its versatility and its ability to support a holistic employee experience strategy.

Onboarding: Accelerating New Hire Integration

As explored with Donut Journeys, effective onboarding is critical for new hire success.

Donut.com provides solutions to ensure new employees feel welcomed, informed, and integrated from day one.

• Automated Welcome Sequences: Delivering essential information, team introductions, and company culture insights progressively.
• Buddy Programs: Facilitating pairings with seasoned employees to guide new hires through their initial weeks, fostering a sense of support.
• Resource Access: Providing automated access to key documents, tools, and internal networks, reducing the administrative burden on managers.
• Customizable Milestones: Setting up automated check-ins and tasks for the first 30, 60, and 90 days to track progress and address concerns proactively. Companies with effective onboarding see 50% greater new hire retention.

Mentorship: Driving Professional Development

Donut.com offers solutions that streamline the creation and management of impactful mentorship programs, crucial for skill development and career progression.

• Intelligent Pairing: Leveraging algorithms to match mentors and mentees based on goals, skills, and interests, increasing the likelihood of successful relationships.
• Structured Engagement: Providing prompts and conversation starters for mentorship pairs to ensure productive and goal-oriented discussions.
• Program Tracking: Offering insights into program participation and engagement, allowing HR to measure the effectiveness of mentorship initiatives.
• Scalability: Enabling organizations to easily expand their mentorship programs to a larger number of employees without significant administrative overhead.

Training: Enhancing Skill Sets and Knowledge

While not a full-fledged Learning Management System LMS, Donut.com’s solutions enhance training delivery and engagement by automating reminders, resource sharing, and follow-ups. Remotion.com Reviews

• Automated Course Nudges: Reminding employees about mandatory training or recommended development courses directly within their communication platform.
• Micro-Learning Delivery: Breaking down complex training content into smaller, digestible chunks delivered at strategic intervals.
• Follow-up Quizzes/Surveys: Reinforcing learning and gathering feedback on training effectiveness through automated prompts.
• Resource Libraries: Guiding employees to relevant internal and external training resources based on their roles or development paths.

Belonging: Cultivating an Inclusive Culture

The “Belonging” solution focuses on creating an environment where all employees feel valued, respected, and connected, contributing to higher engagement and retention.

• Diversity & Inclusion Intros: Facilitating connections across different demographic groups or affinity networks to foster understanding and empathy.
• Cultural Celebrations: Automating messages to acknowledge and celebrate diverse holidays and cultural events, promoting an inclusive environment.
• Employee Resource Group ERG Support: Helping ERGs automate their internal communications and event promotions to increase participation and impact.
• Feedback Loops: Providing channels for employees to share their experiences and suggestions regarding inclusion and belonging initiatives. Organizations with high belonging scores report 56% higher job performance.

Collaboration: Breaking Down Silos and Boosting Teamwork

Donut.com’s collaboration solutions primarily leverage the “Intros” and “Watercooler” features to foster cross-functional teamwork and informal knowledge sharing.

• Cross-Departmental Introductions: Randomly pairing employees from different teams or departments to encourage broader organizational understanding and inter-departmental cooperation.
• Project-Based Team Building: Facilitating informal meet-ups for members of large project teams to build rapport outside of formal project meetings.
• Idea Generation Channels: Creating dedicated “watercooler” channels for brainstorming new ideas or discussing industry trends, encouraging creative collaboration.
• Informal Knowledge Sharing: Providing prompts that encourage employees to share best practices, tips, and tricks with their colleagues, fostering a culture of continuous learning and support.

By presenting these as distinct solutions, Donut.com helps organizations understand how the platform can be strategically deployed to address specific HR priorities, leading to a more engaged, productive, and cohesive workforce.

Customer Stories and Industry Validation: Real-World Impact

Donut.com’s credibility is significantly bolstered by its showcase of customer stories and testimonials, which provide real-world validation of the platform’s impact.

The website features quotes from HR managers and directors at various companies, emphasizing increased productivity, improved collaboration, and enhanced team cohesion.

These stories offer concrete examples of how Donut.com translates its features into measurable benefits for diverse organizations, ranging from global enterprises like Getty Images to specialized firms like Restaurant365 and Symetris.

Restaurant365: Scaling New Hire Onboarding

One prominent case study highlighted is how Restaurant365, a leading provider of restaurant management software, leveraged Donut Journeys to scale its new hire onboarding process.

This particular example speaks to Donut’s strength in automating structured employee programs.

• Challenge: As a rapidly growing company, Restaurant365 likely faced the challenge of consistently onboarding a large volume of new employees while maintaining a high-quality, engaging experience. Manual processes would become quickly unsustainable and prone to inconsistency.
• Donut’s Solution: By implementing Donut Journeys, Restaurant365 was able to automate crucial aspects of their onboarding, such as welcome messages, resource distribution, and introductions to key team members. This ensured that every new hire received a standardized yet personalized onboarding experience.
• Impact: The result was a more efficient and effective onboarding process, leading to faster integration of new hires, reduced administrative burden on HR, and presumably, higher new hire satisfaction and retention. This aligns with the broader industry trend where 90% of employees decide whether to stay at a company within their first six months.

Getty Images: Fostering Global Connections

Jihye Kim Bower, Manager of Culture & Development at Getty Images, provides a strong testimonial highlighting Donut’s role in empowering employees to foster connections across a globally distributed workforce.

This demonstrates Donut’s capability in supporting large, international organizations. Shipstreams.com Reviews

• Challenge: For a global company like Getty Images, maintaining a sense of community and facilitating connections among employees across different time zones and geographies can be a significant hurdle. Informal interactions, vital for culture, are often lost.
• Donut’s Solution: Donut meet-ups, facilitated by Donut Channels, enabled employees to connect virtually, replicating the spontaneous interactions that occur in a physical office. This allowed for cross-cultural and cross-regional relationship building.
• Impact: As stated by Kim Bower, Donut meet-ups empower employees to “foster connections across the globe and support building a culture of collaboration and community.” This is crucial for maintaining a cohesive company culture and preventing isolation in a distributed team. The positive sentiment underscores the platform’s effectiveness in bridging geographical divides.

Symetris: Energizing and Motivating Teams

Nathalie Rosochowicz, HR Manager at Symetris, emphasizes how Donut meetings energize and motivate the team by providing an environment of trust, collaboration, and understanding.

This highlights the qualitative benefits of Donut’s approach.

• Challenge: Even within co-located or smaller teams, fostering an environment of trust and open communication can be challenging, especially as teams grow or navigate change.
• Donut’s Solution: Donut’s structured yet informal “meetings” likely referring to the automated intros or facilitated group discussions create dedicated spaces for employees to connect on a personal level.
• Impact: Rosochowicz notes that this leads to “increased productivity and efficiency,” linking the soft benefits of connection directly to hard business outcomes. The emphasis on trust, collaboration, and understanding points to Donut’s ability to enhance team dynamics and psychological safety.

Tango Card: Sparking Interesting Conversations

Rebecca Hathaway, Director of Employee Experience at Tango Card, provides a testimonial that captures the “human” element of Donut’s impact, focusing on the quality of interactions generated.

• Impact: “Donut keeps people connecting and sparks so many interesting conversations. I look forward to the question and taking a coffee break to read the full thread just to learn more about everyone.” This quote perfectly illustrates how Donut fosters curiosity, engagement, and a deeper understanding among colleagues, moving beyond mere task-based interactions. It speaks to the platform’s ability to create a more vibrant and intellectually stimulating workplace culture.

These customer stories collectively paint a picture of Donut.com as a versatile and impactful platform that delivers tangible benefits across different organizational contexts.

The consistent themes of improved connection, enhanced productivity, and a stronger sense of belonging underscore the platform’s value proposition and provide compelling evidence of its real-world success.

Pricing and ROI: Understanding the Investment

Donut.com offers a dedicated section on its website for Pricing and an ROI Calculator, indicating a transparent approach to the investment required and the potential returns.

While specific pricing tiers are not detailed on the initial homepage, the presence of these resources suggests a commitment to helping potential clients understand the economic benefits of implementing the platform.

For any B2B SaaS product, especially one focused on employee engagement, understanding the return on investment ROI is crucial for decision-makers.

Transparent Pricing Overview

The “Pricing Overview” link indicates that Donut.com likely provides different subscription tiers or packages, catering to various organizational sizes and needs.

Typically, such platforms base their pricing on factors like: Crash.com Reviews

• Number of Active Users: This is the most common model, where the cost scales with the number of employees using the Donut platform within Slack or Teams.
• Feature Set: Different tiers might unlock advanced features, additional program types e.g., more complex Journeys, specific integration capabilities, or premium support.
• Engagement Volume/Usage Limits: While less common for engagement platforms, some models might account for the volume of messages, intros, or programs run.
• Contract Length: Discounts are often provided for annual commitments compared to monthly subscriptions.

For organizations evaluating Donut.com, the pricing overview would be essential to determine if the platform aligns with their budget and feature requirements.

It’s common for B2B SaaS companies to offer a “contact sales” option for customized enterprise solutions, particularly for very large organizations, in addition to standard self-service tiers.

ROI Calculator: Quantifying the Value

The inclusion of an “ROI Calculator” is a strong indicator that Donut.com understands the need for businesses to justify their software investments with tangible financial returns.

This tool would typically guide prospective clients through a series of inputs related to their current operational challenges and then project potential savings or gains from using Donut.com.

Key Metrics an ROI Calculator for Donut.com Might Consider:

1. Employee Retention:

   • Input: Current employee turnover rate, average cost of employee turnover which can range from 50% to 200% of an employee’s annual salary depending on the role.
   • Donut’s Impact: By improving onboarding, fostering belonging, and enhancing connections, Donut aims to reduce turnover. The calculator would estimate savings from retaining more employees.
   • Data Point: Companies with effective onboarding see 82% higher new hire retention.

2. Productivity Gains:

   • Input: Number of employees, average time spent on administrative tasks related to people programs onboarding, mentorship matching, scheduling, average hourly wage.
   • Donut’s Impact: Automation frees up HR and management time, allowing them to focus on strategic initiatives. Improved collaboration and engagement also lead to more efficient teamwork.
   • Data Point: Engaged teams show 21% greater profitability Gallup.

3. Time Savings for HR/Managers:

   • Input: Number of HR staff/managers involved in people programs, estimated hours saved per week/month due to automation.
   • Donut’s Impact: Direct reduction in manual work related to scheduling intros, sending reminders, matching mentors, and managing onboarding checklists.
   • Data Point: A recent study revealed HR professionals spend nearly 60% of their time on administrative tasks.

4. Improved Employee Engagement and Satisfaction:

   • While harder to directly quantify in dollars, improved engagement correlates with reduced absenteeism, higher quality of work, and better customer satisfaction. The ROI calculator might present these as indirect benefits or provide industry benchmarks.
   • Data Point: Highly engaged employees are 87% less likely to leave their companies Corporate Leadership Council.

5. Reduced IT Support/Software Training Costs: Listen-app.com Reviews

   • Input: Current costs associated with training employees on new HR software, IT support for disparate systems.
   • Donut’s Impact: Operating within existing tools like Slack/Teams significantly reduces the learning curve and IT support needs.

The ROI calculator serves as a powerful sales tool, helping prospective clients build a business case for investing in Donut.com by demonstrating the financial benefits of improved employee experience.

This systematic approach to ROI is a strong signal of a mature and client-focused product offering.

Donut for FigJam: Expanding Collaboration to Visual Workspaces

A notable, albeit briefly mentioned, item in Donut.com’s platform menu is “Donut for FigJam.” This indicates an expansion of Donut’s collaborative functionalities beyond text-based communication platforms like Slack and Microsoft Teams into visual whiteboarding environments.

FigJam, developed by Figma, is an online whiteboard designed for brainstorming, diagramming, and collaborative ideation.

This integration suggests Donut’s strategic move to support different modes of teamwork and creativity.

What is FigJam and Why Integrate?

FigJam is a popular collaborative online whiteboard where teams can brainstorm, diagram, sticky note ideas, and conduct workshops in real-time. It’s often used for:

• Brainstorming sessions: Visualizing ideas, mapping out concepts.
• Workshop facilitation: Remote retrospectives, design sprints.
• Planning and strategy: Creating flowcharts, user journeys.
• Informal sketching and ideation: A shared canvas for creative thinking.

Integrating Donut into FigJam points to a recognition that collaboration extends beyond just chat messages.

It signifies Donut’s aim to foster connection and productivity within more dynamic, visual, and creative workflows.

This move aligns with the increasing prevalence of hybrid and remote work, where digital whiteboards have become essential tools for collaborative ideation.

Potential Functionalities of Donut for FigJam

While specific features for Donut for FigJam aren’t detailed on the homepage, based on Donut’s core offerings and FigJam’s capabilities, we can infer several potential functionalities: Clockk.com Reviews

• Facilitated Brainstorming Intros: Donut could introduce participants to each other at the start of a FigJam session, especially for large, cross-functional workshops. This could include automated icebreakers relevant to the session’s topic.
• Timed Collaboration Prompts: Donut could inject timed prompts or questions into the FigJam board to guide brainstorming sessions, ensure everyone contributes, or shift focus to different aspects of a problem.
• Idea Generation Nudges: Automated nudges within the FigJam environment could encourage participants to add sticky notes, draw connections, or elaborate on ideas.
• Feedback Collection: Donut could facilitate quick polls or feedback prompts within FigJam after a collaborative session, allowing teams to reflect on the process or outcomes.
• Post-Session Follow-ups: Donut could automatically send follow-up messages or action items in Slack/Teams based on decisions or tasks identified within the FigJam session.
• Recognition within Visual Workflows: Perhaps a “Shoutout” feature could be integrated to allow real-time recognition of contributions directly on the FigJam board, celebrating collaborative efforts.

Strategic Implications of Expanding Beyond Chat

The expansion to FigJam is a strategic move for Donut.com, demonstrating its adaptability and commitment to a holistic approach to workplace collaboration:

• Broader Collaboration Ecosystem: It positions Donut as a tool that supports not just communication, but also the dynamic, creative aspects of teamwork.
• Enhanced Engagement in Workshops: By bringing Donut’s engagement-fostering capabilities into FigJam, it can make remote workshops more interactive, inclusive, and productive, addressing common challenges like passive participation.
• Future-Proofing: As collaboration tools evolve, Donut’s willingness to integrate with diverse platforms like FigJam shows a forward-thinking approach to serving the changing needs of modern work environments.
• Competitive Differentiation: This integration could provide a unique selling point, particularly for organizations that heavily rely on visual collaboration and ideation.

The “Donut for FigJam” offering highlights Donut.com’s understanding that effective employee engagement and productivity require supporting a wide array of collaborative activities.

By extending its reach into visual workspaces, Donut.com reinforces its commitment to being a comprehensive employee experience platform.

Gatheround by Donut: Beyond Automated Introductions

Nestled within the Donut.com platform menu is “Gatheround by Donut.” While the main Donut platform focuses on automated introductions and programs within existing communication tools, the mention of Gatheround suggests a potentially more structured, event-based, or facilitated approach to fostering connections.

Given the context of employee engagement, Gatheround likely offers a different modality for team building and community creation, perhaps involving virtual events, structured networking, or more interactive group sessions.

What is Gatheround Implied Functionality?

Based on its name and association with Donut, “Gatheround” likely points to a solution that facilitates:

• Virtual Events/Meetups: Instead of just pairing individuals for a chat, Gatheround might support larger group gatherings, virtual coffee breaks, or even small-scale internal conferences.
• Structured Networking: Providing tools for participants to connect with multiple people in a structured, time-bound format, similar to speed networking.
• Facilitated Discussions: Offering prompts, activities, or icebreakers for groups to engage in meaningful conversations.
• Community Building: Supporting themed group interactions, perhaps around shared interests, skills, or specific company initiatives.

This contrasts with Donut’s core automated “Intros,” which are typically one-on-one and rely on individuals to schedule their own follow-ups.

Gatheround could imply a more organized, platform-driven event experience.

Why a Separate Offering/Brand?

The distinct branding “Gatheround by Donut” suggests a deliberate differentiation. This could be due to several reasons:

• Broader Feature Set: Gatheround might encompass a wider range of features specifically designed for group interactions, event management, and facilitated discussions that extend beyond the simple automated pairing of Donut.
• Target Audience Expansion: While Donut focuses on day-to-day engagement in Slack/Teams, Gatheround might target companies looking for more structured virtual event solutions for team building, departmental retreats, or internal conferences.
• Acquisition or Spin-off: It’s possible that Gatheround was an acquisition or a spin-off initiative by the Donut team to address a specific market need for virtual event facilitation.
• Different User Experience: Gatheround might offer a dedicated web-based interface or a more robust video conferencing component for group interactions, whereas Donut largely operates within Slack/Teams.

Potential Use Cases for Gatheround in Employee Experience

If Gatheround functions as a virtual event or structured networking platform, its use cases within employee experience would be significant: Eternal.com Reviews

• Virtual Team Building Events: Organizing online team challenges, trivia nights, or collaborative games that foster camaraderie.
• Departmental All-Hands Meetings with Breakouts: Facilitating interactive breakout sessions during larger company or departmental meetings.
• New Hire Orientation Sessions: Providing a more dynamic and interactive environment for large cohorts of new employees to meet each other and engage with company leaders.
• Mentorship Cohort Kick-offs: Bringing all mentors and mentees together for an initial structured session before they break into one-on-one pairings.
• Employee Resource Group ERG Meet-ups: Creating a platform for ERGs to host regular virtual gatherings, discussions, and networking events.
• Skill-Sharing Workshops: Facilitating interactive sessions where employees can share expertise and learn from each other in a structured group setting.

The inclusion of “Gatheround by Donut” in the menu implies Donut.com’s ambition to offer a comprehensive suite of tools for employee connection, ranging from casual automated intros to more formalized, event-driven interactions.

Resources and Support: Empowering Users and Ensuring Success

Donut.com provides a comprehensive “Resources” section and dedicated “Support” channels, signaling its commitment to user empowerment, continuous learning, and customer success.

For any software platform, especially one that integrates deeply into daily workflows, readily available documentation, educational content, and responsive support are critical for user adoption and long-term value realization.

Donut Templates: Jumpstarting Program Creation

The “Donut Templates” menu item is a valuable resource for new and existing users.

Templates significantly reduce the friction of getting started by providing pre-built frameworks for common people programs.

• Accelerated Program Launch: Instead of building a new onboarding journey or mentorship program from scratch, users can select a template and customize it, saving significant time and effort.
• Best Practices Integration: Templates often incorporate best practices for effective program design, ensuring that even novice users can launch impactful initiatives.
• Variety of Use Cases: Donut likely offers templates for a range of programs, such as:
  • New Hire Onboarding Journey
  • Mentorship Pairing & Engagement
  • Cross-Functional Intros
  • Team Building Watercooler Topics
  • Leadership Development Program
  • Employee Recognition Series
• Consistency and Standardization: For organizations with multiple teams or departments, templates can help ensure a consistent experience across the company.

Blog: Insights and Best Practices

The Donut.com blog serves as a rich source of information, thought leadership, and practical advice related to employee engagement, HR trends, and the effective use of the Donut platform.

• Industry Trends: Covering topics like the future of hybrid work, the importance of psychological safety, or strategies for remote team building.
• Best Practices: Offering actionable advice on designing effective onboarding programs, fostering mentorship relationships, or enhancing team communication.
• Product Updates & Tips: Announcing new features, providing tutorials, and sharing tips for maximizing the value of Donut.
• Thought Leadership: Featuring insights from HR experts, people ops leaders, and internal Donut team members.
• SEO Value: A well-maintained blog helps Donut.com rank for relevant keywords, attracting organic traffic from HR professionals and business leaders seeking solutions. A strong blog can drive over 55% more website visitors.

Resources Library: Comprehensive Learning Hub

The “Resources Library” goes beyond the blog, likely offering a more structured collection of in-depth content. This could include:

• E-books and Guides: Downloadable long-form content on specific HR challenges or Donut.com applications.
• Webinars and Workshops: Recordings of past events or registration for upcoming sessions on best practices.
• Case Studies: Detailed accounts of how other companies have successfully used Donut.com as seen with Restaurant365, Getty Images, etc..
• Toolkits and Checklists: Practical assets to help users implement programs effectively.
• Infographics and Reports: Visual summaries of key data, research, or industry insights.

Support: Ensuring Smooth Operation

The “Support” section is critical for addressing user queries, troubleshooting issues, and providing ongoing assistance.

• Knowledge Base/Help Center: A searchable database of articles, FAQs, and step-by-step guides for common questions and technical issues. This empowers users to find solutions independently.
• Ticketing System/Contact Form: A direct channel for users to submit support requests and receive personalized assistance from the Donut.com team.
• Onboarding Assistance: For new enterprise clients, Donut.com likely offers dedicated onboarding specialists to guide them through the initial setup and launch.
• Live Chat Potential: Some SaaS platforms offer live chat for immediate assistance, though this isn’t explicitly mentioned on the homepage.
• Regular Updates and Maintenance: Good support also implies a commitment to regular platform updates, bug fixes, and performance improvements to ensure a stable and reliable service.

The robust suite of resources and comprehensive support structure demonstrates Donut.com’s dedication to not just selling a product, but also empowering its users to succeed and maximizing the value derived from the platform.

This focus on education and assistance builds trust and fosters long-term client relationships. Form-king.com Reviews

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Donut.com?

Donut.com is an employee experience platform that automates and scales people programs like onboarding, mentorship, and team building directly within communication tools like Slack and Microsoft Teams to enhance employee engagement, productivity, and culture.

How does Donut.com integrate with existing tools?

Donut.com primarily integrates with Slack and Microsoft Teams, embedding its functionalities directly into these widely used communication platforms.

This allows for seamless operation within existing workflows without requiring employees to use additional software.

What are “Donut Journeys”?

Donut Journeys are automated, customizable sequences designed to guide employees through specific programs such as new hire onboarding, mentorship, and training, ensuring consistent delivery of information and experiences.

What are “Donut Channels”?

Donut Channels are features that foster organic connections and engagement by facilitating automated introductions between colleagues, posting watercooler topics for informal discussions, and celebrating team milestones and achievements within Slack or Teams.

Can Donut.com help with new employee onboarding?

Yes, Donut.com excels at new employee onboarding through its Donut Journeys feature, automating welcome messages, introductions, resource sharing, and check-ins to ensure a smooth and engaging experience for new hires.

Does Donut.com support mentorship programs?

Yes, Donut.com streamlines mentorship programs by automating mentor-mentee pairings, scheduling initial meet-ups, providing conversation prompts, and facilitating ongoing engagement.

Is Donut.com suitable for remote or hybrid teams?

Yes, Donut.com is particularly well-suited for remote and hybrid teams as it helps bridge geographical gaps by automating connections and fostering a sense of belonging and collaboration among distributed employees.

What kind of “Watercooler” topics does Donut.com provide?

Donut.com provides a library of engaging “Watercooler” topics, ranging from lighthearted questions to more reflective prompts, designed to spark informal conversations and build camaraderie within teams.

Can Donut.com be used for employee recognition?

Yes, Donut.com offers features like automated celebrations for birthdays and work anniversaries. Strava.com Reviews

Additionally, “Donut Shoutouts” currently in beta aims to provide a structured way for colleagues to recognize and appreciate each other’s efforts.

Does Donut.com offer an ROI Calculator?

Yes, Donut.com provides an ROI Calculator on its website to help prospective clients quantify the potential return on investment from implementing the platform by estimating savings related to employee retention, productivity, and reduced administrative time.

Are there templates available for setting up programs in Donut.com?

Yes, Donut.com offers “Donut Templates” which provide pre-built frameworks for common people programs, helping users quickly launch and customize initiatives like onboarding, mentorship, and team building.

What kind of resources does Donut.com offer?

Donut.com offers a comprehensive “Resources” section including a blog with industry insights and best practices, a resource library with guides and case studies, and templates to assist users.

How does Donut.com differ from traditional HR platforms?

Donut.com differentiates itself by focusing on automating and scaling employee engagement programs directly within existing communication tools Slack/Teams, unlike more cumbersome HR platforms that might require employees to log into separate systems.

Does Donut.com have a feature for visual collaboration?

Yes, Donut.com mentions “Donut for FigJam” in its platform menu, indicating an integration with FigJam, an online whiteboard, to support visual collaboration and ideation.

What is “Gatheround by Donut”?

“Gatheround by Donut” is an offering mentioned in the platform menu that likely facilitates more structured, event-based, or facilitated virtual gatherings and networking sessions for teams, going beyond just automated one-on-one introductions.

How can I get started with Donut.com?

Based on the website, you can “Get Started for Free” by signing up for a trial specifically for Slack or Microsoft Teams.

Is Donut.com suitable for small businesses or large enterprises?

Donut.com states that over 20,000 brands use their platform, ranging from “scrappy start-ups” to large, globally distributed teams like Getty Images, suggesting it’s scalable for both small businesses and large enterprises.

Does Donut.com help improve employee retention?

Yes, by fostering a stronger sense of belonging, improving onboarding experiences, and enhancing team connections, Donut.com aims to increase employee engagement and, consequently, improve employee retention. Eternalist.com Reviews

Can Donut.com automate training reminders?

Yes, through Donut Journeys, the platform can automate the delivery of training modules, send reminders for course completion, and facilitate follow-ups to ensure continuous learning and development.

Is Donut.com a standalone application?

No, Donut.com is designed to integrate and operate within existing communication platforms like Slack and Microsoft Teams, rather than being a standalone application that requires separate user logins.