Intranets should increase employee engagement, create connected workplaces, and encourage participation amongst colleagues. That’s why we have put together this blog with the Top 5 intranet best practices.
If your intranet has been around as long as The National Lottery (that’s 1994 by the way) then it’s definitely time to upgrade as you’ll be coping with an outdated structure with hundreds of folders impossible to find.
And if you haven’t even got one, who has time to sift through a hard drive several times a day?
Disorganisation and poor-performing technology leave colleagues cold and wastes cash in terms of productivity for your company.
Here are the top 5 best intranet practices to engage your staff:
Make your intranet the desired way to communicate
If your intranet is not the first thought for colleagues when they want to contact each other it should be… and here’s why.
People can spend so much time flicking between different platforms – it could be messenger, text, and WhatsApp – trying to work out who uses what.
Instead get all your conversations happening on the same space.
Attollo uses Microsoft Teams where instant conversations can be had, so it’s time to discourage other ways of internal communications. For example, the company newsletter can be placed on a news centre of your modern-day intranet, rather than filling people’s inboxes with emails.
There’s nothing worse than long email threads and waiting around for several people to respond. It’s time for communication that appeals to all your staff – old or young – and is relevant.
Open conversation for all
Many old-fashioned intranets are simply used to push announcements from leadership or the HR team and there is little in the way of interaction from other employees.
A thriving intranet system will have large numbers of voices contributing. Open communication allows people to comment and share their ideas, concerns and practises that have worked well – almost like a public forum for your company.
Workers should be given credit – and could even be awarded for – their contributions to the intranet.
You could even designate people from each department to add posts to your blog or be responsible for adding appropriate news as these are likely to generate a buzz and get staff talking more.
Make it relevant
Intranets should allow top-notch productivity and for this to happen, content needs to relevant and engaging. Requests for leave, employee expenses and training requests should all be available for staff to access whenever they need it.
No one has time to look around for these documents when time is precious. So, have them all available on a centralised system for easy access.
Don’t be too corporate
Making work fun is the best way to keep employees motivated and passionate in their roles. The same psychology applies for intranet too.
Create the type of digital experience that staff are used to in their personal lives, for example, Instagram and YouTube.
A good engagement tool is to create some friendly rivalry within the office, such as a sales contest. Gamification is a great way to do this.
You could also allow colleagues to connect and share instant messages using pics from the office party or funny memes. These will all help to encourage people to use the intranet.
Connect all your remote workers
With COVID-19 keeping some staff at home for longer periods and some staff back in the office, it can be difficult to keep everyone in the loop. You can include a people directory on Attollo, allowing people across different departments to connect seamlessly and put names to faces!
This modern-day intranet system can be used to bridge gaps between your staff, wherever they are. It’s vital that you have mobile capability, allowing those on the move to access it if they don’t have a computer to hand.
If your intranet doesn’t allow for instant messaging, it should! It’s a must-have to connect in a modern-day digital workplace.
If it’s time you upgraded to a SharePoint online intranet, Attollo is here to help. Our team can implement our modern-day intranet that can be branded however you like. Click here to book a free demo.