Article

November 6, 2024

15 Must-Follow Intranet Best Practices to Boost Productivity and Engagement

Blair Williamson

7 minute read

When your company deploys an intranet solution, you are looking to improve certain issues in the workplace. We have diligently conducted research to discover 15 must-follow intranet best practices that will boost productivity and employee engagement once implemented.

What is an Intranet?

An intranet is a private network used for sharing information and resources. The intranet is a crucial asset for team and teleconferencing employees. It also makes communication from the executive suite to employees and vice versa easier and more convenient.

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Why is the Intranet Important?

A company intranet benefits your business in several ways. Consider these essential benefits:

A successful intranet allows you to create a virtual workspace for employees. It also makes a community that works together and shares information by providing team rooms, discussion forums, and document-sharing abilities.

The company can store several types of corporate information digitally on the intranet, including memos, announcements, staff news, research papers, contracts, service manuals, human resources forms, and more. The documents are securely stored in a central location that is easy to find and can be accessed when needed.

The intranet is also an effective training platform for new employees. When used properly, they can find their HR documents, start the company training process, and quickly get acquainted with their team members. This onboarding process helps the new hire find their footing on the new job and start contributing without undue delay.

It is a system that makes for better communications throughout the company. The intranet is a communications hub for your team members that keeps employees engaged.

Intranet platforms allow employees to provide feedback on company changes and ideas for improvement to executives.

How the Intranet Evolved to Become an Essential Tool

The very first intranets were used by organizations for document sharing. By 1996, technology had advanced to the point where intranet solutions for employee communication and collaboration were becoming available.

The next step in the internet's evolution was the move from a desktop browser version to an internet one. From that point, an intranet became much easier to install and manage. A company only needed internet access to launch an intranet. Previously, the company would have needed to install software on each user’s desktop computer and store their data on their own servers.

By the early 2000s, web 2.0 technologies and social networking websites started influencing how people used intranets. The following features were added:

Activity feeds
Blogs
Interactive content
User profiles
Videos

To create intranet 2.0, developers had to merge a cloud-based solution with the social aspects of intranets. Today, a more comprehensive approach is taken toward intranets: SasS (Software as a Solution) is integrated into the intranet system. It’s where the digital workplace that employees are now familiar with came into being.

Digital Workspace Defined

A modern-day intranet provides employees with a digital workplace connected to a centralized platform. The intranet platform allows employees to access the resources and tools required to perform their duties.

The integrated applications and tools allow employees to work as a team. They can access information and communicate with each other from anywhere, from any mobile device.

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Intranet Best Practices

Intranet best practices ensure employees can easily navigate and utilize resources, leading to a more efficient and effective digital workplace. Implementing these best practices can improve communication, streamline workflows, and enhance employee experience.

The following best practice intranet examples show how an intranet impacts employees and the organization. Continue reading to learn more:

1. Choose an internet strategy and set measurable goals

Your intranet should have a strategy that fits the company’s business goals. To determine your internet strategy, consider these points:

What do your employees expect to get from the intranet?
How will you keep your intranet adaptable to business change?
Decide how you want to deliver the intranet project.

These intranet key performance factors (KPIs) can be used to measure its success:

Employee Adoption - The number of employees using the intranet
Average Click Rate - indicates whether employees are using the intranet search engine
Time to Access Knowledge - shows how employees access knowledge/estimates productivity
Employee Satisfaction - Ask employees for feedback about their user experience.

2. Consult employees to discover what matters most to them

It makes sense that intranet design best practices include consulting users. After all, they are the ones who will be working with the platform daily.

Ideally, interviews will be conducted with managers and team leaders to obtain feedback. Designing an intranet involves thoroughly understanding how employees work, what information they need, and which applications they use most and least.

No two intranets need to be exactly alike, since each company is different. For best practice intranet structure, find the right combination of software that best fits the company and the employees’ needs. Remember that new software can be introduced to the intranet over time as employees request it or need it. The company intranet is never meant to be static; instead it evolves with employees’ needs over time.

3. Make the company home page “pop” with relevant information

An effective intranet home page aims to draw employees in and encourage them to continue browsing (the company website’s goal is exactly the same).

Employees should see an overview of the most recent company news and upcoming events when they log in. They should also see updates from colleagues. A social intranet helps keep users updated since it provides information automatically through a newsfeed. The copy is kept short and to the point. If users wish to learn more, they merely click on the appropriate link to be taken to the news story where they can read it in detail.

A platform like LumApps will allow you to segment and target employees to share important messages and the ability to pin posts to the top of the home page so employees don’t miss important company announcements. Employees can also customize their newsfeed so they see updates from various interest groups they follow.

4. Choose short-named top-level intranet navigation elements

There is no universal standard for naming top-level intranet navigation elements, which means you can choose names that make the most sense to you. The best option is to keep names short and concise, while making sense to users.

Where possible, try to connect with employees by using titles they will relate to, such as My[Company] or My[Office Location]. These small touches will encourage employees to use the intranet and create a connection with the employee.

Consider the employees who are using the intranet. If they are used to the phrase “Personnel Office” or simply, “Personnel” for all the information about hiring and human resources, avoid labeling that file, “Human Resources.” Employees won’t respond to it as well because it’s unfamiliar.

5. Define content ownership and usage processes

It’s easier to follow intranet best practices for content once there is a particular group designated to manage it for the company. This team could include distinct roles such as:

Advocates (who promote intranet use internally)
Communications professionals
Content creators
Content owners
Human resources professionals
Product owners (involved with intranet integrations)
Technical teams

Processes and procedures around content would include publishing standards for blog posts and articles written by employees, managers, and executives. Specific policies need to be set out for revising and approving content before publication on the intranet.

Employee advocacy features make it easy for employees to become brand ambassadors. They can share company content with their personal networks in a few clicks. The company can track and reward those who share the most content. It’s a win-win situation all around.

The company gets great positive exposure in the community (and possibly further afield, through the power of the Internet). The business is in a better position to attract - and retain - top talent. The brand ambassador gets rewarded by the company with small gifts.

6. Optimize your intranet to include remote employees

The COVID-19 pandemic wasn't why employees embraced working remotely or wanted a hybrid work week. Many employees wanted more flexibility in their schedules long before the pandemic. Employee scheduling can easily be handled online, and it’s an intranet best practice.

Staff who want to work from home on certain days or who need to work from home for personal reasons can log into the attendance system to indicate their status. They can also send a private message to their supervisor. The days of having to contact human resources and then being transferred to their supervisor or making a separate call to advise their boss about a personal or family situation are finished.

A modern intranet solution will also allow you to connect frontline workers and deskless employees who are on-the-go constantly. For example, LumApps has a mobile app and is also accessible with responsive browsers on all mobile devices and tablets.

It's crucial to ensure that your intranet meets the challenges presented by remote teams. The software must be easy to access for all team members. Instant messaging, video calling, and a newsfeed allow remote employees to feel engaged and connected to company culture from anywhere.

Remote and hybrid workers may struggle to feel connected to their fellow team members who work in a brick-and-mortar office. Video conferencing is a way that all members of a team can be seen and heard during meetings. It helps everyone feel they are part of the team and no one gets left behind.

7. The intranet should be the preferred communication method in the workplace

It should be the medium for official internal communications and informal, social conversations. Start officially encouraging team members to use its features at your intranet adoption stage, such as group chats for questions and concerns. Hold team member meetings using instant messaging or a video call.

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8. Make the intranet a place where two-way conversation takes place

In most cases, the intranet is only used to communicate from management to employees. The days of publishing announcements for employees to follow may have changed.

According to an Ernst & Young survey, 81 percent of employees believe maintaining a positive culture is vital to a good employee experience. Workers want to be free to provide honest feedback to management to accomplish this goal. Management does more than give lip service to what they are hearing; they must take real action.

9. Use targeted content and social intranet features to engage employees

Ensure the content being shared with employees is engaging and interesting, such as podcasts, blog posts, surveys, and questionnaires. Include shout-outs to employees who have distinguished themselves by going the extra mile for a customer or their project work. It encourages other employees to put in extra effort too.

Much of the modern workforce comprises Millennials and Gen Z. These employees are familiar with social media. Ensure your intranet is modeled similarly, with comments, emojis, and GIFs, so these employees will get on board quickly.

10. Ensure the intranet is equipped with powerful search functions

Intranet UX (user experience) best practices start by considering employee expectations. Set up the search function so that is intuitive to how employees will search for documents and files. Ideally, the intranet is the first place employees go when they need to look for something. If they get bogged down in the search process and need help finding what they need, they will revert to the platforms and tools they used previously (and productivity will slow down).

An excellent intranet best practice is to label files and folders so that they are easy for users to find. Allow users to search multiple locations simultaneously. The search will tell the user whether the file they need is in a Google Drive or an email attachment.

11. Integrate the intranet with other tools to create a digital workplace

To make your company intranet a digital workplace, it must be a single-entry point into several applications your employees use daily. If it doesn't perform this function, adoption rates will remain low.

Seek out a platform offering integrations with solutions your employees use daily (or at least regularly), such as Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace. The intranet should also integrate with your Active Directory (AD). Your employees’ organizational data will be mapped, automated, and updated regularly in the intranet.

Your intranet provider should also offer integration with MS Teams and Slack. These applications will distribute your content to multiple channels to ensure crucial information reaches all employees quickly.

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12. Support employee advocacy

Many companies need to think about employee advocacy when they implement their intranet. However, multiple vendors offer advocacy features in their intranet platforms.

If you choose this type of solution, take steps to ensure you encourage employee advocacy. It is a powerful way to boost brand awareness. Employee advocacy also has a direct, positive impact on company sales and acquiring first-rate talent.

Employee advocacy features make it easy for employees to become brand ambassadors. They can share company content with their personal networks in a few clicks, and the company can track and reward those who share the most content. It's a win-win situation all around.

13. Make security a priority

Over the past several years, company security has become a priority. Your intranet should have these features, at the minimum:

SSL encryption
Secure storage
Security certificates (ISO 27001)
Single sign-on (SSO authentication)

The intranet platform should not be linking or storing personal data. The vendor should make your data available to you as an export file at the end of your term.

14. Use the intranet to communicate messages about your company brand and its purpose to your employees

The intranet can send the workforce messages about your company's mission statement and values. It can communicate news about your company's purpose to employees.

Employees should feel comfortable participating in a lively dialogue on the intranet. Management should ensure that resources are available to employees that help build a strong company culture.

15. Look for solutions that can personalize each employee's intranet experience

This intranet design best practice allows employees to personalize the platform's appearance when they log into it daily. For example, an employee could change the screen's background color on the homepage. They can also be prompted to show the channels and links they want to see daily.

Employees who prefer a neat, clean homepage can keep the links to a bare minimum. Someone who is very social and has joined multiple groups at work can keep up with all the latest discussions on their homepage without missing a beat.

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