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Keeping It Real: Why an Employee Intranet Beats Ping Pong

Forget perks like office Ping Pong for employee engagement. Create a great intranet instead.

By Cathy Dew

Lose the lunch-and-learns, pack up the Ping Pong tables, and dispense with the free snacks. (Okay, on second thought, the snacks should stay). If you really want to engage your employees, you are going to have to go beyond extra office perks to forge a real connection between your organization and the employees who keep it running and on track.

And one of the most efficient ways to forge, facilitate, and foster employee engagement is through your employee intranet.

Lose the amusements and go for real solutions

While there is nothing wrong with a having some fun—who doesn’t love craft beer Friday or the annual ugly Christmas sweater contest—office amusements aren’t going to translate into greater productivity, decreased turnover, or stronger commitment to the organization’s goals. But a great employee intranet can contribute to all of that and more, especially if you consciously construct it to increase employee engagement.

A great intranet positively impacts job performance.

Employee engagement should intersect with your intranet from the start. By inviting all employees to participate in the intranet design process, you enhance employee experience while sending the powerful message that engagement matters. Employees will see the practical and positive relationship between participation and result and, as co-architects of the intranet, chances are high they will take full advantage of the resource.

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If you really want to engage employees, you are going to have to go beyond extra office perks.

Once launched, your intranet will serve as a powerful tool for productivity, providing a user experience (UX) that is fast, pleasant and intuitive. It encourages employee engagement by eliminating time wasters, which are always sources of frustration. Anyone who has ever wondered if they are working on the latest version of a document or looked through old emails trying to find a colleague’s contact information knows how frustration can sour job performance.

A well-constructed intranet provides access to the resources needed to work effectively and efficiently. Because you can design an intranet to be exactly what you need, it can function as a document management system (DMS), content management system (CMS), and tool for interactive project management and collaboration.

An intranet promotes productive employee engagement by providing easy access to continuous improvement opportunities like in-house training and external learning resources.

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A great intranet is a relationship-building tool.

Internal communication is the key driver of employee engagement and your intranet is your organization’s most important communications tool. An employee-directed intranet will make it easy for employees to access and understand benefits, payroll issues, company policies, and other HR-related matters.

Through your intranet, employees can easily find and contact co-workers by accessing the online company-wide directory. They can learn more about each other through a company newsletter. An intranet is a gateway to forming meaningful workplace relationships, the cornerstone of positive employee engagement.

So how do you get started?

Whether you already have an intranet that needs some tweaking or you are starting from scratch, the best place to start is with an up-close-and-personal assessment of your company’s particular and unique needs. 2Plus2’s Delivery Plus development methodology begins with our immersing ourselves in your business so we have a deep understanding of what you do and how you do it. Your intranet should be as unique as your business and the employees who make it successful. Visit us online to schedule a free consultation with our team or call 510-652-7700 today.

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Cathy Dew
Cathy Dew – CEO + Information Architect
Cathy focuses the company on our mission – Real results. Every time. Information architect and strategist, Cathy is passionate about making software work well – the function, the feel, the result.
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