In 2018 IWG reported that there were approximately 70% of professionals work remotely at least once a week. That is an incredible stat and with movements and environments like WeWork, and our own Workspace shared office space, continuing to trend upwards, shared offices and remote connectivity (or telecommunicating) is definitely something being utilized by professionals across all sectors. The truth is, most organizations have had remote workers for quite some time. Whether it’s sales teams travelling, or regional management VPNs and connecting to corporate networks is not new. However, as trends move towards cloud solutions fewer and fewer direct network connections are required for remote workers to be able to connect to company services.
What this has seemed to cause, in my experience, is an issue with internal communication channels and efficiently getting the right information to remote team members, and engaging with them digitally.
Often team members on the road are wanting to get corporate updates as if they are there working at the office and it’s become a difficult thing to accomplish successfully. E-mails are often left unread, and social media channels just aren’t cutting it across the board. Platforms like Slack are great for younger staff, and tech savvy individuals, but don’t fit some organization’s cultures for multiple reasons.
Years ago, and sometimes still, the word “intranet” was used quite often in the corporate environment. Essentially, internal web servers were created that only served websites to the internal network. These sources of information became places where staff could go to get phone numbers of other team members and other vital information that they needed operationally. However, for the most part, they don’t seem to be an engaging platform. You will quite often hear them referred to as “The directory”.
If you are interested in providing information and engaging team members who may be “mobile” or “remote”, there is an affordable solution!
In simple terms, a website can easily be created that requires login. Your team members can then access this website on their mobile phones, desktop computers, laptops, tablets, or whatever else they may have available with an internet connection.
Essentially, a lightweight website can be created to remove the need for any “intranet” or “directory” and provide you with a way to engage and communicate with your remote employees continually.
Some of the functions I have seen used with these team member portals include:
- Sharing corporate\company information (sales, targets, new hires, important notices, etc…)
- Engaging staff from the bottom up (contesting, picture sharing, news sharing, commenting, etc…)
- Sharing competitive information (provide insights into your sector and what your competitors are doing)
- Collect Feedback from all of your employees (sometimes remote, and especially junior staff feel more comfortable using this type of platform to provide operational feedback)
These websites provide your staff with a way to stay engaged and provide feedback, providing them with the opportunity to provide value to your company’s operations and objectives.
Contact us today if you are interested in discussing setting up an employee portal.