The upsurge in dispersed working calls for a new way to connect a dispersed workforce and foster a sense of employee engagement and company culture: it’s time to reinvent the intranet.
The way we work has changed: where the office used to be the unrivalled centre of a workplace, today the focus is digital. In this new working world, whether we are in-person, structured, hybrid, or remote, our workstation is now wherever we open our laptops or pull out our phones. While this new normal brings many benefits, it comes with a challenge: employee engagement. With a dispersed workforce, companies need new ways to connect people and foster the crucial sense of belonging that drives collaboration and engagement.
CEOs rate ‘culture’ as their biggest concern about hybrid working
This matters because an engaged workforce performs better: it has 81 per cent lower levels of absenteeism and 23 per cent higher levels of profitability.1 Engagement is an important quality that can come from an employee’s sense of purpose, the feeling that their work matters, and they are part of something bigger than themselves – connected with colleagues and the company. This is why CEOs rate ‘culture’ as their biggest concern about hybrid working2 and 40 per cent of HR leaders have increased their culture budget since the pandemic.3
Even so, more than money is needed. In the digital workplace, the way to bring dispersed employees together is digitally, shining a new light on the corporate intranet. Often regarded by employees as corporate, clunky, and irrelevant, a far cry from engaging, the intranet is being positively reinvented, reimagined, and revamped for the digital workplace. It’s a transformation that could see it fulfil its potential as a valued tool employees intuitively use all the time – the future intranet.
The intranet is being reinvented, reimagined, and revamped for the digital workplace in a way that will fulfil its potential
So, what might this look like? At its heart, the future intranet can reinforce a sense of purpose. Fundamentally, it can simplify communication, build community, and drive engagement for the new age of dispersed workers – and do it in a way they enjoy. Through a unified employee experience it can foster a sense of belonging, prioritising positivity and making work more sociable and enjoyable by keeping colleagues and the company connected wherever they are. Essentially, the future intranet can bring a company’s culture to life, digitally.
Taking inspiration from the platforms we all use daily, these reimagined intranet solutions will look a lot more like social media than the static, clunky sites we often associate with the word ‘intranet’. From icons to activity feeds, a ‘social-based’ future intranet that mirrors our experience of reading the news and connecting with friends comes with in-built advantages: it is instantly familiar, appealing, and accessible. This makes browsing, navigating, posting, commenting, accessing, interacting, and generally connecting easier and more enjoyable. And that breathes fresh life into the intranet – making it something people enjoy using.
This was the thinking behind Zoom’s Workvivo. With the familiar look and feel of a social media platform, including a mobile-first philosophy that supports inclusivity for frontline workers, Workvivo is one of the first human-centric intranet platforms created for the modern worker and the digital workplace. Consciously designed to foster the sense of belonging that has been missing from dispersed working, it helps deliver the connections that employees and employers crave. So, how might the employee experience play out day to day?
The day might start with scrolling through a personalised activity feed, catching up on work chatter as well as company news. Interaction is as easy as ‘liking’ a post, adding a comment, or even linking an action to a company value, reinforcing its broader missions, goals, and strategies. By making content easy to create, employees might be inspired to take five minutes to post about their latest project or even make a video that explains what their team is doing – contributing to the sense of community.
Remote workers love working from home, but they still crave the sense of belonging that comes from connecting
After a meeting, milestone, or sales win, a ‘shout out’ celebrates your colleagues’ success for everyone to see, fostering collective positivity. Indeed, celebration plays a big part in the future intranet, from welcoming new colleagues to running awards and community spaces that help keep people engaged. Meanwhile, employers keep their finger on the pulse with employee feedback from regular surveys.
With intuitive social-style navigation and all resources accessible through a central hub, the digital workplace is more streamlined, making it quick and easy to find critical information. And if you can’t find something, starting a chat brings in support from colleagues everywhere. As the day progresses, you regularly check your constantly updated activity feed or might take a break to visit a more social site, perhaps the company’s ‘sport chat’ or ‘joke for the day’. These small moments go beyond the ‘water cooler’ – recognition, shared stories, and jokes help build culture and mean a lot to employees.
Perhaps the beauty of a reinvented future intranet is that it doesn’t feel like an intranet. It certainly doesn’t feel ‘corporate’ despite being at the heart of a company’s culture. And crucially, that’s what makes it work: people want to use it. In the digital workplace, dispersed workers still crave the sense of belonging that comes from connecting with colleagues and the company. That’s what the future intranet must deliver to promote employee engagement - keeping staff informed, engaged, and connected in a way that works for them.
