Employee intranet isn't the latest buzzword in HR, that’s for sure. It has been around for some time, however, back in the day, the intranet was a simple database whereby employees could access documentation and information that related to their role, and that is related to the business as a whole. With time employee intranet has changed and grown. Rather than being an entirely one-way communication tool, it has become a place to share information and knowledge, all in one place.

If you are a business considering whether or not employee intranet is going to be the right choice for you, we have put together some of the key benefits that you should consider when deciding whether or not to roll out an intranet in your organization.

The benefits of employee intranet

One of the first reasons that many businesses decide to install an employee intranet is because it ensures that everyone knows where they can find all those key policy documents that they are going to need on an everyday basis. Best of all, because there is only one document in existence, in one place, version control isn’t a problem and your staff will be able to access the most up to date document.

Another great feature of an employee intranet is that you can make sure staff members are kept informed about the key updates and news relating to your business. This could be customer wins, industry news or perhaps any press coverage that you have received of late.

HR is so much easier when you have an employee intranet to use. It is no secret that many HR tasks can be time-consuming, however, they are incredibly important to get right. Moreover, as your business grows, so will your head count and the need for formal HR policies will become apparent. You can use an employee intranet to make sure that all the key policies and training are communicated in the same platform. Then, within the intranet, these documents and processes are easy to access and easy to update as and when you need to.

An employee intranet will also cut down on the amount of emails that you are going to need to send out to your staff. This is incredibly important because email overload is not only a source of frustration for many employees, but it can also reduce their productivity. There’s no need for duplicate communications—everything is all in one place in the intranet.

A great use for your employee intranet is to ensure that your staff directory is easy to access. Fair enough that in a smaller business your staff may know each other and where to find the right person, however, in a larger business this may not be the case. Having a directory on your intranet makes things much easier for your staff to work together, co-operate and be a team.

Improving communication with your employees is incredibly useful for deskless workers. Not only can deskless workers feel that they are going to be entirely out of the loop when it comes to being a part of the team, but they can also share their own information and knowledge, which is crucial for those who are back in the office and making the big decisions.

You may not realize it, but employee intranet can actually be so much more than a tool to communicate with your staff. The information you receive from your employees can help you make strategic decisions that can influence the course your business will take. Another use is for IT requests, both raising and tracking of them. It can also be great to place orders for stationary and also to organize and advertise training courses that they can sign up for.

A modern approach to employee intranet

Whilst the older style of employee intranet is still working well in some office-based business, much like many things in life, there is always progress and change. An upgraded version of the intranet, employee experience apps like Blink have been gaining popularity.

The idea behind these is that it is a new way to communicate with your employees, as well as have them communicate with you too. It’s a two-way feedback channel rather than a static, top to bottom communication platform. You can resolve any issues that they may have via two-way feedback and empowering your employees by giving them access to all the key information that they need, including HR and policy documents.

Another great thing about these employee experience apps is that it also ensures that you can automate any paper-based processes that you may currently have in place, which makes things neater, easier and of course, kinder to the environment too.

No matter which way you choose to communicate with your employees with an intranet alone, or whether you also offer them an app that they can access, the idea is that you make sure that you do it well. Communication is key for a happy team, as well as creating a team who are going to work well together and work well for your businesses too.