Top 10 ways an intranet can deliver your business better employee experiences - at a glance:
Facilitate better employee collaboration and communication.
Encourage greater creativity and innovation.
Faster transparency through document management.
Facilitate easier access to information.
Enhance remote employee engagement.
Increase the security of company data.
Facilitates improved employee training and onboarding.
Increase peer recognition and rewards.
Improve job satisfaction and employee retention.
Monitor and boost employee wellbeing.
Businesses recognize how crucial it is to keep remote employees engaged by providing more than just collaboration tools--it mandates an effective content management system that's user-friendly and effortless to update.
The McKinsey Global Institute recently found that companies with better connected employees experience a 20-25% boost in productivity, translating to real ROI and cost savings for these businesses.
In this article, we'll explore how an intranet portal can benefit your company by enhancing remote work efficiency and fostering better employee connection.
Defining Intranet Software And Its Purpose.
A private intranet network allows employees to securely access company resources from their computers, tablets, or smartphones. This makes it effortless for workers to quickly and conveniently find content like files and documents, as well as applications and resources. Its a web portal that is only available to employees of the company, and is usually the first page employees open when they get to work. [Intranet.ai]
Historically, companies relied on email and shared folders to access information, but these methods were often inefficient. Employees had to constantly check their inboxes or wait for someone else's report before they could get up-to-date.
Modern intranets, like Hub, reimagine how employees manage and share information, allowing companies to tailor their employee experience to suit each user's needs.
With an all-encompassing intranet, a wealth of knowledge at their fingertips, social features, and support for unlimited users, companies are able to foster a stronger corporate culture.
Examples of How Different Industries Use Intranets.
Intranets are essential for a wide range of organizations, as they offer secure access to data, in-depth communication, and convenient knowledge sharing. For example, in healthcare they can be used to securely store patient data and facilitate inter-departmental collaboration; whereas construction firms use them to share project updates, new business wins and allow off-site workers to stay up-to-date.
Then there are educational institutions that tap into intranets to facilitate collaboration among teachers and students, providing online spaces for storing resources and promoting learning and continued development.
Most organizations can greatly benefit from implementing an intranet portal to cultivate a thriving company culture for employees - both remote and in the office.
Why Is Easy-to-Use Intranet Software So Powerful?
Seamless intranets give your staff a better employee experience when it comes to interacting with the people and tools that make your business tick. They enable employees to quickly access essential company information and secure document storage, plus empower team collaboration capabilities - keeping employees engaged even when they're on the go.
When looking for intranet software, there are some essential but also lesser-known features to look out for:
User-friendly interface and navigation. If you've ever struggled to use an online service, then you know the importance of a user-friendly interface. This goes for both the front-end user experience, and back-end admin interface. Intranet software should have a clear layout with intuitive navigation that is easy to find and understand. Minimal scrolling and clicks are key for quickly finding information or performing tasks. Also, a customizable navigation menu should allow you to place easy access to the core content your employees will need.
Gamification: Incorporating competitive elements, such as progress bars, rewards and leaderboards help to encourage employee engagement and participation with your intranet and its content.
E-learning Platform integration: allows employees to access training and learning materials on the intranet, and track their progress and completion. You should also check if your intranet has built-in tools, like Hub's Assessments, which enable you to deliver e-learning features without a third-party tool.
Minimal technical knowledge required: You shouldn't need coding knowledge or tech-savvy skills to get up and running with your intranet, and employees shouldn't need to be trained in order to use its features. Everyone should be able to easily use your intranet, so ensure the software you select isn't complicated.
Tagging Content - By using Tags, you can ensure the right content is shown to the right people. Within The Hub, tagging relevant people and content is super easy, and allows you to completely tailor the employee experience to serve different content to different employees - even within the same page! Tags also ensure no one misses out on important news relevant to them. Users can subscribe to certain tags and get automatic notifications when something new matching those tags appears.
Streamlined Operations: What Easy-to-Use Intranets Can Do for Your Business
Gallup's recent poll revealed a shocking statistic: 65% of U.S. employees are not engaged in their work, highlighting the serious consequences companies without effective internal communication practices risk due to poor engagement.
Tackling the issue, Intranets remain essential for organizations' internal communications. When done right, they deliver a lot of benefits, such as:
foster collaboration
align strategies
share resources
act as an information hub and
simplify employee onboarding - while engaging employees more effectively.
Key Takeaway: Companies should prioritize effective internal communication practices to ensure their employees stay engaged and motivated. Intranets are an ideal solution for this.
10 Ways An Intranet Can Greatly Enhance The Remote Employee Experience.
Easy-to-use portals: facilitating employee collaboration and communication through shared chat rooms and document sharing.
Enabling employees to share ideas: encouraging creativity and innovation within the workplace for better knowledge management.
Document management helps foster transparency: providing easy access to important documents, such as employee handbooks or policies, helping people stay organized and informed.
Facilitate quick access to information: making information available across teams, enabling better decisions, with easy search tools.
Facilitate employee learning and development: via quick access to training material, progress reviews and company policies.
Enhance remote employee engagement: through up-to-date news and events, along with a collaborative platform
Enhance employee recognition and rewards: Offer 'Employee of the Month' awards and peer recognition, as well as virtual rewards for outstanding performance or achievements.
Enhance security of company data: via secure sign-in protocols and systems to prevent unauthorized access and misuse.
Increase employee satisfaction and retention: Employee morale and loyalty are improved when they feel part of the company culture and better connected to their people they work with.
Intranet polls and surveys: Monitor employee mood and wellbeing by gathering regular feedback, and use the results to make actionable changes to deliver a better working environment for employees.
Stay connected anywhere with social media-like features and analytics built-in.
Mobile Access for Employees On-the-Go.
The major advantage of user-friendly intranet software is that it can be accessed from any mobile device. This allows employees on business trips, in off-site meetings, or working from home to easily access their most important project information and collaborate with their teams anytime, anywhere.
Social Media-Like Functionality for Internal Comms and Networking
Social media giants like Facebook and Twitter enable users to connect with each other through posts, comments, and followers. Similarly, well-designed intranet software makes it easy for companies to replicate social functions on their own sites. Employees can start chat threads, share documents, follow colleagues' activities, comment on news articles, and receive notifications when someone replies to them - all without ever leaving their intranet!
Key takeaway: Easy-to-use intranet software offers companies the ability to collaborate and stay connected with their employees via social media-like features and analytics, as well as enabling mobile access for employees on the go.
Built-in Analytics for Monitoring and Improving Usage
If you work in one of the 60% of organizations that don't track their internal communications stats, according to Poppulo, you may want to consider implementing the following tips:
Regularly check user logins to gauge engagement on your intranet.
Determine the best time for posting based on activity levels.
Monitor participation levels when running surveys.
Look for patterns in feedback and take note of what people are saying.
With built-in analytics, effective intranet software lets you monitor and enhance the remote employee experience. To do so, you’ll want to gauge engagement with your content, analyze usage data, and pinpoint where changes or improvements are needed.
By tracking analytics, admins gain invaluable insights into how employees are engaging with the intranet, so they can customize the platform to their requirements and guarantee a great employee experience.
Key takeaway: Intranet analytics provide invaluable insights into the remote employee experience and can help admins customize the platform to their organization's exact needs.
Let Your Intranet Thrives - Analyze & Gather Feedback Regularly.
To keep your intranet solution flourishing and cultivate a high-performance culture throughout your organization, it's crucial to analyze and gather employee feedback.
To do this you’ll want to pinpoint the most crucial metrics, such as usage stats, employee satisfaction surveys, poll opinions, or even user engagement with certain content, and consistently monitor them. This way, you'll easily spot areas for improvement and be able to make actionable changes to continually boost the effectiveness of your intranet and improve your wider workplace environment - thus delivering a better employee experience across the board.
Looking for the perfect intranet for your team?
We can arm you with the know-how to achieve the perfect modern intranet platform tailored to your specific needs. You can explore The Hub's demo platform and all of its features for free, so you can see how it can enhance your company culture and help you deliver a better experience for your employees.
We'll stay with you through each stage, from onboarding to post-launch and beyond, to guarantee your intranet keeps bringing value and success.
Final thoughts.
No doubt, intranets are revolutionizing the remote workplace, simplifying complex processes and providing remote employees with instant access to essential information - from phone numbers to project assistance.
Intranet platforms like The Hub offer a powerful option for creating a digital workplace that delivers great employee experiences, enabling your teams to stay connected and productive with access to communication tools, people directories and other resources. Unlocking your business's full potential is achievable by streamlining processes, improving collaboration and boosting productivity through the right intranet platform.