It should come as no surprise that organizations that communicate better work better. Organizations with better means of communication are more reactive, more productive… and, perhaps most importantly, simply better connected. When organizations are globally distributed, split between offices and remote digital environments, connecting employees with their place of work is a greater challenge than ever. If you are facing a communication or employee engagement crisis, you certainly aren’t alone. Just 7% of employees believe that their organization’s communications are relevant (according to Gallup), and many more feel disconnected from their workplaces. However, if you know that an employee intranet can help you bridge a digital communications gap, you might not know exactly how or why. It can be pivotal in resolving some of your organization’s most urgent strategic problems, such as engagement, productivity, well-being and retention. We will explain what you need to know about how an employee intranet can transform not just communications – but your entire digital employee experience - in this blog. First of all, an employee intranet is a tool to improve communication At its heart, an employee intranet is an internal communications solution. Organizations will often adopt an intranet solution because they want to resolve a communication problem or have ambitions that better communications can support. For example, they might be experiencing low engagement with company emails, or they may want to align a new business unit in a different region after an acquisition. In other words, they turn to intranet primarily to improve lines of communication, rather than to resolve broader strategic problems such as productivity, engagement or job satisfaction. However, an employee intranet is only as useful as the communications your employees receive through it. If they aren’t relevant, employees will disengage: particularly in desk-based office roles where many struggle with the volume of communications they receive. This is why, beyond hosting and distributing content, the best employee intranet solutions will use in-depth analytics and targeted content to ensure messaging hits the mark. Monitoring read rates of certain communications will immediately tell you if you need to change the content, length or medium of your messaging, whilst analysing the profile of high and low “information consumers” can help you tailor your internal comms strategy… as well as identify where broader problems such as engagement and disconnection are happening at the early stage. This is just one example of how, in resolving a communication-based problem, an employee intranet can help resolve much broader strategic problems like engagement. However, if it serves its main purpose of providing relevant, useful communications, it can be used in many more enriching, versatile ways… which is increasingly what employees have come to expect of it. Intranet re-engages disconnected employees Poor communications are far from the only issue that employees face in global, hybrid organizations. One major issue is that over 60% of workers feel disconnected from their workplaces. This isn’t simply digital disconnection, but emotional disengagement. When workers are disconnected, they are less productive, less happy, and less likely to stay with you: which has a significant financial cost. We mentioned that an intranet is a tool for communication, and we have also shown how it can help to resolve broader strategic problems. However, employee intranet is undergoing a transformation where, as workplaces become increasingly digitalized, employees are expecting these platforms to provide far more than just communications. In the absence of a central, 5-day office-based ‘employee experience’, their intranet needs to deliver a complete ‘digital employee experience’, providing simplified access to disparate resources and tools. Versatile intranet platforms can provide access to productivity and HR applications and self-service tools, all in one place. However, just as your communications need to be relevant to engage your employees, so does the functionality your intranet provides. For example, for the over 1 million companies worldwide that use SharePoint, an employee intranet can host useful custom applications such as onboarding tools, workflow management and inventory management tools using simple Microsoft Viva Connection cards or in-depth Power Platform. If you already use the Microsoft M365 ecosystem. A SharePoint-based Intranet solution like LiveTiles Intranet is the best way to reach people where they are already working (Microsoft Teams) and maximize the value of your Microsoft investment. The tools you provide to help people do their best work can be elevated with your digital employee experience – as can the ways you connect people. Intranet connects colleagues to one another Another critical part of the digital employee experience is connecting colleagues. Of course, collaboration matters for productive organizations. However, as we know, colleagues increasingly seek more social fulfilment at work. A HubSpot report found that 52% of employees would prioritize great relationships with their colleagues over a 10% salary increase. Gallup notes increases in productivity, engagement and happiness among those who have friendships at work. It’s a vital aspect of the employee experience that platforms such as an intranet need to fulfil in a digital workplace. Which is why they increasingly need to include social network features, provide a space to interest groups, and even be a hub for events… Nevertheless, for internal comms teams, an employee intranet also lets you unlock another opportunity. Opening ‘horizontal’ communication lines between employees that ‘top-down’ communications can’t reach. Employee-led conversations and events form the backbone of your culture that your top-down internal communications can’t dictate. These drive much of your employees’ happiness, well-being… and their investment in your company’s success. On this subject, there is one last avenue of communication that an employee intranet needs to fulfil in a digital workplace. Intranet connects colleagues to your brand As we have seen, an intranet bridges the gap between the physical and the digital. It works to connect employees with colleagues, communications and tools… but what about your brand? You already know that your internal brand is an intangible, but critical aspect of your organization’s success: strong internal branding aligns employees with your company’s values and mission. However, it’s much more difficult to achieve in a digital environment. Going into the office is part of the immersion, but in the absence of a single office, an employee intranet needs to do some of the heavy lifting for your brand. Using SharePoint Intranet Basic SharePoint intranet has its strengths, but creating an immersive brand-led digital employee experience isn’t one of them. For this, we cannot understate the importance of branding and customization. Using drag-and-drop templates makes design seamless, but adding governance features to ensure consistency across regions and departments ensures the experience is consistent and equal for everyone – creating one ‘single’ intranet instead of a patchwork of intranets. Moreover, when customizability extends to different regions and sub-brands, it connects employees not only with their umbrella organization but also helps them to identify with the business unit they belong to. It may not be tangible, but it’s certainly felt as part of the digital employee experience. Entain, one of the world’s foremost gaming groups relied on LiveTiles’ Gartner-rated ‘Visionary’ Intranet to connect 24,000 employees in 20+ countries across its leading betting brands. See how they transformed communications and drove a leading digital employee experience. Many hybrid and global organizations who struggle to engage their employees with internal communications, may already know that an employee intranet is the answer. What they may not know is just how much else it can change operationally and culturally – and just how easy it is if they already have SharePoint Intranet as a basis. If you want to connect your leadership to your employees, and your global colleagues to one another, and provide a gateway to every tool and resource they need to do better work, book a demo of LiveTiles Intranet today and see how it can transform more than just your comms.
