Modern employee communications take place online. Employees are more productive when they understand how they fit into a company and are helping to achieve those company goals.
Open communication provides feedback to management as well as faster troubleshooting when problems arise. This communication leads to employee retention and better customer service.
A company intranet system can provide this communication. Your intranet should engage people and reward them for participation.
Gaining employee buy-in
According to employee communications specialists, a business should consider the responses it wants from the workforce.
Surveying employees can provide feedback on the type of information they want to receive and how they will interact with this information.
By including employees in the planning process, you help gain employee buy-in of the process and make staff feel like an integral part of the company.
Some uses of a company intranet may include daily bulletins, employee events, policy changes, company performance, and press mentions.
Allow people to respond online with questions and comments. Try surveying employees to gain a consensus, or provide an anonymous form for suggestions or complaints.
Customize your own intranet based on the needs of your organization.
Types of news to share across your Intranet
New contracts, expansions, and new hires are always newsworthy. New people in different positions can be introduced to the entire workforce through an employee intranet.
Special projects, programs, and discoveries help educate employees on company business. A new patent or a new piece of equipment can be the focus of a daily or weekly update.
Some additional types of news you may want to include are:
- Updates across different divisions or locations.
- Interdepartmental updates and goals.
- HR updates and employee benefit news.
- Awards and honors such as outstanding service, perfect attendance or community outreach.
- Sports and recreational updates such as intramural events or the locally sponsored Little League team.
- Weekly highlights or records.
- Special events like charity drives, donation programs, or the Go Fund Me of an employee’s family in need.
The great thing about an intranet is that you can also customize your site based on specific group needs.
The finance department may sound dull to the person involved in engineering, even though finance processes payroll and determines yearly bonus checks.
Marketing, contracts, and manufacturing all have specialized news needs that can be met by creating a group within a group online.
Use these smaller groups for daily departmental updates that won’t clog up the newsfeed of the larger organization.
Emergency procedures, OSHA, MSDS
Every business must have emergency procedures for fires, floods, and other mishaps. Emergency procedures vary based on the individual business, and the intranet provides a local backup for safety procedures specific to your location.
The intranet can update emergency evacuations and other procedures on a regular basis. This can include everything from an armed robbery to an employee having an unexpected meltdown that may be dangerous to other people.
Create quizzes to test employee knowledge for emergency plans from earthquakes to a simple power outage.
Intranet solutions can also provide a backup for federally mandated paperwork. In addition to standard onsite binders, you can store backup information on OSHA, FMLA, MSDS and more.
Health advice
Company communications demonstrate how a company cares for its workforce, emphasizing good health in the workplace. Encourage people to take breaks, exercise and eat healthy food.
Many companies offer free flu shots prior to winter and the intranet provides a simple way to remind everyone of your upcoming clinic.
Employees who have personal problems at home should be encouraged to talk to people who can help either in the company or outside. Human Resources usually work with people who have problems within the company that can interfere with work performance.
Intranet management
Your intranet will be run by a team of technical workers who manage and maintain the site, as well as content managers who create and share company news.
The person in charge of the company intranet must be responsive to people and know how to use communications software.
In addition to the talent for working online, you will need someone to coordinate departmental news across many channels, assisting, rather than hindering your already busy managers in customer service, operations, and human resources.
Capitalize on the benefits of an employee intranet now, using employee engagement and communication as a method to increase employee happiness.
Make sure your employees are being heard at all levels from management to entry level with a customized intranet solution today.