Driving employee engagement is a key focus for many companies seeking a more productive workforce. But many companies might be missing a trick at really motivating their staff through their office intranet. Studies have shown that, yes, an engaged employee is 44% more productive at work, whereas an employee that is inspired in the workplace is actually 125% more productive!*
So, what can we do to truly inspire our employees through our company intranets?
You might be surprised the part great design can plan in this area. Every organisation should have a well-designed intranet that creates a great online working environment that boosts productivity and aids communication between employees. The process of designing a powerful intranet system is ultimately determined, not just by the branding of the site, but by the needs and requirements of your end users. Most companies when constructing the layout of their intranet, tend to put a greater emphasis on functionality and technical requirements, and tend to completely overlook the benefits of incorporating visually attractive elements into their intranet.
Making your intranet more responsive and engaging
A visually appealing intranet filled with fun, modern design can dramatically increase engagement with to your site and actually motivates employees to proactively interact with your intranet content on a regular basis. In fact, great design and fun interactive elements can make employees feel happier and creates a great user experience, all of which goes towards forming a more positive working environment. Additionally, having a well-designed intranet actually helps to not only build brand credibility, but it also helps create a working environment where employees feel valued because their company actually cares to build them an attractive, fun and informative digital workplace. One of the top challenges faced by organisations today is employee retention, and an engaging employee intranet is proven effective at increasing retention by building a better working environment.
Intranet design is not just about colour scheme, layout and functionality of your intranet - it's also about your users and company culture. Both play an important part of your corporate communications strategy, so should also be considered in your intranet design. Targeting your audiences with content and messaging that's designed to match them, their roles and personalised to how they use your intranet, creates a great user experience that can hugely increase productivity because you've designed the site to match the way your employees use it.
But remember, don't just whack in any old image and think that this will improve the look of your intranet and boost engagement. In a world filled with modern, slick-looking websites, your employees will have high expectations when it comes to design. Using outdated 'clip-art' or old fashioned stock imagery can actually be a huge turn-off for your users, and can create an intranet that feels tacky, dated and uninspiring.
TOP TIP:
Use modern, clean images and design to create an intranet your employees feel proud of, and one they actually want to engage with.
Key tips to make your intranet more effective and valuable to your employees
1. Break the monotony to engage your readers
Smart and interactive visual elements are almost impossible to ignore, and can quickly grab the attention of your employees. Most employees don't have the time to go through cumbersome reports and training manuals, and end up skimming a lot of content that's published on your company intranet. Make it more engaging and easily digestible by transforming dull text with cool imagery. Turn a report into a fun infographic, or supply more interactive training videos instead of long manuals. Simple visuals can prove a more effective way to communicate information to your employees in a way that's much more engaging and interesting to view.
2. Provide great user experiences
The goal of designing an effective intranet is to boost internal communications and improve employee engagement. Visual calls-to-action aren't just for external marketing activities, in fact CTAs play a huge role in driving traffic around your company intranet, by promoting the core content your users need to do their jobs and new content you want them to engage with. By cleverly using visually appealing CTAs on your company intranet, you can create a more intuitive design and navigation that makes your user's experience around your intranet effortless. Responsive CTA design draws the attention of users and actively encourages them to use your company intranet as much as possible.
3. Create a visual identity that showcases employees as individuals
Your company intranet is about creating an environment that promotes communication and collaboration amongst employees. One way to encourage that two-way comms is through showcasing employees as 'real people' and not faceless logins. Having pictures of your users really makes them feel like its their intranet - whether its profile photos on a group forum or news articles featuring pictures of staff achievements, having a company intranet with employee pictures gives users a sense of ownership and belonging, helping them to feel part of an active community. Promoting staff photos forms the basis of a social intranet that helps to boost internal communications and breaks down the silos of an organisation.
Statistics Source: https://www.impigertech.com/blog/intranet-for-employee-engagement