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3 Intranet Features to Boost Employee Engagement

2020, as it turns out, is not the year we hoped for. It's not even the year we would grudgingly tolerate. We are living in a real-life version of Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. Except replace "Day" with "Year." And replace "Alexander" with "The Entire World."

But, since I'm eternally optimistic (annoyingly so, on occasion), I want to point out that 2020 hasn't been a total loss. Remember when Jon Krasinski held a virtual prom, or when an entire neighborhood in Italy joined together in song? Pet adoption rates are up in the U.S., and so are employee engagement numbers.

There's hope for us, yet, everyone.

Last week, we were treated to a webinar session with Lori Rucker, who is the Solutions Architect at Hines, one of the world's largest real estate firms, to talk about employee engagement. (If you didn't catch it, you can watch the recording here.) Lori shared some fantastic intranet features that are keeping her and her team tuned in and satisfied at work. Here are a few.

Interactive Content

Pushing content to your employees is decidedly not the best way to build a culture of communication and collaboration. However, affording them the opportunity to interact with (via commenting and reactions), share, and subscribe to your content definitely is.

Threaded conversations and reactions increase engagement at Hines.

 

Creating a multi-directional communication strategy like Hines did draws your employees in. It allows them to shift from simply consuming content immersing themselves in it.

"Engagement by Relevance"

This is a phrase that Lori used during her presentation, and it really appealed to me. The idea is that, by providing each employee with relevant content - and only relevant content - you're providing a clean, useful, efficient digital workspace. You're also showing your entire workforce that you care about them as individuals with specific and varied needs.

Photo Sharing

I love this idea, which Lori highlighted as one of her favorite intranet features. The Hines intranet includes a photo section, which employees worldwide are invited to contribute to. Each month, they construct and share a themed gallery. Not only is it a fun feature, it's a beneficial one. Lori recalled an instance where the photo gallery was an ice breaker during a Zoom call with new colleagues.

The Hines team honors their late founder with a photo tribute.

 

I hope you find inspiration and a little hope in this post. So many of us are still working to make others' lives better at work, at home, and in the community.

If you're interested in a personalized demonstration of the Akumina employee experience platform to hear how we can help get and keep your workforce engaged, give us a shout.