The last few years have been stressful. Tumultuous and vital elections, changes in how we work and communicate, halts to pleasures such as travel or parties, and a pandemic to top it all off. Feeling part of something bigger than yourself is crucial for your well-being in times like this. And as an internal communicator tasked with taking care of the well-being of your staff, ensuring employees feel connected to a larger community is a crucial responsibility. As you build a work community, one of the best tools in your arsenal is an intranet to bring your organization together and make everyone feel like they’re embedded in a group of like-minded individuals. Here are 5 ways to use your intranet to build a stronger community at work.
1. A shared calendar is a great place to get your work community involved in local initiatives
Your intranet is a great place to motivate people to contribute to the larger community. Highlighting upcoming volunteer and community events in your shared calendar will let all your employees know how to get involved and give back to your neighborhood. Additionally, put essential dates—such as elections—right in your calendar to ensure everyone knows exactly when to get out and vote!
Ultimately, you want your calendar to balance work, fun, and community events so that everyone in your organization feels productive, informed, and connected. Learn how Hickam FCU streamlined its involvement with community events in this case study.
2. Use homepage widgets and forms to get to know each other
You can’t build a work community if each employee is an enigma shrouded in mystery. There are lots of fun ways to get to know one another, from ice breakers to scavenger hunts—but remote and hybrid work is another hurdle in allowing workplaces to connect and build robust communities.
Many of IC’s clients, and ourselves at IC, feature one or two employees a month who go above and beyond in exemplifying company values and contributing to the workplace. It would be best to highlight these employees on your intranet’s home page and set up an intuitive questionnaire for them with your intranet’s form feature so that everyone can get to know them better. If you need some inspiration for the types of questions to ask, read our master list of icebreakers!
3. Your intranet is a single source of truth, for fun
We all need a little fun, and sometimes goofy (work-appropriate) photos can show a side of your personality that can’t be captured over Zoom, Slack, or Teams. When you share photos of fun events and staff outings, not only do you share the joy with workers who couldn’t join you—but employees are reminded of the work community they’re part of, which can go a long way to improving retention.
4. Use your intranet for onboarding to strengthen your work community, out of the gate
New hires may not feel like they’re part of the community for a while, so your onboarding process must address that. Your intranet can be a vital tool in onboarding new hires so that they feel productive and in the know and get a chance to see how your organization plays and has fun.
When using an intranet to onboard new hires, show them how you use your intranet to plan community events, highlight personal achievements, and share fun photos of group outings!
5. Take pulse checks on how your staff is feeling
While setting up fun initiatives goes a long way to building a positive work community, you need to be active in your approach—and frequent check-ins with staff to ensure your efforts have their desired effects are paramount. Send out Push messages occasionally, with a short list of questions to gauge the satisfaction of employees at your organization, and highlight (anonymous) responses at your next team meeting or town hall. This gives employees the sense that their voice matters and allows your leadership team to address any potential issues head-on before they undermine your workplace community.
Don’t have an intranet yet? IC to the rescue!
If you don’t yet have a powerful intranet to apply these work community-building ideas, book a call with our expert team and see how our software can help build a better work environment for your organization.
