The Secret to Effective Intranets (And How to Get Employees to Actually Use Them)

This past year, we’ve had to trade in our commutes to the office and lunch with coworkers for make-shift home offices and loungewear. This mass transition to remote working has forced organizations to rely on digital tools to connect and engage their workforce. 

This is where the company intranet comes into play. 

An intranet can be a very powerful asset in a business’s toolkit: connecting departments and people together, streamlining internal communication and processes, and empowering employees with the tools they need to succeed in their jobs and accomplish their goals. 

However, a tool is only powerful if it is actually put to use. Likewise, it’s not just enough to have an intranet in place, it must be a tool that employees find beneficial and want to use everyday. 

How to Get Employees to Actually Use Your Intranet? 

Organizations cannot have “If you build it, they will come,” mindsets when it comes to technology, especially not their intranets. 

Just having an intranet in place does not automatically boost employee engagement. Employers must be strategic with how they build, rollout, and promote their intranet solution. 

Having a People-First Mindset 

A well-designed intranet is one that has been customized to fit unique workforce needs. When employees have a tool that has been built specifically for them, they will be much more likely to adopt and use it. 

Companies such as Apple, Google, Best Buy, VW, and Canadian Tire have adopted a human-centered design thinking approach that not only applies internally, but also shapes their customer-facing environments. 

This human-centered approach needs to be applied to every business, especially since the jarring and rapid shift to online business due to COVID-19 made it even more important to create a sense of belonging and engagement with each employee. This means that the intranet is more of a strategic imperative than ever before. 

Here are the four secrets to getting your organization to adopt your intranet:

1. Implement Personalization 

A one-size-fits-all approach rarely works for intranets. Employees need to access different content and tools based on their role and department. 

For example, employees who work on the warehouse floor or out in the field may have very different access requirements from those who work in an office environment. Serving the needs of individual employees will lead to more efficient and more highly satisfied employees. 

2. Improve UX/UI for Faster Adoption 

Employees have grown accustomed to sophisticated yet simple digital experiences in their private lives but are faced with complex structures and systems in the workplace. The lack of investment into excellent employee experiences can result in decreased productivity, engagement, and retention rate. 

To improve UX and UI, implement simple navigation, consistent site structures, and helpful features like custom menus, favorites, and personalized dashboards. 

3. Encourage Mentoring and Knowledge Sharing 

In a survey by Deloitte, 8 in 10 executives ranked corporate learning as “important” or “very important.” 

Deloitte noted that “this focus on learning seems appropriate, as learning opportunities are among the largest drivers of employee engagement and a strong workplace culture—they are part of the entire employee value proposition, not merely a way to build skills.”

Dominos is a fine example of a company that uses its intranet for education and mentoring. Dominos offers a notable worldwide, online mentoring program for women and minorities. This creates a great environment for knowledge sharing in a positive and engaging way, which is even more important when employees are unable to meet together. 

4. Build the Technical Foundation to Support Remote Work 

In 2019, almost half (47.9%) of businesses’ network infrastructure assets were aging or obsolete compared to only 13.1% in 2017. 

With the advent of COVID-19, organizations have had to rapidly address their underlying infrastructure to cater for the business challenges of today.

If employees are unable to access their intranet from home because of poor infrastructure, then why would they even use the intranet? IT teams need to make their company’s technologies available to their workforce outside of the office so that employees can access the content and applications they need, securely and easily wherever they are. 

The Intranet Imperative 

Your intranet does not need to be an unloved tool in your technology stack. But in order for your workforce to value it, intranets need to be transformed beyond file storage. Learn what it takes to transform your intranet beyond file storage to boost employee productivity, increase collaboration, and optimize business operations. 

About Veriday

Veriday, a Platinum Liferay Solution Provider Partner, provides award winning marketing software and services. Veriday builds intranets, websites and connected experiences on Liferay and world-class technologies for companies in a variety of industries.