Networking Technology Tips

How an Intranet Portal Affects the Company Culture

The ongoing pandemic and the sudden switch to remote work has left a mark on the company culture, it has transformed the normal working conditions and culture. Not only the work culture, but it has also even altered our normal lifestyle. Changes are occurring throughout the world to accommodate the pandemic restrictions. As for the workforce in the USA, which currently largely consists of millennials, and three other generations, they have easily adapted to this new working environment. And these new working conditions have proved to have a positive outcome on the productivity of the employees, a study conducted revealed that remote work has boosted output by 13%. So much so that top companies like Twitter have already announced plans to make remote work a permanent option, even after the pandemic. The pandemic has kickstarted the work from home culture and given it a positive persona, which it lacked in the pre-pandemic years. The misconceptions that had veiled on remote work have been removed.

So, how will enterprise companies embrace this change and create a new and improved company culture for themselves, because company culture is incredibly important to have a successful and healthy company, your people, and your customers? With the inception of remote work, the need to keep always connected has been established as required, with that idea in mind companies are choosing for a cloud-first approach to their enterprise collaboration needs. Many companies had switched over to an intranet portal to accommodate remote work even before the pandemic, but the adoption rates for these were low. In this new state of affairs, these intranet portals have seen better traffic and companies started choosing intranet portals to build a positive company culture and promote healthy collaboration among their employees. With the increase in the online presence of people, even a small blunder can cause a huge impact on the organizational brand value.

Good company culture is formed when the company has strong leadership, coordination, trust, and good communication among its employees. So how does an intranet portal help companies build a culture that is fit for the remote workforce?

Intranet Portal in a Progressive Workplace Culture

Workplace culture is, in simpler words ‘the way we do things around here’.  And it requires people and physical interactions to build it. So how can software like an intranet portal aid in building company culture? The truth is, even though it is a software, it takes actual people to build it, engage, and promote with it. The gap between adopting an intranet portal and the intranet becoming the centralized hub for the workplace is all it would take to bring about new and upbeat change in the workplace culture. And this change can happen much faster than you think.

Build Employees’ Trust towards the Management

In the US, only 32% of employees of the total workforce believe that their organization has trusted leaders and managers to navigate this pandemic. So, it is important to work on trust. To gain the trust of your employees, you must first discontinue the gap between office life and remote work life. And to do that you have to be more open and liberal in your communications. Be in constant touch with your team, using the various social communication tools that an intranet can offer, like Microsoft Teams, Slack, or Trello you can streamline your communications. Collect feedbacks regularly, using surveys and virtual meetings. People need to be encouraged to express their opinions in this meeting, you must create an environment of inclusivity in these virtual meetings so that no one feels left out. These discussions, virtual brainstorming sessions, opinions, and insights will build a culture of open communication and a smart work environment.

Now in this situation when your company onboards a new person to a team their first few days at the organization leaves a lasting impression on their take of the company culture. You can set an example to them by showing them how the company works around the intranet platform. Throughout their training encourage them to openly communicate and share knowledge and opinions on the intranet platform. Ease them into the new culture you are building.

Use the intranet portal to share important updates, urge your people to keep connected and stay in the loop. Take up the opportunity to celebrate and recognize employees’ success on the intranet portal. Makeshift the intranet portal as a platform to give these people a spotlight. Make them realize that you are invested in them, even in the remote.

You need to have a personalized and customized approach to the intranet portal strategies during this time of the pandemic. The fact is remote work has affected people differently, some of them have adapted to it, but some are still having a hard time balancing personal life and professional life, it can indeed be a struggle at times. The remote work can affect the employees differently depending on their age. While millennials are technologically prepared and worried about caregiving Gen Z is concerned about the inadequate workspace. That is why your approach needs to be customized with each of your employees.

An intranet portal will not be able to build a company culture without the active participation of employees and management alike. And considering the above points draft an intranet strategy that fits at your organization and will cement a company culture that will greatly reflect in the total employee engagement and hence the outputs of your employees. Through employee engagement, communication, and collaboration will only you be able to create a tool that is enhancing your company culture.

Author

Adarsh D