Hands-on recommendations: How a modern intranet can improve the employee experience
The success of your organization is dependent on your employees and teams feeling valued and empowered in their daily work. One way to achieve that is to implement a modern intranet with enhanced capabilities for improving internal communication, collaboration, knowledge sharing, and the overall employee experience.
In this article, we provide ideas and hands-on recommendations on how such a solution can support your organization in empowering the workforce and becoming an even better place to work.
Effective onboarding makes new colleagues feel welcome
The onboarding process is crucial for new employees. It is their first impression of your company, and it sets the tone for their future success. A successful onboarding experience can increase employee retention, engagement, and productivity. An intranet can help streamline the onboarding process and make new colleagues feel welcome.
We recommend that your modern intranet should include an Onboarding Portal within your intranet that provides new employees with all the necessary information they need to get started in one place. This should include company policies, procedures, and training materials. Additionally, provide a personalized introduction schedule that new employees can sign off on, which will introduce them to their colleagues and make them feel more comfortable and welcomed.
Surface learning resources to develop new competencies
Continued learning and development are essential for employees to improve their competencies and grow in their careers. An intranet can be used to surface learning resources and provide opportunities for employees to develop new skills.
Our advice is to set up Learning Center within your intranet where you can publish and manage learning resources such as instructor-led internal and external courses, self-service video and micro-courses, and other training materials. The Learning Center should have search and filter capabilities to make it easy for end-users to find content and develop new skills.
Foster a collaborative culture
Collaboration is essential for success in today's workplace. Your employees need to work together on projects, share files, and communicate with each other easily. An intranet can be used to promote a collaborative culture within your organization.
We suggest that you should ensure that your intranet can provide customizable provisioning templates for collaboration in Microsoft Teams, combining the simplicity of Teams and the structures of your collaboration governance model. This will allow your employees to work together on projects, share files, and communicate with each other easily, even if they are working remotely or in different locations.
Use communities for knowledge sharing
Communities are a great way to bring people together around shared interests, projects, or initiatives. Communities can be used to encourage collaboration, knowledge sharing, and innovation within your organization. An intranet can be used to facilitate the creation and management of communities within your organization.
We propose that the intranet should support the organization in launching topic-based moderator-led communities where members can share knowledge in discussions, shared documents, and blog posts. Provide a subscription feature and an activity feed with notifications to help users stay updated. Additionally, set up a process for community managers to regularly review and update content within their communities.
Acknowledge contribution and highlight employees
Employee recognition is essential for creating a positive and productive work environment. Employees who feel recognized and valued are more engaged, productive, and committed to their work. An intranet can be used to acknowledge employee contributions and highlight employee achievements.
In this area, our suggestion is to set up a model within your intranet to promote employees' relevant events and contributions, such as ‘New Colleagues,’ ‘Anniversaries,’ or ‘Employee of the Month.’ Provide a social feed where users can connect and share praise for their colleagues. Of course, you will also need to encourage team leaders and managers to provide regular feedback and recognition to their team members in real life.
Understand employee voice
Listening to your employees is essential for creating a positive work environment. Your employees have valuable insights that can help improve your organization's policies, procedures, business, and culture. An intranet can be used to understand employee voice and gather feedback from your team.
We recommend that your solution should include tools for posting social reactions on content, submitting feedback and rating on content, and posting improvement suggestions and ideas on how to make the organization a better place to work.
Your intranet can support improving the employee experience
In conclusion, the benefits of a modern intranet are numerous. By providing your employees with the tools they need to work effectively and collaborate with their colleagues, you can create a culture of growth, innovation, and success. An intranet can also help you attract and retain top talent, improve employee satisfaction, and increase productivity.
The take-away of this article? That your employees and colleagues will thank you for proceeding with the plans for realizing a modern intranet – and thereby improving the employee experience.
