In the late 90s and early 00s, intranet software solutions were nothing more than clunky digital dumping grounds. Eager to make the post out of these platforms, organisations posted thousands upon thousands of communications without much consideration for UI, UX and employee engagement. They were nice to have but difficult to use; fun to create but garish to look at. 

Needless to say, we’ve come a long way since then. 

The intranets of today are not only slick in design and brimming with innovative features: they’re a fundamental keystone of the digital workplace. They underpin processes, facilitate collaboration, nurture connections, and breathe life into your culture and strategic goals. 

They’re no longer a ‘nice to have’ but a must-have. That’s why, when shopping around for a new platform, you shouldn’t make your decision lightly. With so much riding on this one solution, it’s important you choose the best option for your business – one that truly empowers your people and processes. 

To help you make this decision, we’ve compiled a comparison list of 15 of the top employee intranets on the market today. 

Setting expectations: Which standard intranet features should you expect? 

Before we jump into product comparisons and pros and cons, let’s first discuss feature fundamentals. If you’re new to the world of intranets – or you’re about to make a vendor switch – it’s important to understand what you should expect from your new platform. 

While all solutions differ (and some will offer more than others), most platforms will contain the following intranet features in their base packages: 

Communication and social networking 

Internal communications

UI and design functionality

Document management

Automated workflows and processes

Employee engagement and productivity

User permissions and data security

Tangible usability statistics 

Comparing the 15 best intranet software solutions

Now, let’s get stuck into what you’re really here for: the product overviews. 

In the following list, we’ll introduce you to 15 of the top intranet platforms on the market. Beneath each entry, we’ll feature a list of pros and cons to help you make your comparison. In the spirit of being as unbiased as possible, we’ve sourced these insights from trusted G2 customer reviews. 

1. Claromentis

This next contender has been delivering intranet solutions to businesses across the globe for 25 years. Available on-premise or in the cloud, Claromentis is a highly secure digital workplace solution with a comprehensive API. It consists of four impressive platforms: 

Each platform includes a wealth of powerful employee experience, internal communications, compliance and productivity features, with further generative AI capabilities in the works. 

The Claromentis team also provides a range of additional services to help you get the most from your investment. This includes; specialised custom application development; Claromentis University learning materials; and full localisation support. 

Pros 

Claromentis users love the quality, range and impact of features available within the solution, from the powerful automated e-forms to the detailed reporting. They also highly rate the platform’s intuitive customisation, flexible deployment options, and supportive customer service team. 

Cons 

Some users have experienced difficulties with filtering content, searching for specific discussion threads, and finding platform support information. 

As a company, we take all feedback seriously and strive to deliver a stellar user experience for every customer. Our multiple Best Support and High Performer G2 badges are a testament to this commitment. 

2. Workvivo

Owned by Zoom, Workvivo is one of the most well known employee experience platforms on the market. It contains many of the features typical of an employee intranet with a few Zoom-inspired features, such as Workvivo TV. 

For those of you who are migrating from Meta’s Workplace, this corporate intranet software is the official partner of choice. (However, we suggest you research other vendors before committing blindly.)

Pros 

Users praise the platform’s user experience and range of communication features. 

Cons 

Conversely, many reviews criticise Workvivo’s slow application performance, complicated integrations, and lack of mobile compatibility. Some users also claim that the interface is confusing for anyone who isn’t tech savvy. 

3. Guru

Guru is a knowledge base and wiki platform with intranet capabilities. It allows organisations to create, share and translate content across distributed teams. 

Pros 

G2 users praise Guru for its centralised knowledge base features, which encourage information sharing, regular content updates, and process standardisation. 

Cons 

The most cited disadvantage of Guru is its poor searchability. Specifically, users express frustration with finding specific information when entering a topic or query. The platform struggles to locate drafts and will sometimes recommend unrelated content. 

4. Simpplr 

Defined as an employee experience platform, Simpplr places heavy emphasis on cultivating a sense of belonging and wellbeing. Unlike some other platforms in this comparison list, the software contains automation and AI functionality. 

Pros 

Simpplr users praise the platform’s ease of use and collaboration features. 

Cons 

The biggest downside to Simpplr is its limited functionality and lack of features, with many users expressing frustration with expensive add ons. Some small to mid-size companies also criticise the company’s poor customer support and inflexible onboarding approaches. 

5. Microsoft SharePoint 

A well known name in the intranet landscape, Microsoft SharePoint is a content management platform with the ability to create and distribute intranet pages. It’s included in most Microsoft 365 plans, making it a convenient option for many businesses. 

Pros 

The platform is easy to use and enables collaboration. As you might expect from Microsoft, it also contains a number of data management and security features. 

Cons 

Microsoft SharePoint is priced higher than many other competitors. In addition to this, users claim the platform lacks customisation and suffers from inefficient searchability and performance. One common issue amongst G2 customers is the fact that only one person can access a file at any given time. 

6. Axero 

Axero is one of the smaller intranet vendors on the market. As well as providing internal communication applications, the solution also contains a number of enterprise social networking capabilities, including social media embedding and instant messaging. 

Pros 

Customers like that the platform offers a range of features, including content segmentation and personalisation. 

Cons 

Users criticise the platform’s steep learning curve for new users, poor application design, and slow feature updates. There are also some accuracy issues with the platform’s search feature. 

7. Viva Engage (Yammer)

In 2023, Microsoft rebranded Yammer to Microsoft Viva Engage. (Though many still refer to the platform by its old name!) The platform specialises in enterprise social networking features, allowing employees to message one another, set up virtual town halls, and connect with leadership teams. 

Pros 

Viva Engage provides ample opportunities for employees to share knowledge, achievements, updates and more. In particular, users favour its intuitive social media functionality. 

Cons 

Many users describe the platform as clunky and outdated. Viva Engage also has issues with content filtering and excessive notifications, both of which can impede employee productivity and engagement. 

8. ThoughtFarmer

ThoughtFarmer contains a range of employee engagement, content management, communication and collaboration tools. The platform also offers some personalisation and customisation options. 

Pros 

G2 customers compliment the platform’s ease of use and intuitiveness. 

Cons 

The downsides of ThoughtFarmer include limited customisation, complicated analytics, and some back end design issues. According to some customers, customisations beyond those included in the out-of-the-box package are priced at a high hourly fee. 

9. Happeo

Like many other intranet platforms in our list, Happeo comes ready-made with a suite of internal comms, employee experience, reporting and document management features. The platform also integrates well with Google Workspace. 

Pros 

Users compliment the platform’s simplicity, engaging content and ease of use. 

Cons 

The product features can be stiff, certain intranet features aren’t included in the base purchase, and some users cite frustration with non-real time analytics. 

10. Unily

Unily offers the typical features you would expect from an employee experience platform, including internal comms and communication tools. Unlike some other solutions on the market, they provide some interesting gamified experiences, such as voting-based ideation. 

Pros 

Users enjoy the platform’s customisation, ease of use and ability to request new features.

Cons 

Additional features, such as branded mobile apps, come at an added price. Some users also cite problems with customer support and long ticket resolution times. 

11. Bonzai Intranet

Bonzai Intranet is an intranet solution for SharePoint and Microsoft 365. The out-of-the-box platform comes ready-made with pre-built templates and predictive navigation. 

Pros 

Some users enjoy the easily replicable templates on offer, which help to streamline the implementation and build process. 

Cons 

As to be expected from an out-of-the-box solution, Bonzai Intranet limits the amount of customisation businesses can achieve. 

12. Jive

Jive is an employee engagement and cloud VoIP platform, created by software developers IgniteTech. The platform contains a range of communication, collaboration, engagement and analytics tools. 

Pros 

The platform is accessible from anywhere – including traditional phones when using a LAN adaptor. Users appreciate its user-friendly interface. 

Cons 

The platform suffers from slow development cycles and new features are few and far between. Some customers experience slow loading times and lag. 

13. Staffbase

Staffbase is an intranet, employee communications and internal comms app, built to drive engagement and nurture digital communities. 

Pros 

Staffbase customers frequently praise the timeliness and quality of the customer support team and onboarding process. 

Cons 

The platform has limited drag and drop functionality, making it difficult for users to rearrange and resize content. Some users believe the UX is clunky and find the platform complicated to use. 

14. Haystack

The four core pillars of the Haystack intranet are: communication, directory, knowledge and events. Predominantly, the software aims to bring teams together and improve knowledge distribution. 

Pros 

Customers like the platform’s UI and find it easy to locate resources. 

Cons 

Content can be crowded and overwhelming for some customers. There are also some limitations with certain features, such as reporting, search and live document editing. 

15. Igloo

Igloo aims to connect, engage and upskill workers across frontline and office environments. As such, they specialise in providing intranets for industries with deskless employees, such as hospitality and retail. 

Pros

The platform is easy to set up and encourages collaboration across dispersed teams. 

Cons

There are a limited number of page layouts and customisations. Some users struggle with searching for files and find the login process vexing. 

Choosing your best intranet software: Why Claromentis should make your shortlist

We know what you’re thinking. Okay, so which intranet software is the best? 

Unfortunately, that’s a question only you can answer.

Much like any investment, what’s best for one company may not be the best for another. Therefore, you need to find an intranet that you believe will make a tangible, profitable difference to your business. This requires plenty of soul searching, independent research and platform demoing. 

That being said, we can say this with confidence: none of the intranets in this blog provide the same quality and breadth of features as Claromentis.

That’s because Claromentis isn’t just an employee intranet. 

Our solution contains four powerful platforms, included in every package at no additional cost. With these extra project management, BPA and e-learning features in your toolkit, you can:

So, if you’re looking for an intranet solution that goes the extra mile and outperforms the rest, look no further.
If you’d like to see Claromentis in action – and learn more about our range of features and pricing – book a tailored demo with our team today. We’d love to show you around.

Malicious outsider threats were once a top concern for healthcare IT departments. Now a new threat has taken precedence – and they could be wandering along your patient wards as we speak. 

According to a recent Verizon report, 70% of all healthcare data breaches are a result of internal threat actors. 

Reasons behind these breaches vary from privilege misuse to miscellaneous human error. Regardless of their origin, these incidents all have one thing in common: they can result in hefty regulatory fines and lasting reputational damage.  

To avoid this fate in your healthcare institution, you’ll need to improve your data security efforts. And that starts with bolstering the platform where most of your personal and medical data lives: your intranet. 

In this blog, we’ll explain how you can boost intranet compliance and, by extension, improve your data security practices. 

7 tips to improve healthcare intranet compliance

Intranet compliance is an ongoing team effort. The responsibility of which lies with your intranet vendor and your internal teams.

In the following tips, we’ll recommend best practices that concern both of these parties. 

1. Choose a security-forward intranet vendor 

Data security and compliance should be at the forefront of your mind when choosing (or replacing) an intranet software. Why? Because vendors differ, and so too do their security measures. Some may handle your data flippantly, making it difficult to comply with regulatory requirements. 

So, when making your decision, opt for a partner that:

2. Opt for an on-premise deployment

The majority of cloud-hosted intranets benefit from extensive, best-in-class security. However, no matter how extensive these security investments are, you’ll never have full control over your data. 

This is the nature of any SaaS deployment. But, for such a heavily regulated industry, it can be a major sticking point. 

For peace of mind, your organisation may prefer to deploy an on-premise intranet instead. This will give your IT and security teams full control over your data and the security of your systems. It’ll also allow you to restrict data access to your local network only. 

Claromentis is one of the few intranet providers that offers on-premise deployments – and with no hidden costs. For more details on our self-hosted solution, please download our in-depth technical guide:

3. Assign intranet admins and moderators 

Without any governance, your intranet may evolve into a data free-for-all, with employees having access to all manner of sensitive information. 

To prevent this, you’ll need to assign a team of intranet admins. These are users who demonstrate high levels of understanding in relation to employee responsibilities, data security and governance. 

It’s their responsibility to manage your overarching intranet and lay the foundations for compliant data sharing practices. 

While admin rights will differ from platform to platform, administrators in Claromentis can: 

It’s worth noting that these administrators needn’t be tech gurus. With Claromentis’s no-code, drag-and-drop functionality, anyone can build new features, set up automated processes and manage your intranet. This gives your technical and compliance teams valuable time to actively find and mitigate risks. 

4. Configure user groups and permissions 

One key HIPAA requirement is the ‘Minimum Necessary Rule’. In other words, only those who absolutely need to access protected health information (PHI) to fulfil their duties should be able to view and use it. 

This is where intranet user groups and permissions are invaluable. By filtering users into groups, you can ensure that employees only see the intranet content that’s appropriate for their role. 

In addition to this, platforms like Claromentis add an extra layer of privacy via IP whitelisting.  With this feature, only users with an acceptable IP range can access your most sensitive healthcare documentation. 

5. Enforce content approval

Even users with higher levels of permissions may, on a bad day, accidentally reveal sensitive data they shouldn’t via an intranet news update or blog post.

To account for slip-ups like this, implement content approval measures. This allows your intranet admins and/or subject matter experts to read through an intranet communication before it goes live. The result? You limit the chances of personal, internal or healthcare data falling through the cracks. 

6. Take advantage of intranet auditing tools 

With the right intranet software, you can access a historical audit log of user activity across your intranet applications and documents. Reviewing this data will help you:

For your convenience, Claromentis also comes ready made with an audit management application. This feature allows you to consolidate and structure your regulatory data, as well as track your progress leading up to an audit. 

7. Train staff on data security best practices 

Technology can only do so much. To ensure your intranet remains compliant, you’ll need to keep your employees updated on data security best practices, as well as your own internal standards. 

We recommend augmenting your current data security training with intranet-specific guidance. This should cover:  

Claromentis can help you present this training with our built-in learning management system. Once you create the learning materials, you can structure them in tailored, engaging learning pathways and assign them to your users. 

Safeguard your healthcare internal comms with Claromentis

Data breaches have impacted over 32 million US patients in 2024 so far. With so many of these breaches being attributed to insider threats, there’s a high chance insecure and ungoverned intranets have a part to play in this. 

If these statistics ring alarm bells, now’s the time to act. 

To prevent data leakages without impeding collaboration and patient outcomes, your healthcare organisation must:

Combined, these efforts will prevent any sensitive information from falling into the wrong hands. In turn, keeping your employees and patients safe. 

If you’d like to see how Claromentis can enhance your healthcare organisation’s intranet compliance efforts, book a tailored demo with our team. We’ll walk you through our admin controls, explain our on-premise offering (if it’s of interest), and show you why we’re the best intranet platform for achieving HIPAA compliance.

Still on the hunt for the perfect Workplace alternative? An internal comms platform that’s just as intuitive, with impressive features your employees can quickly get to grips with? 

It can be tricky to find a solution that ticks all the boxes – especially when there are so many boxes to tick. 

So, to ease some of the mental workload, we’ve compiled this quick comparison guide. 

In this blog, we compare Workplace’s top features against the Claromentis equivalents. We’ll also show you how you can utilise our comprehensive platform for more than just your internal communications efforts (and at no additional cost). 

Workplace vs Claromentis: Comparing 10 internal comms features

Human beings love consistency. We’re at our most comfortable when life is familiar, predictable and straightforward. (The fewer surprises the better, right?)

So it’s no wonder many Workplace users are looking for an easy switch. 

An internal comms software that boasts familiar features will be straightforward to implement and easier for your employees to use. This can do wonders for mitigating any change management concerns and putting your stakeholders at ease.

With that in mind, here are ten like-for-like comparisons between Workplace and Claromentis:

1. Company knowledge sharing

On the Workplace platform, you’ll no doubt use the Workplace Knowledge Library as your hub for creating, storing, and sharing company information and resources. The feature comes equipped with some customisation options, permissions controls, categorisation, and user engagement statistics.

The Claromentis Knowledge Base functions in a similar way, though there are some nifty additional features. 

When users can’t find the piece of information they’re looking for, they can ask questions and tag them with the appropriate category. These questions appear alongside the Knowledge Base articles and will stay viewable even after an expert answers them. This way, they act as a useful FAQ for new (and existing) employees and will encourage better learning and information sharing.

Like any Claromentis feature, you can toggle the questions function on or off and configure the permissions settings. For instance, you can ensure only users in a specific category/department can answer certain questions. This prevents inaccurate or unhelpful answers. 

2. News and intranet blogs

The Workplace News Feed feature is a curated dashboard of your company-wide and employee-specific communications. 

In Claromentis, we split these communications into ‘News’ and ‘Blogs’. News articles are intended to be more formal company communications, whereas blog channels can be as informal as you like. 

That being said, the premise is largely the same. Users with the appropriate permissions can create content and share it with relevant user groups. Your employees can then interact with these posts with a like, comment and/or share. 

As an added measure of control, administrators can implement content approval to ensure every news article and blog aligns with your internal comms best practices. 

3. Urgent updates 

Sometimes ‘pinning’ an important news article isn’t enough. For updates that must be read and understood, you need to harness unmissable announcements instead.

Claromentis’s Announcements feature is comparable to Workplace’s Key Updates feature. However, while Workplace encourages you to post and pin these messages on mandatory news channels, the function cannot guarantee employee acceptance. 

Claromentis adds a layer of reassurance with a tickable ‘read and accept’ workflow. This means users must read the announcement pop up and check this box before they can access the rest of the company intranet. 

4. In-person and virtual events

When you have an in-person or virtual event to promote, Workplace Events will undoubtedly be your first port of call. Though this tool is handy – especially where Workplace Live is concerned – it only offers basic functionality. 

The Claromentis events feature boasts additional features, allowing you to:

5. Employee polls and surveys 

Need to ask your employees a quick question or push out an annual engagement survey? As it stands, you probably use Workplace Polls and Surveys to accomplish these tasks. 

Our Polls and Surveys feature works in a similar way. It’s intuitive, anonymous (if you’d like it to be) and permission-based. However, whereas Workplace limits the number of questions you can ask, we don’t. This is because surveys should come in all shapes and sizes; sometimes short and succinct is best, other times you may require a deeper dive into a specific topic or challenge. 

So, like many of our platform features, we offer higher levels of customisation and control. This empowers you to build engaging polls and surveys for every unique use case. 

6. Intranet user profiles 

User profiles are a fundamental employee intranet feature. They’re a fantastic way for employees to showcase their skills, share their personal interests, and get to know their colleagues a little better. 

In Workplace and Claromentis, employees can upload profile photos, display badges, and view their latest intranet activity. 

In addition to this, Claromentis allows you to:

It’s also worth noting that our platform is highly searchable and easily filtered. Because of the extensive metadata we collect, you can quickly find and access employee profiles. (A must for any organisation with large teams or global offices.)

7. Mobile app

Does your organisation hire deskless employees? If so, the Workplace mobile app is likely the only way they can access your company intranet and internal communications. 

Thankfully, making the switch to Claromentis shouldn’t be difficult for these team members. With a responsive browser-based UI and engaging mobile intranet application, they can stay up to date with your latest updates and communicate with their fellow colleagues easily. 

8. Intranet integrations 

It’s much easier to navigate your digital workplace when you can connect all of your essential tools.

Much like Workplace, Claromentis offers a number of built-in platform integrations, such as:

You can also embed integrations into your intranet modules or – if that isn’t possible – request a customised integration with our team. 

9. Business process automation

Workplace Bots is Meta’s simple automation integration. Your teams likely use it to streamline routine manual tasks, such as booking holidays or checking their annual leave allowance.

For ease of use, Claromentis comes ready made with these basic automations as standard applications.

But if you’re eager to experiment with more granular, highly-specific workflows, we encourage you to try our business process automation tool, InfoCapture. 

With an extensive back-end and a simple, no-code user interface, you can use InfoCapture to:

And, if you’re ever stuck for ideas or need help bringing your vision to life, you can lean on our experts for guidance. 

10. Intranet analytics and reporting

Gauging employee engagement and user interaction metrics is crucial for all internal communications and HR teams. So you’ll be pleased to know that Claromentis comes ready made with a wealth of intranet analytics and reporting features.

Beyond the typical content engagement and user experience metrics you can find in Workplace Insights, our platform generates application-specific reports. This allows you to dig deeper into key areas, such as:

With this data in hand, you can extract valuable insights and make more informed internal comms strategy improvements. 

Additional digital workplace features, without the additional cost

In this blog, we set out to compare the essential features your employees will expect to find on your new Workplace alternative. 

However, it’s important to note that Claromentis isn’t just your bog standard employee intranet. Nor is it a direct Workplace ‘replacement’. 

Our solution goes far beyond the capabilities of many digital workplace platforms on the market today, thanks to its extensive functionality.

Claromentis consists of four powerful platforms combined into one; a comprehensive intranet software to boost collaboration and knowledge sharing; a productivity-enhancing business automation tool; a slick and customisable learning management system; and an intuitive project management tool. And, yes, they’re all included in your price package. 

This means you get access to a wealth of valuable tools that simply don’t exist on Workplace, including: 

Better yet, all of these features are supported by a dedicated, G2 award-winning customer support team who are always on hand to help you get the most out of your investment. 

Eager to see Claromentis in action? Take our solution for a test run in our browser-based playground here. 

Your employees want to have a voice. It’s one of their most powerful tools – a way to share their unique perspectives and contribute to your company’s success. 

Yet a quarter of UK workers claim they don’t have a voice in the workplace at all. 

These voiceless employees experience feelings of powerlessness and underappreciation. They’re also more likely to suffer from greater levels of disengagement and company dissatisfaction – all of which can lead to diminishing productivity and a high turnover rate. 

If you want to turn this around, you need to give your employees the opportunity to speak up and share their honest opinions – without fear of punishment. Only then can you work towards fixing problem areas and increasing your retention and engagement rates. 

This is where effective employee engagement surveys can become an invaluable tool for your internal comms team. 

What is an employee engagement survey?  

Employee engagement surveys are questionnaires that capture employee feedback and sentiments regarding your company. Through the quantitative and qualitative insights gathered, you can better understand:

Though there’s no hard rule for how often you release these surveys, a minimum of once a year is considered best practice. You can also push out shorter ‘employee pulse’ surveys on a monthly basis, should that suit your business needs. 

What are the benefits of conducting an employee engagement survey?

Effective surveys can benefit your business in a number of ways: 

7 ways to improve your employee engagement survey response rates 

Employee surveys are only as useful as the quantity and quality of the feedback given. In order to increase the effectiveness, you need to strive for a high response rate and ensure that all responses are as truthful as possible. 

Here’s how: 

1. Announce the survey in advance

Your employee engagement survey is vital for improving your culture, employee experiences and engagement levels. So give it the attention it deserves and communicate its release with a bang rather than a whimper. 

Use an effective communication method – such as a company-wide meeting – to share: 

Be sure to amp up the reminders after this – and throughout the duration of your survey run-time. We’d recommend creating announcements on your intranet, sending email or Slack reminders, and encouraging team leaders to mention the survey in their team catch ups. 

2. Use an intuitive survey tool 

If you email a third-party survey to your employees, the chances are it may get lost in their inbox. Even if they do find it, they may forget to fill it out during their busy working week. 

To increase the likelihood of employees responding, harness your centralised internal communications platform. 

A comprehensive solution should come ready-made with a polls and survey application. This will allow you to create short or long-form surveys, promote them on your familiar company intranet, and encourage better adoption. 

3. Optimise your survey design 

As the band KISS say: Keep It Simple, Stupid. 

Overly long surveys require time that your employees may not have. Even if they do muscle through, they may encounter survey fatigue along the way. This is a phenomenon where respondents grow tired and their responses deteriorate as the survey progresses.

Ideally, your engagement and pulse surveys should be concise, focused and relevant, and take no longer than 15 minutes to complete. 

On top of this, make sure your survey is as accessible as possible: 

4. Create targeted surveys 

Are there one or two departments that are underperforming more than the others? If your engagement problems reside in one area of the business, it may be useful to implement a more focused survey.

With a departmental or job-role focused approach, you can ask questions geared towards specific team OKRs, responsibilities and challenges. This is more likely to engage your employees and, as an added benefit, give you highly-specific data to work with. 

5. Consider anonymisation 

While this is entirely optional, it’s worth noting that employees are more likely to provide feedback if you anonymise their answers. 

This anonymisation can also improve the truthfulness of their responses. When employees feel like they can share insights about your company and their role within it without retaliation, they’re more likely to be honest.

Anonymisation can also encourage employees to share personal information about more sensitive topics, such as their mental well being. 

6. Incentivise participation 

This isn’t strictly necessary. However, if you find that response rates are below average in your organisation, incentives may be the best way to motivate your employees. This may be as simple as offering an early finish on a Friday afternoon or, in some cases, a gift voucher. 

You may also want to incentivise your employees by demonstrating how their feedback can benefit them in the long run. This leads us on to our next point: 

7. Show that employee feedback can make a difference 

Employees frequently mistrust surveys and the intentions behind them, with many believing their employers don’t actually want candid feedback. 

This mistrust can lead to fewer responses and/or low quality feedback – both of which can seriously impede or misguide your employee engagement efforts. 

To tackle this issue, make honesty a core part of your company culture. Embed transparency in your values and create policies that encourage feedback without repercussion. This will help your employees feel more able to share critical feedback. 

But your efforts shouldn’t stop there. 

After your survey is complete and you’ve had a chance to analyse the findings, share the results with your employees and walk them through the next steps. For example, if your survey highlighted that employees feel underappreciated, communicate how you’ll fix the problem. How will you encourage leader-to-employee recognition? What additional benefits can you offer your employees?

If people think their participation leads to positive action, they’re more likely to take your next survey and encourage their peers to do the same.

30 examples of great employee engagement survey questions 

Now let’s take a look at some examples of good employee engagement questions. Remember, these questions should be relevant, succinct and easily understood – that way, you’ll increase response rates and reduce the likelihood of survey fatigue. 

In addition to this, consider using a mixture of quantitative and qualitative question types, such as scales, multiple choice and text-based. Quantitative questions will give you number-based responses that’ll come in useful for report generation; qualitative questions will capture nuanced employee feedback. Both are important for measuring engagement and understanding where you can make improvements. 

With this in mind, here are some questions you can use in your next engagement survey: 

1. How satisfied or dissatisfied are you with your ability to do interesting work in your role?
2. How satisfied or dissatisfied are you with your ability to apply your skills in this role?
3. How satisfied or dissatisfied are you with your current workload?
4. How satisfied or dissatisfied are you with your opportunities for career progression?
5. How satisfied or dissatisfied are you with the physical environment at your workplace?
6. How satisfied or dissatisfied are you with your relationship with your manager?
7. Overall, how satisfied or dissatisfied are you with your current employer?
8. How valued do you feel at work by your colleagues and superiors?
9. On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate your work-life balance?
10. How often do you feel stressed at work, and what are the main contributors to your stress?
11. Do you feel you have the tools and resources needed to perform your job effectively?
12. How transparent do you think management is in communicating important decisions and changes?
13. On a scale of 1-10, how comfortable do you feel providing feedback to your superiors?
14. How often do you receive recognition or praise for doing good work?
15. Do you feel your opinions are considered in decision-making processes within your team or department?
16. How well do you understand the strategy, purpose and vision of the company? 
17. How well do you understand the path for career advancement within the organisation?
18. How would you describe the culture of our organisation?
19. On a scale of 1-10, how well does your organisation support your professional development and learning?
20. How satisfied are you with the teamwork and collaboration within your department?
21. How well do you think you embody our organisation’s values?
22. To what extent do you believe your work contributes to the company’s goals and objectives?
23. How confident are you in the leadership of this organisation?
24. How effectively do you think our company handles diversity and inclusion?
25. Do you feel safe and supported in the workplace?
26. How likely are you to recommend our company as a great place to work to friends and family?
27. What aspects of our company would you recommend to your friends and family?
28. How well do our company values align with your personal values?
29. How satisfied are you with the benefits package provided by the company?
30. What changes would you like to see in the workplace to improve employee satisfaction and engagement?

One piece of your wider internal comms strategy

A well-constructed survey can significantly benefit your employee engagement, retention and candidate attraction rates.

But, remember: it’s only one puzzle piece of your internal communications strategy. 

With a high number of employees suffering from disengagement and survey mistrust, you need to champion a more comprehensive internal comms strategy. One that encourages honesty, open communication and transparency year-round – not just in your annual questionnaires.

To build a more successful and sustainable internal comms strategy, download our latest Internal Communications Strategy guide. It’s packed full of insights and actionable recommendations for this year and beyond. 

Judging by the title of this article and your desire to read it, we’ll assume you’re another Workplace from Meta user on the hunt for your next digital workplace solution. If so, hello!

As you’ll already know, the Workplace shutdown is fast approaching. By August 2025, the platform will be unusable; by June 2026, your data will vanish entirely. 

In the coming months, you’ll need to find a new platform, orchestrate your migration and manage all the trials and tribulations that come with change management. (No pressure!)

Today, we’d like to help you with step one of this process: finding a Meta Workplace alternative. In this article, we’ll equip you with 23 questions that’ll help you narrow down your options. 

The top Meta Workplace alternatives (and why it’s important to choose the right one)

With a quick Google search, you’ll find an ample list of Workplace alternatives – the “top” being Workvivo by Zoom, Meta’s official migration partner. Others include:

There’s no denying that it’s better to have multiple options than no options at all. But be cautious of falling head over heels for the first platform you set eyes on. Why? Because you’re at risk of buyer’s remorse. 

Indeed, a quarter of businesses cancel their SaaS contract after wishing they hadn’t signed on, and a third end up switching to another vendor. 

Once the honeymoon period is over, the cracks will start to show. With some “top” platforms, you may end up struggling with slow customer support, limited customisation or lacklustre product features.

So be sure to choose the right internal communication platform/digital workplace solution, rather than the most ‘popular’ one. This is where the following questions will come in handy:

23 essential questions to ask your Meta migration partner 

For ease, we’ve split the questions into the following categories; platform features; security; technical considerations; partner support; and pricing and scalability. 

Under each question, you’ll find additional advice and considerations to keep in mind. 

Platform features 

1. Does the digital workplace solution provide similar (or better) features to Meta? 

Before you can ask this question, think back on your Workplace investment. Which features did your users like about the platform and would like to keep? Which features didn’t your users like/use? Are there any features that your users wish had been included on the platform, such as a learning management system or an integrated business process automation platform? 

Once you have a good understanding of what you’re looking for, you can map your expectations to your list of Workplace alternatives. The goal here is to find a platform that doesn’t just match your Workplace environment, but outperforms it. After all, if you have to move anyway, you may as well dream big and choose a platform that exceeds your expectations and delivers the most ROI. 

2. Can you customise your intranet applications and user experiences?

Customisation can have a considerable impact on user experience and adoption rates. This is especially important during the first weeks and months of platform onboarding. 

Bearing this in mind, find a Workplace alternative that offers as much personalisation as possible. The right platform will allow you to:

3. Can non-techies use the platform? 

We’re sure your IT and development teams already have their hands full. So try to ease their workloads with an intranet solution that everyone can get to grips with.

With a no-code, highly intuitive solution:

4. Can you access the platform via mobile?

Mobile applications and a responsive UI will make it easier for your employees to use your new platform on-the-go. This is especially important for remote workers and/or deskless employees who have limited access to a laptop. 

5. Is the tool accessible? 

From a diversity, equity and inclusion standpoint, you’ll want to ensure the platform caters for unique user needs. For instance, can it support multi-language communications for employees who don’t speak English as a first language? Can you integrate accessibility tools to help visually impaired, hard of hearing or neurodiverse employees? 

6. Can the provider build custom features and automations?

Do you have a specific application or workflow you’d like to embed into the platform? In these unique cases, it’s worth choosing a partner that offers custom features or add-ons. 

At Claromentis, we’ve created hundreds of custom applications for our customers. And, when a feature proves popular, we even add it to our exclusive customer marketplace. 

7. Does the platform provide analytics and reports?

The right platform will provide you with built-in analytics and reporting capabilities. This will give you insights into general data, such as:

In Claromentis, you can also access application-specific reports relating to e-learning course adoption, policy acceptance, quiz participation, employee absences, expenses, and much more. 

With these easily accessible reports, you can gauge user engagement, measure compliance and track employee performance. 

Security 

8. Does the migration partner follow stringent security standards and adhere to data regulations?

Around 97% of organisations used at least one application that experienced a security incident within the last year. 

While some platforms may claim to follow stringent security practices, it’s always best to be absolutely sure. A security-forward digital workplace provider will showcase their security standards on their website and provide proof of certifications on request.

At Claromentis, we’re ISO 27001 and ISO 9001 certified, as well as HIPAA compliant. And, yes, we’re more than happy to provide proof of our certifications if you need it!

9. Does the platform allow you to configure permissions and restrict access?

Did you know that one in four users in the average organisation share files as ‘anyone with a link’?

Think of your highly sensitive customer or employee information. If this data fell into the wrong hands, it could land your organisation in a world of trouble. 

To avoid hefty fines and reputational damage, you need to home your communications in a highly secure platform that harnesses intuitive permission controls. 

For example, in Claromentis you can assign users into unique role-based or departmental-based groups. When a content creator publishes a communication, they can choose which individuals or groups can access the content. 

For added peace of mind, you can enable an additional layer of permissions within the Document Management System (DMS). Administrators can apply one of five security levels (ranging from ‘unclassified’ to ‘top secret’) to users. Those users can only access documents and folders that match their permissions. 

10. Can you securely share external communications? 

Over 90% of businesses share sensitive information externally, according to a recent Wing Security report. 

For some industries, this is a necessity. But to ensure you share data securely – and with the correct permissions in place – you’ll need to invest in a platform that offers a watertight extranet portal. That way, you can communicate with suppliers, customers and other third parties without fear of a breach.

11. How secure is the vendor’s hosting environment? 

If you’re looking for a SaaS deployment – rather than on-premises – you’ll need to know which cloud hosting provider the vendor works with. Cloud leaders like Google, Azure and AWS implement rigorous security controls to protect your data, including physical security, data encryption and state of the art threat detection. 

From here, ask the vendor how they plan on hosting your environment. Will it be single-tenancy or multi-tenancy? While there are pros and cons to both, it’s important to note that single-tenancy can increase the security of your data and enable faster disaster recovery. 

12. Does the provider implement any additional security controls? 

Your digital workplace provider must protect their infrastructure as carefully as you protect yours. This is a non-negotiable. 

So be sure to choose a vendor that implements: 

They should also provide you with the necessary security features – application-side – to ensure your data stays secure. This includes:

Technical considerations

13. Does your vendor offer different deployment options? 

A cloud-first approach isn’t right for every business. If you’re in a heavily regulated industry, such as finance or healthcare, an on-premises installation can often be the best option.

Of course, not every Workplace alternative will offer this, so be sure to check early on in your research stage. At Claromentis, we offer cloud-based and on-premises deployments at no extra cost – unlike most digital workplace solutions.  

14. Can the platform integrate with your existing user directories and workplace tools?

A Single Sign On (SSO) integration will make the migration process – and any other future user onboarding – much easier for your employees.

Further integrations with your existing workplace tools, such as Microsoft OneDrive and Skype, will also benefit your user adoption rates. 

15. Is there a repository of technical documentation to help you with the onboarding process?

You don’t want to be left scratching your head during the onboarding process. In order to get to grips with the platform and its features – without hopping on endless support calls – you need clear, extensive technical documentation. This can simplify the transition and reduce some of the stress. 

Partner support and reputation

16. What reviews and ratings do they have on trustworthy websites? 

For a completely unbiased point of view of your vendors, refer to reviews and ratings on trusted software review sites such as SourceForce and G2. Here, you can quickly view each platform’s pros and cons – and even compare your top picks side-by-side. You can give it a try here. 

17. Do they have any reputable industry awards or G2 badges?

Industry awards and badges, such as those awarded by G2, can provide additional reassurance. These companies rigorously analyse user reviews and company performance to find the best tools on the market, so you know they can be trusted.

If you’d like to learn more about how Claromentis earned our latest G2 High Performer and Best Support badges, click here. 

18. Will your provider help you with the data migration? If so, how quickly can they do it? 

Once you choose your Workplace alternative, you’ll need to work closely with your platform provider to orchestrate your data migration. This process should be as efficient as possible to limit any downtime. 

At Claromentis, we offer two migration options: user-only and a full migration. This gives you the option of carrying over your existing Workplace data or starting afresh. Regardless of your needs, we aim to migrate you within 6-8 weeks. 

19. Will they offer hands-on support and training beyond the onboarding process?

You can expect to encounter sticking points, requests and questions from your users during and after the onboarding process. This is perfectly natural. After all, it takes time to adjust to a new platform.

To ease this transition, opt for a vendor that offers dedicated customer support, extensive knowledge base documents, bespoke consultancy and e-learning courses. With their help, you can troubleshoot issues, find innovative solutions and help your users get to grips with your new platform quickly. 

Pricing and scalability

20. Does the solution offer similar pricing plans (in comparison to Workplace)?

Unless you have the budget for a pricier platform, you’ll want to make sure your new vendor offers similar prices to Workplace – if not cheaper. 

That being said, remember that cost isn’t everything. After all, a highly priced solution may seem more upmarket at first but in actuality perform poorly compared to more reasonably priced competitors. That’s why it’s important to vet every platform thoroughly to determine whether you think it’s worth your investment.

21. Is the pricing structure suitable for your company size? Is it easy to scale your plan/users?

In a similar vein, you’ll want to ensure the vendor offers appropriate size-based pricing plans with no hidden fees. If you’re a SMB, you don’t want to pay enterprise prices for features you may not even use. 

Equally, think about your long term needs. Do you plan to hire more employees in the future? If so, you’ll want to ensure the platform offers a straightforward pricing point for scaling your users. 

22. Does it cost more to adopt additional features? 

Many platforms will offer you flashy new features at an additional price. Depending on your business size and budget allocation, these add-on costs may be unsustainable.

At Claromentis, we give you all four of our platforms at no additional cost. This includes:

You can access these platforms in one centralised solution, and even ‘hide’ features you don’t intend to use in your application menu. 

23. Do they offer discounts?

As we’ve already said: you shouldn’t place huge importance on price. Quality, compatibility and security are far more important criteria. That being said, a discount never hurt anyone! 

At Claromentis, we provide a generous discount on our digital workplace solution for every non-profit, including those for key workers, food banks and local communities. It’s our way of giving back to organisations that often have limited resources. 

Take Claromentis for a test run 

Finding a new digital workplace solution is no easy task. Beyond navigating the forced eviction, you’ll also need to guide your employees through a new, unfamiliar platform – a platform that you’ll rely on for the majority of your internal communications, processes and document management. 

This is why it’s important to use this time wisely and get to know your platform options inside-out. 

By asking the right questions (and receiving the right answers), you’ll find a solution that offers the functionality, security and familiarity you’re looking for. 

On that note, if you’d like to see how Claromentis measures up to the competition, try out our instant browser-based playground. Or, if you’re looking for a more personalised walkthrough, book a no obligation demo here. 

Successful businesses hinge on successful employees. Why? Because motivated, engaged, and well-informed workers are more likely to go the extra mile. They know your company inside-out, align themselves with your goals, and strive for greatness. Because of this, they can significantly impact your sales efforts and bottom line. 

Of course, these types of employees don’t appear out of thin air. 

Engagement is something your business has to nurture indefinitely. In order to get this right, you’ll require a watertight internal comms strategy that’s underpinned with the right employee portal solution. 

What is an employee portal and how can it benefit your business?

An employee portal is a software solution that consolidates your company’s internal communications. This includes important documentation relating to your company, employees, policies, processes, and strategies. 

On top of this, you can also harness an employee portal to:

When implemented effectively, an employee portal can benefit your business in a number of revenue-boosting ways: 

1. Streamlined communication and collaboration

96% of US employees are dissatisfied with their workplace tools. One of the biggest reasons for this is application overload, with over a quarter of employees saying they have to switch between multiple platforms. 

This set-up is counterproductive. So much so, that almost half of digital employees struggle to find the information they need to effectively perform their job.

An employee portal software eradicates the need for a multi-tool ecosystem. With all of your formal and informal communications in one centralised hub, you can reduce technology overload, eradicate data silos, and encourage better collaboration between your teams.

2. Enhanced employee engagement and retention

According to Gallup, 41% of job leavers cite issues relating to engagement and culture as their primary reason for quitting. These challenges include: 

If you want to lower your turnover rates, increase employee morale, and remain profitable, you need to target these problem areas.

An employee portal can help you with this. Through learning pathways, open communications, and employee recognition tools, you can keep your employees engaged and ensure they feel valued. 

3. Enhanced employee wellbeing 

Around one in five workers worldwide feel lonely, with remote workers experiencing greater levels of loneliness. Whether it’s inside or outside of work, this isolation can lead to drastic mental and physical health issues. 

As an internal comms team, you have the power to increase employee-to-employee interactions and boost wellbeing. And, no, it doesn’t require increasing the number of in-person get-togethers. In fact, Gallup researchers found that any form of social time – whether it’s over a video call or via text communications – can increase a person’s mood. 

A collaborative, social platform can strengthen your culture and bolster your in-person interactions. Your employees can make connections, join work-related or interest-based forums, and stay connected no matter where they are. The result of this is an increase in employee wellbeing and, by extension, profitability. 

4. Increased data security

‘Failure to use BCC (blind carbon copy) in emails is one of the top data breaches reported to us every year – and these breaches can cause real harm, especially where sensitive personal information is involved.’ — Mihaela Jembei, ICO Director of Regulatory Cyber  

In today’s complex cyberthreat landscape, sharing personal information via insecure emails, paper documents, or shadow IT can result in data breaches. This, of course, can lead to hefty fines and damaging blows to your reputation. 

A centralised digital workplace solution encourages employees to share information without compromising security. The right solution will bolster your data defences by:

How to build an employee portal with profitability in mind

Like any business software, an employee portal isn’t a quick fix – so don’t expect a healthy ROI overnight. 

To extract the most value from your investment, you’ll need to carefully plan out your adoption and onboarding strategy, starting with pinpointing why you need an employee portal in the first place:

1. Identify your purpose, needs and goals 

What’s your overarching reason for adopting an employee portal? The chances are – as the title of this article suggests – you’re looking to increase your profitability by improving employee engagement. 

But this purpose is vague at best. To ensure your implementation is a resounding success, you’ll need to get granular. 

Once you have a clearer idea of where you’re going, you can determine your technology needs. 

2. Define your feature requirements

Imagine your ideal digital workplace. What features do you need to work more efficiently, increase productivity, and reduce costs? 

If your employees struggle to find important work documents, one of your feature requirements may be an easily searchable knowledge base. Alternatively, if you’d like a simple way to share company updates with your employees, a news channel may be on your list. 

Ideally, the right employee portal will come with a range of different applications and the ability to buy or develop new ones. 

Tip: If you’d like help choosing the right employee portal, refer to our Workplace from Meta migration guide. 

3. Design and create your employee portal

At this point, you should have already chosen your software vendor. Now it’s time to put your own stamp on your employee portal. 

Start by personalising your platform with your unique brand assets, including your brand colours, logo, and imagery. From there, you’ll need to optimise your intranet’s functionality and navigation. This involves: 

4. Create and upload useful content

Once you set up the basics, you’ll need to upload, migrate and/or create your essential content. This should include:

In addition to this, be sure to leave your users a helpful welcome bulletin when they first login. A news update or blog that reiterates why you have a new digital workplace solution, how employees should use it, and where they can go for assistance can make the change management process a lot smoother. 

5. Add users with appropriate permissions

Now it’s time to open the floodgates, let your users in, and show them around. Beyond encouraging employees to fill out their user profiles, you’ll also want to ensure they have the correct permissions in place.

Filter every employee into a departmental and/or role-based group (as determined in step 3 in this article). These groups allow you to segment your portal, assign admins and content managers, and simplify access controls. This, in turn, will ensure sensitive information doesn’t fall into the wrong hands. 

Make your employee portal software work harder

By following our tips, you can build an employee portal that promotes collaboration, enhances productivity, and nurtures your bottom line. 

Of course, if you want your solution to continue to succeed, you’ll need to think carefully about platform management and your overall internal comms strategy. 

Research shows that deploying a centralised intranet model (owned by one dedicated team) is the most effective way to boost efficiency. More than this, a continuous improvement approach will ensure your employee portal keeps pace with your changing needs.

If you’d like more tips on how you can improve your internal communications efforts, download our latest ebook. It’s packed full of relevant insights, eye-opening statistics, and practical recommendations. 

When executed effectively, internal communications can significantly improve strategic alignment and employee engagement. 

However, achieving ‘effective’ execution is often a pipedream for most internal comms teams. Due to budget restraints, unfit technology, and a persistent lack of capacity, communicators struggle to scale-up their efforts and implement tangible change. 

Though this can be disheartening, you shouldn’t lose faith. While we can’t promise you extra resources, there are cost-effective ways to augment your teams and do more with less. 

By deploying innovative technology, you can enhance your internal communications strategy, boost employee productivity and engagement, and – best of all – shrug off some of your stress. 

What are the most effective types of internal communication?

Before we jump into our internal communication tool recommendations, let’s first narrow down the most effective types of communication you should focus on. This will ensure you adopt solutions that help – rather than hinder – your internal comms strategy. 

Top down communication

Leadership-to-employee communications are typically used for sharing company-wide information, such as year-end updates and policy changes. This top down approach promotes transparency and gives employees the chance to speak with executives directly. (A rare occurrence in most larger organisations!)

As a communication method, it’s incredibly effective. Indeed, the latest Gallagher State of Internal Communications report found that live events run by leadership teams have a 98% effectiveness rate. This is closely followed by leadership conference calls, which are 97% effective. 

Despite the success of these communication strategies, only 63% and 50% of organisations, respectively, make use of them. 

Employee feedback

Gathering truthful, qualitative employee feedback is essential for shaping your internal communication strategies and enhancing the employee experience. 

However, it’s important to remember that there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to this communication type. Comfort levels will naturally vary between employees. Some may prefer to offer feedback anonymously; others may be open to more collaborative feedback channels, such as virtual discussion rooms. 

Company resources 

63% of global internal comms teams say engaging teams on their company’s strategy, purpose, and vision is their number one priority going forward. 

Company resources, such as policy documents and strategic business plans, are key to supporting this initiative. They advise employees on need-to-know information and align their efforts with your overarching company vision. 

Because your employees may need to refer to these resources periodically throughout their career, you’ll need to store them in an accessible, self-service location. 

Informal communication

When it comes to collaboration and employee-to-employee communication, informal methods reign supreme. Enterprise social networks, chat tools, and messaging apps are considered highly effective methods of communication across organisations of all industries and sizes. 

In light of this, you’ll want to find a communication tool that includes familiar Enterprise Social Networking (ESN) features. 

20 internal communication tools that will help you do more with less

Once you determine the right communication types for your business, you’ll need to explore tools that align with these approaches. 

But be warned: it can be all too easy to get carried away by the flashiest or trendiest platforms on the market. 

With 47% of workers struggling to find the information they need to effectively perform their jobs, you need to choose the right communication tools – not the most popular. This means prioritising tools that: 

• Centralise your communications and company data
• Are easy to use and accessible from anywhere 
• Adapt to your changing internal communication needs

Keep these considerations in mind when searching for the following tools: 

1. Intranet

Think of your intranet as your company’s secure, virtual home. Everyone’s got their own key, there’s a room for every function, and the wall’s are decorated just to your taste.  In other words: it’s a central hub for all of your internal communications. 

Many intranet solutions contain a wealth of integrated tools – many of which we’ll cover in this list. Because of this, they’re a cost-effective way to enhance your internal communications efforts without overwhelming your employees with hundreds of different platforms. 

2. Mobile intranet app

For frontline workers who don’t have access to a desktop or employees who suffer a gruelling commute every morning, a mobile intranet app is essential. 

As well as encouraging flexible working, these applications can also align with emerging workplace habits. With many employees wanting to use their smartphones for work purposes, providing a secure mobile app is an easy way to boost engagement and satisfaction. 

3. Instant messaging

Employees tend to favour instantaneous communication – especially during busy periods. Direct messaging offers a convenient way to collaborate with colleagues and share resources quickly. 

Thankfully, it doesn’t cost the earth to implement it. The best intranet solutions come with built-in direct messaging features, and many chat tools such as Slack offer cost-effective pricing plans. 

4. Forums

According to Gallagher, 88% of communicators rate employee forums as an effective form of communication in their organisation. These message boards allow users to ask and answer questions, share resources, and keep up to date with content threads via a subscription. 

With digital workplace solutions like Claromentis, you can add an extra layer of security to these forums through optional moderation features and content permissions. 

5. Discussion pages

Remember liking interest-based pages on Facebook back in the day? Discussion pages function in a similar way.

You can provide each department or team with their own unique discussion room, which they can fill with comments, events, tasks, links, and files. This is useful for communicating need-to-know information and sharing easily accessible documents that may get lost in a chat thread.

6. News channels

When you’ve got important or exciting news to communicate, it can be difficult to know how to share it. 

In an office environment, you can’t guarantee that all employees will be available to listen. And, while a company-wide email will do the job, chances are it’ll get buried under an influx of other urgent and non-urgent emails.

An intranet news channel is a surefire way to share your news and ensure everyone sees it. 

7. Announcements

On the subject of ‘news’, occasionally there will be information you need your employees to read immediately. For instance, if your office faces an unexpected closure. 

Announcement tools ensure your employees never miss an urgent communication. In Claromentis, you can create company-wide or permission-based announcements. These communication banners pop-up after a relevant party logs into your intranet portal, so they’re very hard to miss. As added assurance, you can request user acknowledgement.

8. Polls and surveys

Poll and survey tools are a great way to collect informal and formal employee feedback. 

For example, a quick, one-question poll can help you determine the best date for your next company team building exercise. Alternatively, you can use a long-form survey tool to create your annual employee engagement survey or more regular pulse surveys. 

9. Internal blogs

For more casual longform communications or musings, internal blogs are a great option. Like many of the tools in this list, they often come part and parcel with your intranet investment – so you needn’t fork out any additional money. 

10. Collaboration tools

If your organisation is fully or partially remote, collaboration tools are a must. These tools should go beyond ineffective email tools or unproductive (and at times draining) video conferencing software.

To truly enable collaboration, you need to bring your teams together, encourage document sharing, and facilitate task creation. That way, collaborative conversations lead to tangible results.

An extensive digital workplace platform will allow you to: 

• Create channels for different projects, departments and topics
• Tag colleagues in conversations, threads, or tasks
• Adjust permissions to ensure the right employees can access the right communications 
• Message colleagues directly or within a discussion room

11. Employee advocacy tool 

Some news is too good to keep inside your business’s four walls. On occasions where it’s okay to share internal communications externally, adopt an employee advocacy channel. 

This could be as simple as utilising LinkedIn and encouraging employees to share company-related content. Alternatively, if you only want to share information with your clients, partners, or other external stakeholders, consider building an extranet. This allows you to communicate and collaborate with important third parties without compromising data integrity. 

12. Internal executive blog from leadership

As we mentioned earlier, top-down communication from leadership is highly effective in most organisations. 

To double-down on your internal blog investment, you could also set up a series of executive blogs from your leadership team. These can be as informal or formal as you like, depending on the content you wish to share. 

13. Employee recognition and shoutouts

Over 90% of HR professionals agree that recognition and reward has a positive impact on employee retention. And most employees seem to agree, with almost half stating they would leave their workplace if they weren’t praised enough.

The good news is you needn’t spend a fortune on separate tools or gold-plated awards to show your employees how much you value them. The best intranet tools on the market feature built-in employee recognition modules. This allows staff members to shout out their colleagues and express their gratitude publicly. 

14. Multilingual content

Do you have offices in other continents or countries? Or do you employ multilingual staff who may find it easier to read communications in their native language?

Offering multi-language and localised information can avoid miscommunications and enhance employee experience.

In our digital workplace solution, users can change their language preferences in their personal settings. This allows employees to access the same content in different languages, providing the template accommodates multilingual settings. 

15. Content approval and permissions

Overloading your employees with irrelevant content can result in information overwhelm. To mitigate this, try to offer a more tailored experience. With content permissions, you can make sure employees only see communications that are relevant to their department or job role. 

This has an added data security benefit. For example, healthcare professionals can restrict confidential patient information to the relevant parties. That way, personal data doesn’t leak into other parts of your organisation. 

Related to this, content approval features will ensure no inappropriate or non-compliant communications slip through the cracks. 

16. Social media features and push notifications

Like breakfast routines and afternoon dog walks, social media has become an unbreakable daily habit for many of us. So, it’s unsurprising that the Enterprise Social Network (ESN) market is projected to grow by a staggering 16.5% by 2031. 

To enable informal communication methods, opt for a tool that incorporates ESN features, such as commenting, reacting, tagging, and push notifications. 

17. Video conferencing 

Video conferencing tools are a cost-effective way to bring your remote teams together without having to spend an eye watering amount on travel expenses. They’re also an easy way to facilitate face-to-face leadership communications – one of the most effective communication types, as highlighted by Gallagher. 

The right platform will include additional collaboration features, such as in-call chat threads, team breakout rooms, screen sharing, and animated reactions. 

18. Podcasts and audio announcements

While research suggests podcasts are only effective for 58% of teams, this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t adopt them. 

Some employees prefer audio-based communication, and those with visual impairment rely on it. 

If this communication channel seems fitting for your business, we’d suggest adopting a digital workplace platform that allows you to embed audio into your news and blog posts. This gives your employees the autonomy to choose their preferred communication method. 

19. Internal comms generative AI 

Over 40% of communicators feel enthusiastic about AI advancements in their sector, and it’s easy to see why. 

In the midst of resourcing issues and capacity challenges, AI can provide much needed support. With the help of generative AI integrations, your teams can produce internal communications at speed. Instead of dedicating hours to writing a blog post, you’ll only need to spend a handful of minutes editing the content to ensure it meets your brand guidelines and data security practices. 

20. Analytics and reporting

If you want to increase the effectiveness of your internal comms strategy, you’ll need to measure the success of your new communication tools.

Any solution you adopt should provide you with analytics and reporting features to help you monitor usage rates. This can indicate whether your employees actually value your new communication channels. If they don’t? You may have to tweak the look and feel of your digital workplace or, in some cases, look for a customised application. 

Aligning technology with your internal comms strategy

We’re sure you’re eager to start window shopping for the latest and greatest internal communication software on the market. But, before you do, remember this: technology – no matter how great – isn’t a quick fix.

The tools you choose now will only ever be as good as the strategy they’re built upon. 

So, if you want to make the most of your investments and enhance your communication efforts, you’ll need to optimise your strategy. And we’ve got the resource to help you do just that. 
We’ve packed our latest ebook full of internal comms strategy recommendations and tips to help you boost employee engagement, increase productivity, and make the most of your technology investments. You can access it for free here.

Lack of resources, stagnant budgets, under-appreciation from senior leadership… Are these common issues for your internal communications team? 

Without top-down support, your communicators will find it difficult to implement impactful engagement initiatives. Yet, without making these improvements and demonstrating the value of your job function, executives will continue to withhold resources. 

It’s a lose-lose situation, and only you have the power to break it. The question is: how? 

The answer lies in your employee engagement data. By measuring the current performance of your workforce and tying these insights to your internal comms strategy, you can highlight successful initiatives and identify areas that require more resources. This, in turn, will help you prove ROI to your stakeholders. 

In this article, we’ll explain why it’s important to monitor engagement levels, what metrics you should track, and how you can track them.

Why you should monitor employee engagement levels

Imagine you’re watching an Olympic race. The crowd’s humming with anticipation; the commentator’s waiting with bated breath. The gun fires and the athletes sprint into action. 

But there’s one runner lagging behind… 

Unlike their competitors, this runner didn’t put in the training. They couldn’t even muster the energy to stretch their muscles beforehand. Are they going to win the race or break any records? Probably not. 

Like anything in life, you can only achieve your best results when you’re truly engaged with the task at hand. The same goes for your employees.

Engaged employees are motivated members of your business. They align with your overarching strategy and goals, invest in your vision, and work well with others. Because of this, they can have a significant positive impact on your business. 

In fact, according to Gallup’s State of the Global Workforce report, highly engaged business units can increase profits by 23%. They can also contribute to a: 

Ultimately, motivated employees are less likely to make mistakes and more likely to achieve great successes. 

Of course, you can only take proactive measures to increase employee engagement when you know what their engagement levels are. This is where employee metrics come into play. 

What are employee engagement metrics?

Employee engagement metrics are quantifiable indicators that measure how happy, motivated and productive your workers are. 

As employee engagement is a significant indicator of success for internal communications teams, you’ll need to closely tie these metrics to your departmental strategies. You’ll also want to feature them in any stakeholder-facing reports. 

23 employee engagement metrics to track to prove ROI to leadership

Let’s first refer to Gallagher’s Internal Communications State of the Sector report. The report surveys communicators across the globe and acts as a good starting point for any internal comms team. 

In the latest edition, the top success metrics communicators are held accountable for are:

1. Strategy awareness (70%)
2. Behaviour change (49%)
3. Digital reach (46%)
4. Policy compliance (34%)
5. Learning and development participation (26%)
6. Employee retention (24%)
7. Employee advocacy (21%)
8. Internal mobility (10%)
9. Candidate attraction (9%)

Of course, these benchmarks are broad in focus. To really understand whether your employees are engaged or disengaged, you’ll need to analyse more granular data sets, such as:  

10. Employee Net Promoter Scores (eNPS)
11. Work-life balance rates
12. Peer recognition and collaboration
13. Alignment with team objectives and key results (OKRs)
14. Engagement survey participation rate
15. Uptake and popularity of employee perks
16. One-to-one meetings and team engagement
17. Absenteeism levels and sickness days
18. Voluntary employee turnover rate
19. Employee satisfaction (ESAT) scores
20. Employee performance, productivity, and workload balance
21. Glassdoor and employer review site ratings
22. Burnout and stress rates
23. Utrecht work engagement scale

How to measure employee engagement: 8 internal comms tactics

Knowing what metrics you’re going to track is only half the battle. Now, you need to determine where and how you’ll track them. 

Here are just some of the methods you could implement: 

1. Employee surveys

Annual (or biannual) employee surveys provide a great foundation for measuring and understanding employee engagement levels. This is because they collect quantitative and qualitative data: 

You can also tweak these surveys to generate an eNPS rating, too. This involves asking employees how likely they are to recommend your company to their friends, family, and work connections. 

2. Discussion groups

Employee discussion groups focus on one or two predetermined topics. These topics are usually chosen based on the results of your employee surveys. 

You can choose to run these groups either face-to-face or in a text-based discussion room. No matter which option you choose, try to create a judgement-free and psychologically safe atmosphere. It’s important to actively listen to your employees and show that you value their expertise, experience, and opinions. Only then can you gain honest feedback that can help you improve the overall employee experience.

3. Anonymous Q&As

Employees are 74% more likely to provide feedback about their company, job, and engagement levels if they can remain completely anonymous. 

Anonymous questionnaires and forums – such as Glassdoor’s ‘Community Bowls’ or Claromentis’s anonymous polls and surveys – not only encourage more employees to share their opinions, but can also increase the truthfulness of your data. And, with more honest feedback at your disposal, you can push for more relevant and impactful engagement initiatives. 

4. Team one-to-ones

Line managers are a fundamental piece of the employee engagement puzzle. They ensure day-to-day operations align with team OKRs and overarching strategic goals. More than this, they’re responsible for motivating team members and providing essential guidance, feedback, and emotional support. 

During one-to-ones, they can gain a better understanding of individual engagement levels – which they can back up with operational data, such as project and training completion. While these meetings don’t have to be overly structured or formalised, it’s good practice to ask questions around:

To ensure this data doesn’t get lost, create a mechanism for sharing need-to-know insights between internal comms and management teams – without compromising employee confidentiality. 

5. Engagement with company content

Company content includes latest news updates, financial plans, and strategic presentations, as well as more informal communications. Engagement with these materials suggests an underlying investment in your company and its success. 

However, remember that engagement may look different depending on the type of content you share. For instance, if you communicate your latest business plans via an in-person meeting, you may judge engagement by whether an employee actually shows up and listens. If you’re communicating a new product release via your company intranet software, engagement may look like a simple comment, like, or thumbs up. 

6. Policy and announcement acceptance rates 

Circulating a new sickness leave policy? Sharing an announcement about roadworks outside your office? These kinds of urgent communications must be read and understood. If employees choose not to read them, it not only indicates low engagement but can impact the day-to-day operations of your company.

If you struggle to measure this, we’d suggest adopting a digital workplace tool. With a solution like Claromentis, you can make accepting and acknowledging policies and announcements mandatory. The solution can then provide statistics around who did (and didn’t) engage with your need-to-know company communications. 

7. Data dashboards

Try to measure employee engagement through other forms of data capture, too, such as:

To make life easier for your internal comms teams, try to keep this data in one platform. Comprehensive solutions like Claromentis act as a single source of truth, allowing you to access e-learning, HR, and engagement analytics in just a few clicks. 

8. Stay interviews across the employee lifecycle

Exit interviews are a common HR practice. However, while they’re useful for understanding why employees leave, they’re more reactive than proactive. 

To understand and tackle engagement issues before they snowball into leavism issues, conduct ‘stay interviews’. As the name suggests, these interviews should focus on why employees continue to stay. What motivates and excites them day-to-day? How do they feel about your employee benefits and career progression opportunities? How would they describe their employee experience? 

Highly engaged employees will give detailed, genuine feedback about your company and their role within it. Disengaged employees will either offer negative feedback or, in some cases, little to no feedback at all. 

How can you use these metrics to prove ROI?

You’ve identified the employee engagement metrics you should track; you’ve implemented ways of gathering truthful feedback; and you have the data to back-up your findings. Now what? 

At this stage, you’ll need to present the data to your stakeholders. This is critical for proving ROI and determining the future of your internal comms team. (So, no pressure!)

We recommend compiling your data into a visual report and tying any insights to your internal comms strategy. For instance, have your employees communicated that they feel more heard and valued? Does this correlate with your introduction of anonymous forums and discussion groups? 

Equally, if you observe a fall in employee engagement, you can use this data as grounds for asking for more resources and funding. Again, the more data you can apply to this the better. If employees demonstrate a lack of understanding around business initiatives and strategic goals, you could make a case for investing in a better intranet solution.

Redefine your internal comms strategy 

Internal comms teams don’t have it easy. According to Gallagher’s global report, over a third lack capacity and a quarter suffer from insufficient budget allocation. Yet the pressure to increase employee engagement is never-ending.

At times, it may seem like you’re stuck between a rock and a hard place. But today we want to give you a third option – a route to a more streamlined, better-funded future. 

By compiling a list of employee engagement metrics, and measuring them through quantitative and qualitative means, you can prove ROI to your business while simultaneously enhancing your internal comms initiatives. This may be as simple as using an internal intranet software to enforce policy acceptance, or as complex as introducing new employee feedback-gathering methods. 

If you’re looking for more internal comms strategy tactics for this year and beyond, download our comprehensive guide, “Internal Communication Strategy: Best Practices and Trends to Help You Succeed”. 

Inside, you’ll find a wealth of insights and recommendations that’ll help you boost employee engagement, increase stakeholder buy-in, and take some stress away from your internal comms team. 

G2 recently unveiled its Summer 2024 Report, and we’re thrilled to announce that Claromentis is now the proud owner of four new badges: 

1. High Performer – Enterprise Social Networking (ESN)
2. High Performer – Employee Intranet
3. Best Support – Enterprise Social Networking (ESN)
4. High Performer – Mid-Market Employee Intranet

To celebrate this good news, we’d like to share what these badges mean and how Claromentis made the cut. 

How did we earn our G2 badges? 

For those unaware, G2 is the largest and most trusted software marketplace in the world. Every quarter, they identify and reward high performers across a range of software categories. 

To earn a badge, a product must go through G2’s rigorous scoring algorithm, which analyses customer reviews and reputable third-party data to determine a ranking score. 

Here’s a more in-depth breakdown of our badges and how we earned them: 

ESN and Employee Intranet: How we meet the G2 software category requirements

As a fully-integrated solution that combines four powerful platforms, it’s no wonder Claromentis spans a number of G2 product categories. 

In the latest report, our solution came out on top in the following areas: 

Claromentis fulfils these requirements – and more – with our extensive range of internal communications features. With the ability to share company knowledge, strike up one-to-one conversations, and automate complex processes, businesses can improve collaboration and employee engagement across the board.  

A digital workplace solution that’s a cut above the rest

Our G2 badges, both past and present, are a testament to the tangible impact of our product and the quality of our customer services. More than this, they demonstrate the dedication of our hardworking team and the support of our loyal customers.

But that’s enough from us. Before we round off this announcement, we thought we’d let our G2 reviews do the talking:

‘The onboarding process was very smooth, and our personal implementation expert has been amazing to work with. Claromentis really modernised our intranet by turning it into a one-stop-shop portal for our employees to use on a regular basis. It was also one of the VERY FEW products that allowed us to host our own site on-premises without charging us MORE to use our own hardware.’

‘The platform is easy to manage from the IT personnel perspective, and support for both end users and administrators is stellar.’

‘What I love about Claromentis is that you don’t have to depend on IT to make changes and handle the Admin end. It’s super easy, friendly and simple to use. I also love all the applications it offers and how customizable it is in every way.’

New to Claromentis? If you’d like to know why our reviews are so positive, why not take our solution for a free test run? Simply fill in a few details here to access a live, browser-based version of Claromentis. 

Meta recently served Workplace’s 7 million users with an eviction notice. By the end of August 2025, the platform will be “read only”. And by the beginning of June 2026, it’ll be nothing more than a distant memory.

Love it or hate it, your business now has to plan for the future of your internal communications. Where will you move to? How will you manage the data migration? And how on earth will you guide your employees through this unexpected change? 

Before you jump to any conclusions, take a breather. Ground yourself. And – though it’s easier said than done – don’t panic. We’re here to take some stress out of the migration process. 

In our post-Workplace survival guide, we’ll walk you through everything you need to know – from Meta’s hard deadlines to selecting the perfect digital workplace solution. Let’s get stuck in.

When is the Meta shutdown? 

You’ll be pleased to hear there’s no big red ‘off’ button or instantaneous shutdown. Your business will have plenty of time to migrate its data off Workplace and find a new alternative. 

That being said, make sure you jot down these important dates in your work calendar:

August 31 2025

Up until this date, your teams can use Workplace as normal. 

September 1 2025 – May 31 2026

During this period, your teams will not be able to use Workplace. However, you’ll still be able to read and download your existing data. 

June 1 2026

At this point, Meta will officially shutdown Workplace. Meaning you’ll no longer have access to your platform or the data within it. 

Memorised the dates? Now it’s time to plan for the months ahead. 

Preparing for your post-Workplace world: 8 steps to a painless migration

The thought of hunting for a new digital workplace solution can be daunting, particularly when it wasn’t your choice to leave in the first place. 

But, much like any change, it’s important to take the process one step at a time and embrace the positives that await you. The grass can be greener on the other side; you just have to know how to get there first. 

On that note, here’s your first step: 

1. Evaluate your current Workplace usage

Imagine you’re moving house. When looking for a new abode, it’s only natural to use your current property as a benchmark. If you like the large kitchen-diner, the chances are you’ll want to find something similar in your new place. If you don’t make much use of your garage, there’s little point in adding ‘garage’ to your list of ‘must haves’. (And so on!)

The same principle applies here. 

Before kicking off your software research, you’ll need to assess your existing Workplace environment – not just as an individual tasked with finding a replacement, but as a team. 

Engage employees across your business and ask them three fundamental questions:

1. What do you love about Workplace? 
2. What do you dislike about Workplace? 
3. What new features would you like to find on your new platform? 

To back up this feedback, refer to your Workplace user statistics. This will give you an idea of employee engagement levels and shine a light on the features you do and don’t use. 

2. Search for the right platform

Armed with your list of ‘must-haves’, ‘nice-to-haves’, and ‘would-rather-not-haves’, you’re now ready to research Meta Workplace alternatives.

While there are plenty of options available, we’d advise you not to go with the first name that springs to mind. To avoid buyer’s remorse and ensure you find the right home for your internal comms, you’ll have to do your due diligence. 

We’d recommend following a thorough criteria checklist that covers:

Features. Does the platform offer similar or better Workplace features? Are there additional tools that could enhance your digital workplace efforts, such as Learning Management Systems and business process automation? 

Usability. Does the platform have a simple user interface? Can non-technical users build out pages without any assistance from IT? Can you access the tool via a mobile application or web browser? 

Security measures. Does the platform allow you to configure user permissions and restrict access? Can you enable multi-factor authentication and enforce strong password policies? If you opt for a SaaS deployment, how secure is the cloud environment? 

Technical compatibility. Can you deploy the software on-premises or in the cloud? Can you integrate the software with your existing workplace tools? 

Pricing structures and scalability. Is the pricing plan transparent? Does it match your budget expectations/align with your Workplace investment? Does it cost more to adopt additional features?

3. Vet your internal comms vendor

Before you commit to a platform, be sure to assess the vendor, too. 

After all, an intranet is a long-term investment. You need to make sure you’re working with a partner you can trust beyond the initial honeymoon stage. 

Bearing this in mind, spend some time investigating your vendor’s:

Security standards. Your vendor should follow stringent security standards (such as ISO 27001, ISO 9001 and HIPAA), work with a reputable cloud hosting partner, and implement rigorous internal security measures. 

Online feedback and reviews. What do existing users of the platform say about the company? Are there any industry-relevant customers you could reach out to? 

Industry recognition. For example, Claromentis has earned a number of reputable badges from G2, a well known software marketplace. These demonstrate the quality of our product as well as our support services. 

Customer service support. Beyond onboarding assistance and training, can you rely on the vendor to investigate and resolve your tickets? Do they offer consultancy support to help you make the most of your investment? 

4. Prepare for your migration 

Now that you know where you’re moving to, it’s time to plan how you’re going to get there.  

Begin by determining what you plan to migrate. If you’re eager to start afresh on your new digital workplace solution, a simple ‘spring clean’ approach may suffice. This involves culling the files you no longer need on Workplace and only migrating essential files to your new platform. 

If you need to migrate most or all of your Workplace data, you’ll require a more substantial ‘lift and shift’ approach. 

From here, you can flesh out the details of your migration strategy. Your plan should include the following information: 

Key project milestones and phases. When do you plan to migrate? (Remember, while you’ll still have access to your data after August 2025, it won’t last forever!) How will you phase out Workplace? At what point will your employees start using the new platform? Will you roll out features/usage all at once or gradually?

Project stakeholders. This list may include project owners, managers, and third parties, and should include details of each stakeholders’ responsibilities.  

Resources needed for the migration, including financial and human resources. 

Potential risks. Making a note of risks – such as capacity conflicts or data security concerns – will help you mitigate them. For the former, you may be able to postpone other projects to free-up team resources. For the latter, you may test your own security protocols or request information from your vendor (in regards to data handling practices, cloud hosting security, or similar). 

5. Set up your new platform

You’ve got the keys to your new digital workplace tool. Now it’s time to roll up your sleeves, grab your DIY tools, and make the place feel like home. 

Customisation options will differ depending on the platform you choose, but the best tools on the market should allow you to: 

6. Assign change champions and implement training 

Did you know that only a third of business change initiatives succeed? This is largely a result of organisations adopting top-down, executive-led approaches that don’t resonate with employees. 

To avoid this high failure rate, assign ‘change champions’ across your teams. These are employees who see value in your new intranet software and are eager to experiment with features, share tips, and help fellow employees learn the ropes. With their enthusiasm and early platform access, they can:

By engaging your employees in the change management process, you can increase the probability of success by up to 12%. 

To support these efforts,  lean on your vendor as much as possible. The right internal communications partner will offer personalised training, customer service support, and an extensive library of learning resources.

7. Adopt a continuous improvement approach

To reap the benefits of your new digital workplace solution, you’ll need to adopt a continuous improvement mindset. 

By referring to platform analytics, as well as periodically asking for feedback from your employees and change champions, you can pinpoint inefficiencies and identify productivity-enhancing opportunities.

The changes you make could be as small as shifting the modules around on your home page and adjusting your permissions settings, or as large as building a new workflow automation or requesting a custom intranet application. 

8. Ask for help from your partner

Migrations are hard work, so accept help wherever you can. 

Whether you’re struggling to organise your files for migration or finding it difficult to gain employee buy-in, don’t be afraid to reach out to your platform provider. They should provide you with one-to-one support, migration assistance, and platform customisation options if you need it. 

Claromentis: Your new home for internal comms

There’s a fairly long runway before Workplace takes off into the sunset in June 2026. But time’s a slippery thing, and it’s better to prepare for your migration now rather than wait until the final hour. 

By following the steps outlined above, you can ensure your migration is as painless as possible. In fact, you may find that the process is without any pain at all. 

Though change is difficult, it’s also rife with possibility. Right now, you have the opportunity to find a platform that doesn’t just ‘replace’ Workplace but outperforms it. 

With that in mind, we’d like to introduce you to our digital workplace solution, Claromentis. 

Specifically designed to streamline your business’s communications and processes, the tool comes ready-made with four powerful platforms:

Eager to see the solution in action? You can try a live browser-based version of Claromentis here. There’s no catch; it’s completely free to use, so explore to your heart’s content!

Employee engagement is the most important internal communications metric. And, according to Gallagher, 74% of internal comms professionals agree. 

This means employee engagement initiatives are vitally important to the strategic goals of any internal comms team. 

Especially considering that increased employee engagement leads to an:

In this blog, we’re going to show you 14 strategies that will help you boost engagement across your whole workforce. 

We’ll also share the 5 steps you should take to create effective employee engagement initiatives for your business. 

5 steps to create an effective employee engagement program

Creating an employee engagement program or initiative isn’t just about throwing a few team activities together. Nor is it about scheduling extra meetings for enforced facetime. 

For maximum effect, you need to approach it strategically. Any initiative needs to align with your business goals and improve your overall workplace culture.

Here is how to build an initiative that resonates with your teams, while helping you achieve your business goals. 

Step 1: Understand what you’re trying to achieve

Before launching employee engagement initiatives, you need to understand the reason behind them. Do you want to reduce employee turnover, boost morale or improve productivity? Clarify your intentions to help you tailor your strategic approach to any specific challenges that arise. 

A good way to approach this is using the “5 Whys Framework”. This is a powerful technique that helps you better understand the problem you are trying to solve. 

Here is an example of the technique for the goal of reducing employee turnover. 

1. Why is employee turnover high? They feel disconnected from the organisation and unsure how their actions contribute to our success.
2. Why do employees feel disconnected? Leadership doesn’t communicate about company updates, business plans, direction and the impact teams have on objectives.
3. Why is there a lack of communication from leadership? Internal communication strategies are not effectively prioritised or implemented.
4. Why are internal communication strategies not prioritised or implemented? The internal comms team lacks the tools, resources and support to develop and maintain effective communication channels. 
5. Why do they lack these tools, resources and support? A lack of understanding of the importance of internal comms in employee retention leading to minimal / reduced budgets.  

Conclusion: To reduce employee turnover, we need to focus on enhancing internal communications channels. We need better tools, resources and support to improve leadership communications. This will help employees understand their place in the company, and feel more valued. 

Step 2: Set relevant goals and objectives

Once you understand the intention behind your initiative, you need to set SMART goals. These are goals that are:

To continue the example above, a SMART goal around reducing employee turnover would look like this:

“Reduce turnover by 20% (as measured by employee headcount) by Dec 31st 2024.”

Step 3: Get leadership buy-in

If you want your initiative to work, you need strong leadership buy-in. They can provide resources and legitimacy to your efforts. Both of which will help encourage your wider workforce to get on board. 

However, getting this endorsement can be difficult. Especially if your leadership team doesn’t understand the value of internal communications. 

To give yourself the best possible chance, keep your pitch short and to the point. 

Always bring it back to how it can support the overarching business goals. This will help put your initiative in a more strategic context. 

Explain your intentions and reasoning, your SMART goals, the expected outcomes and the business impact of a more engaged workforce. 

Step 4: Create a communication plan for launching your initiative

Communication is key for any workplace initiative. Create a comprehensive communication plan that is clear, consistent, and transparent. Be sure to include how you will announce the initiative, the channels you will use and how often you will share messages relating to it. 

If you are unsure where to start with this, our recent Internal Communications Strategy guide is a great resource. You can download it here.  

Step 5: Gather feedback, measure and adjust to increase effectiveness

Any initiative should be adaptable to the needs of your workforce. Create feedback mechanisms like surveys, discussion rooms or forums to measure effectiveness. Use this feedback to make adjustments and iterate for maximum effectiveness.

Not only does this improve performance, but it shows genuine commitment to employee concerns and wellbeing. 

14 employee engagement initiatives you can try in 2024

So, now that you know how to create an initiative. Here are a few ideas to help get you started on your journey to increased employee engagement, retention and satisfaction.

1. Boost performance with regular updates

Engaging your employees in two-way communication is vital if you want to improve productivity, collaboration and trust. 

96% of employees feel that empathy is essential to retention. This means, if you make employees feel heard, they’re more likely to stay with you long term. Plus, they’re 4.6 times more likely to feel empowered to do their best work. 

So, if you want a better performing, long lasting workforce you should implement weekly catch up meetings. During these sessions, set expectations, share results and listen to feedback to supercharge your workforce. 

2. Showcase real examples of company culture

It is said that there is no such thing as a single, unified company culture. And that companies have as many cultures as they have teams. This is because your employees are human, and they all have their own attitudes and ways of working.  

This gives you the opportunity to learn, share and promote examples of individual team cultures that align with your ideal company culture. That way, you allow flexibility while maintaining your overarching vision.

Drive employee engagement by showing that your culture, values and vision are not just tick box exercises. They are the reality of your workplace. A reality that puts value on your employees and their overall satisfaction.

3. Be transparent about financial performance

When creating a positive work environment, you need to be honest and transparent. If you want to encourage employees to engage with your business you can’t hide financial results.

We’re not suggesting that you share confidential information. But, explaining results, revenue, expenses and forecasts with your team keeps them in the loop. 

They will understand the realities of your business, and be in a position to help. So, be sure to listen to any suggestions for improvement during catch ups. 

After all, employees understand your processes and may be able to come up with quick wins that make a real difference to your bottom line. For example, automating certain processes to increase resource capacity. 

4. Invite customers to share their experiences

A key cause of employee disengagement is that they don’t know their impact. It can be hard to motivate yourself if you don’t see the outcome of your work. 

Invite customers to speak and share how your business, and your workforce, benefits them. 

Although this can be beneficial to your workforce. You also need to remember that your customers and clients are busy people. So, ensure that you make it worth their while to speak. 

This could be through a discount, providing extra services, promotion via your networks or even an Amazon gift voucher. 

5. Create employee-driven role descriptions and departmental strategies

Another great way to improve employee engagement is to encourage them to create their own job descriptions. 

Have them think actively about their daily roles and responsibilities. Then work with them to ensure that matches your expectations of them. This means that everyone is on the same page, increasing employee ownership.

You can also encourage them to get involved in the creation of departmental strategies. This improves your brainstorming by adding other diverse viewpoints to the mix. It also has the added bonus of ensuring that employees understand the strategic context of their work.

6. Recognition of good work and values-aligned behaviours

According to Gallup, employees who get recognised for good work are 20 times more likely to be engaged. You can set up a system for rewards and recognition within your business that matches your values. 

This can be business successes, or just behaviour that you want to encourage within your workforce. Ensure that this recognition is public, and that other employees can congratulate their colleague. 

7. Employee led coaching and knowledge sharing 

Every business is a melting pot of experience and specialist knowledge. 

Implement programs where employees can coach their peers. This promotes a learning culture within your business and allows employees to showcase their talents. 

A great way to incorporate coaching and knowledge sharing into your business is via a learning management system. Particularly in the age of the digital workplace. With the right platform, you can create employee led learning paths, and monitor completion rates with simple dashboards. 

8. Optimise your onboarding process

Did you know that 44% of new hires regret their decision after the first week? 

This means if you want to hire and retain top talent, your first impression needs to count. 

Formalise your onboarding process to bring people up to speed quickly and effectively. And be sure to address common new hire frustrations by providing:

If you address all of these potential challenges, and provide a smooth informative experience your new hire will be engaged and working for you for a long time.

Remember, you can optimise almost any process with automation. For the best possible onboarding experience, automate what you can and focus on introducing the company, its culture and its people. 

9. Enhance employee wellbeing and work-life balance

One in six workers are experiencing mental health issues at any one time. Yet, 46% of businesses don’t have a formal wellbeing strategy.

This means too many businesses are missing out on the benefits of a happier, healthier workforce. 

A study by Deloitte, found that focusing on and investing in the mental wellbeing of your workforce generates £5 for every £1 spent. Not only that, but addressing wellbeing at work can lead to a 12% increase in productivity. 

Create an initiative that encourages work-life balance and promotes wellbeing in the workplace. These can be through implementing policies on working hours, sending notifications reminding people to take breaks and ensuring appropriate workloads. 

You can also implement flexible working to allow for better work-life balance. Ensuring that your workforce can access everything they need no matter where, or when they are working. 

10. Career progression plans

Studies show that career growth and development opportunities lead to increased employee engagement and satisfaction. 

If your workers don’t see a future for themselves at your company, they are far more likely to leave. Sooner rather than later. 

Create an initiative to retain employees with the creation of career progression and development plans. Having a future roadmap will reassure them that they can achieve their personal and professional development goals at your company. 

Not only will this improve employee retention, but your workforce will be more engaged as they have something to aim for. 

11. Company-wide retreats or events

When employees feel a sense of belonging at work, they are more committed to your business. They are more motivated to achieve their goals, leading to improved productivity.

In fact, studies show that inclusivity and community in the workplace lead to increases in team performance, decision-making and collaboration. 

So, if you can, do something special to foster a sense of community. Take your teams to retreats or events. These can be simple retreats, industry events or even holidays. 

How much you work during these trips is up to you. But make sure you allow time for team bonding and socialising. This helps colleagues to bond and form lasting relationships, increasing trust throughout your organisation. 

12. Conduct stay interviews

If you wait until an exit interview to understand why employees are dissatisfied, you’ve waited too long. 

A great way to improve engagement in your business is to conduct “stay interviews”. 

For this initiative, you would interview employees, asking why they stay with your company. What they like, don’t like and what might improve their experience. 

Be sure to approach these interviews with an open mind. If you provide staff with a safe, no judgement space to speak, you will get valuable, actionable insights into how to increase engagement. 

13. Virtual water cooler chats

In the digital workplace, employees benefit from flexibility and a better work life balance. All while being more efficient and productive. 

However, hybrid and remote working means less social interaction compared to an office. This can lead to loneliness, burnout and disengagement. 

A program encouraging virtual water cooler chats can help bring your people together, no matter where they are. Provide your teams with the video conferencing software, instant messaging and intranet communication tools to easily connect.

14. Employee resource groups / affinity groups

Employee resource groups (also known as affinity groups) are groups based on common backgrounds, experiences or interests. These can include things like gender, ethnicity, religious affiliation, lifestyle or general interests. 

They help create a sense of community and inclusiveness in the workplace. All while supporting personal and professional development in line with your business goals.

We’ve already talked about how to launch an effective engagement initiative. But, for this one, your first step should be to conduct anonymous surveys to find out what ERG themes and topics interest your workforce. 

Once done, you can follow the usual steps of getting leadership buy-in, creating communication plans and iterating your approach for maximum business impact. 

Find the right technology to make your initiatives a success

We’ve talked about how you can engage your employees. But, the next step is finding the right tool to help you. 

After all, using technology to engage and communicate with employees can lead to a 40% increase in retention.

Claromentis is a digital workplace solution that helps you increase employee engagement, retention and satisfaction. If you want to engage your workforce, we’re the perfect partner for you. 

Our fully integrated solution contains four platforms to help you build a better business. 

All of which help improve your internal communications, operational processes and upskilling efforts. 

Book a demo today to find out more about how we can help you engage and retain your employees. 

Or, if you want more information on how your internal comms team can best serve your business, download our latest strategy guide today. 

In a fast-paced, dispersed working environment business outcomes hinge on a successful internal communications strategy. 

And this isn’t just about choosing the right words, or selecting the best channel. It’s about weaving a narrative that connects everyone in your business. From the c-suite to front line workers. 

In this blog, we’ll show you how to develop a successful internal comms strategy, and then the areas to monitor for continuous improvement.

What is an internal communication strategy?

An internal communication strategy is a comprehensive plan outlining how information is shared within an organisation. It covers the methods, channels and processes you use to enable communication between c-suite to frontline employees, and everyone in between. 

All of this is to ensure that every team member is aligned with the company’s vision, objectives, and core values. 

By allowing information to flow freely, transparently and efficiently your business can:

So, you now know why investing in your comms plan is important for a high-performing, resilient organisation. But how do you go about creating one?

4 steps to developing an internal communications strategy

If you don’t have an internal comms strategy, you’ll have to start from scratch. But, typically your strategy development will involve the below steps.

1. Audit your current strategy

What is and isn’t working? Who is involved? Who is/are your audience(s)? Is your strategy aligned with your business objectives? You should also get feedback from employees to discover their pain points and preferences. 

2. Assess your technology requirements

Identify and analyse your current setup. What channels are missing? What technology would be most suitable to put them in place? If you’re not sure, why not partner with an expert to get the help you need?

3. Establish timelines, budget, and buy-in

You now know what you want to achieve, you just have to get approval. Provide stakeholders with your anticipated budgets, timelines and ROI. If you do, they’ll be more than happy for you to execute your plan.

4. Establish KPIs and monitoring mechanisms

To prove ROI, you need to know what to measure. Common KPIs include employee retention and turnover; email open rates, and intranet usage.

Once you have your strategy in place, monitor and improve it over time. And don’t be afraid to make changes if the data is telling you something isn’t working. 

5 strategic tips to achieve your internal communications objectives in 2024

Here are our recommendations if you want to optimise your internal comms strategy for 2024 and beyond.

1. Explore modern communication tools and channels

Email will always have its place. But, there are other options more suited to the modern digital workplace. These include:

Plus, if you have an intranet, you can access them on a single centralised platform. Particularly if you have a cloud based intranet which allows remote or hybrid employees to access information anytime, anywhere, on any device via a mobile app. 

With 74% of employees using their smartphone for work tasks, giving them access via an app is likely to help your internal comms plan succeed. 

2. Don’t just give orders – start conversations

Some of your business communication is entirely operational. For example, comms around shifts, working hours, holiday days and company updates. 

This kind of communication with your workforce is vital. But, for long term, sustainable success you need to go further. 

The best internal communication strategies go beyond toolsets and top down communication. They create two-way communication between employees and leadership. 

This helps you create a better culture, share insights and refine best practices via continuous feedback loops. 

A great way to get started with this is to run quick surveys on topics that affect your entire workforce. This helps you quickly identify and act upon issues that make a difference to employees. And if they see their feedback making a difference, they will become more invested in your business, culture and values. 

3. Create a hierarchy for different communication types

Regular announcements about changes may be an internal comms best practice. But, not all announcements are created equal. 

For example, if you publish everything via push notifications employees will suffer from information overload. And they’ll stop checking and reading your communications. 

To avoid this, segment your communications into the below categories.

From here, you should consider two things:

For example, you may find that a major announcement should come from senior management as a pinned announcement. This highlights its importance within your intranet.

Another example might be that you feel that a department head should share new working guidelines. They can deliver the message with full context due to their expertise. Then, team leaders can reinforce the guidelines via instant messaging and in-person training.

Choosing the right communication pathway ensures employees mainly get very specific, relevant messages. This also means that when you make a major announcement it cuts through the noise more effectively. 

4. Tap into the benefits of peer to peer communication

Remote and hybrid working can lead to valuable operational knowledge being siloed off into singular departments, teams, or individuals. 

Your internal comms strategy should be able to resolve this issue and enable more effective remote and hybrid working. Ensuring that your employees are productive, engaged and collaborative no matter where they are. 

Ensure you facilitate knowledge sharing through your company directory and dedicated discussion rooms. Removing silos in this way can also increase internal networking. A vital way for employees to build the connections and knowledge they need to progress their career within your organisation.

5. Celebrate as well as inform

If you want to engage employees, celebrate their achievements. Use your internal communications channels to recognise the effort they put in each day.

The best internal communication softwares comes with employee recognition tools. These allow managers to reward employees for great work, making them feel appreciated and visible by their peers and leadership. 

Get more strategic, actionable recommendations in our latest ebook

The perfect internal communications strategy means doing a lot more than we’ve talked about in this blog. So, what’s the next step?

We’ve prepared a free guide that provides actionable, strategic recommendations for internal communicators that want 2024 to be their best year yet. 

Based on the latest data, we show you how to make the most of your available resources, budget and time. All while enabling you to find the ROI that will help you secure increased investment in the future. 

If you want to do that, all while enhancing employee engagement and collaboration, increasing productivity and cultivating the ideal company culture, download our ebook today. 

Note: this blog was last updated on 19th March 2024

Effective internal communications hinges on how you get your messages to employees. After all, it’s well documented that engaged workers make a business more productive, collaborative and profitable. 

Yet, if your internal communications strategy is lacking. You will find your workforce confused and frustrated as information they need is lost, missed or ignored. 

This is why internal communications are just as important as customer, partner or recruitment communications.

Why is effective internal communications important for employee engagement?

Internal communications are vital to business success. This is due to the fact that, done well, internal comms leads to increased engagement and retention. And this can have staggering impacts to both your business and the economy in general. 

For example, according to Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace 2023, unengaged workers cost the world  $8.8 trillion dollars. That’s 9% of global GDP.

If that’s not bad enough, 60% of all employees fall into that category. 

In recent years, disengagement has a new name – quiet quitting. This is where employees do the bare minimum. They don’t leave your business, but only do enough to not get fired.

If you want to promote future business growth, you need to re-engage your workforce. 

In fact, a lot of them actually want this. According to the same Gallup research, 41% of quiet quitters say that improving engagement or culture would make their employer a great place to work. 

So, you see how important communicating and engaging with your employees is. But, where to start?

Here are 7 employee communications best practices to help you improve engagement across your business

7 employee communication best practices for more effective internal communications

Follow these best practices to improve employee engagement, and to ensure that your workforce feels informed, valued and connected. 

1. Assess your existing internal communications strategy

The first step to improving employee engagement is to analyse your existing corporate communications. After all, if you don’t find your baseline you won’t know how well your strategies work in the future. 

If you have software, like an intranet, track things like post interactions, likes and follows, announcement acknowledgements and other engagement metrics. If you don’t, track key metrics like email opening rates.

Assess your current suite of communication tools. Could you reduce the number of disparate channels and softwares you use?

Finally, solicit feedback from internal stakeholders to see what your users think of your internal communications toolset. Find out what they like, what they don’t like and what they want from your internal comms team.

Regardless of what software you have, look for changes to behaviours. If your messages lead to action then you are engaging your workforce. 

This initial assessment will help you understand what works and what doesn’t. Helping you lay the foundation for a more effective strategy moving forward.

2. Develop your internal communications plans for 2024

Once you understand where you are with your internal communications, you need to either create or tweak your internal communications plans for 2024 and beyond. 

Consider your business objectives, define your goals and gain an understanding of your audience. This helps you ensure that you only serve the most relevant, interesting and valuable content to your workforce. All on internal communication channels they are willing to follow and engage with.

(PS – we actually have a guide that can help you develop a world beating internal comms strategy. Click here to get access.)

3. Create an internal communications committee

A dedicated internal communications committee ensures you can find the balance between employee needs and business objectives. It also enables further engagement with internal comms as people know who to reach out to if they have any questions or issues. 

What’s more, this committee should consist of both leadership and employees. Allowing for diverse perspectives and increasing employee investment in your business. Plus, it will help enable an effective feedback loop between c-suite and your workforce. 

4. Provide two-way channels for feedback

As Jimi Hendrix once said, “Knowledge speaks, but wisdom listens”. 

Effective internal communications is not just about getting your message to the masses. If you want to better engage employees, listen to what they have to say. Not only will this create a culture of openness and collaboration, you might learn something valuable that has a real impact on your bottom line. 

With the right software, you can create this feedback loop through surveys, polls and discussion forums. Depending on the subject, these can be anonymous so that everyone feels comfortable sharing their thoughts. 

5. Ensure your communications reach the right people

If you are communicating effectively, nobody at your business should feel out of the loop. This may not seem like a big issue, but the confusion and frustration can cause your people a lot of stress. 

Use tools like push notifications, announcements and alerts to ensure that nothing important slips through the cracks. 

6. Avoid communication overload

Did you know that sixty percent of workers feel increased burnout due to digital communication?

Find the balance between consistent communication and too much information. Don’t bombard people with announcements, internal messages and updates. 

Whenever you are communicating, consider your audience. Is what you have to say relevant, interesting and related to their role? If the answer is no, then chances are you don’t need to say it. 

7. Choose the right internal comms platform to help you

Selecting the right platform to implement your employee communication best practices is almost as important as your strategy. 

Find a provider that has the resources and expertise to help make your strategic vision a reality. One that can adapt to your specific business needs and goals. 

The software itself should be easy to use, with an integrated suite of apps and features to meet all your requirements. 

(For more information on how to carry out a requirements analysis click here.)

For example, our intranet solution can help you implement all of the best practices we’ve talked about and so much more. If you’d like to see how it works, book a demo today. 

Internal Communications Never Sleeps, Keep up to Date with Our Free Guide

When considering your internal communications strategy, you need to be adaptable. After all, employee expectations change and best practices change. 

That’s why it’s important to keep up to date with the latest trends and recommendations. 

Our latest free guide, “Internal Communication Strategy: Best Practices and Trends to Help You Succeed” can help you create a world beating strategy for 2024 and beyond. 

It’s full of actionable recommendations on how to enhance employee engagement and collaboration, increase productivity and cultivate a company culture you can be proud of. All in an environment where internal comms teams have too little resources, time and budget.

Note: this article was last updated on 12th March 2024

Enabling digital collaboration, engagement and communication is vital to business success. Particularly post-pandemic, where the digital workplace is the new normal.

Customers expect the best. So you need to operate efficiently no matter what. Whether staff are office based, frontline, or remote you need to ensure they have all they need.

Connecting a disparate workforce like this can be difficult. But, you’re not alone. With the right internal communications platform you can streamline your digital collaboration efforts. 

Why Internal Communications Tools Matter

Internal communications is the transmission of information within a business. It’s about how your workforce can use available resources, data and information to work better together.

An effective internal communications platform helps ensure that employees understand your business goals, processes, as well as their role and responsibilities. All of which helps them understand where they fit in the organisation and how their work makes a difference. 

Your internal comms efforts can also help nurture your ideal corporate culture and promote employee engagement. 

All of this doesn’t just benefit your workforce either. Employee satisfaction and engagement have a direct impact on business outcomes. 

In fact, Gallup research found the below differences in business outcomes when comparing the most and the least engaged workers.

Imagine the difference in productivity, collaboration and profitability your business could have if you improve workforce engagement. 

This is why your business needs an effective internal communications platform to help with your digital collaboration. 

Business wide improvement or change initiatives are never easy. But, with the right technology you can make a real impact on your workforce and bottom line. 

6 ways an internal communications platform can improve your digital collaboration

Internal comms software helps organisations increase collaboration and productivity between departments and team members. They do this in a variety of ways.

1. Organisation-wide reach

Using a business intranet for internal communications gives your workforce 24/7 access to everything they need. From senior management to production line workers. You can also extend this reach even further using a mobile app. 

On-demand access to a shared digital workplace helps employee communication. Enabling them to easily share information, resources and documentation. 

Corporate communication also benefits, as leadership can make announcements, issue updates and promote corporate culture. 

2. Targeted internal communications

The best internal communications software solutions have audience segmentation tools.

This is so you can personalise your messages, meaning employees only get relevant, interesting content specific to their roles.

For example, we provide an intuitive content management system to customers that lets them send targeted content. All without the need for technical or coding expertise. 

3. Dedicated collaboration spaces

Collaboration spaces enable leaders to run their projects and teams effectively. 

With tools enabling task management, discussion, document sharing and progress tracking your teams can do their best work. 

Plus, teams know where to find everything they need. Meaning they don’t waste time searching and consolidating information. And managers don’t have to keep chasing for updates. All the information is in one place.

4. Time saving productivity features

Automating both internal communications and general business processes helps you achieve more. This saves users time, reduces the risk of manual errors or configurations and streamlines employee communication. 

For example, you can use e-forms to transform manual, paper-based processes into streamlined workflows. Needing minimal input, automations such as this reduce busy work and empower employees to focus on more valuable tasks. Ones that advance your mission, business objectives and revenue. 

5. Employee engagement and feedback

An employee feedback loop is a vital component of increasing engagement with your business. This is because employees feel more invested in your business if they can share their thoughts on your strategy, mission, values and culture.

So don’t dismiss employee feedback. Embrace what you learn from surveys and discussions with your workforce. 

After all, they are closer to the actual work, so you may learn something valuable. 

6. Knowledge sharing and skills acquisition

Boosting staff development with quizzes, courses and training materials is important for staff retention and engagement. 

So, the ideal communication platform will have a learning management system (LMS). Allowing you to invest both in your people and your future business growth.

Effective digital collaboration, powered by Claromentis

You now know how an internal communications platform can boost your digital collaboration. So why not see one in action?

Claromentis is the single integrated intranet platform that can boost productivity, collaboration and engagement across your business. Not only that, it can help you improve operations through automation, train your staff with our LMS and run projects via task management software. 

If this sounds like something you’d be interested in, book a demo today. And discover how Claromentis can help you supercharge your internal comms strategy for 2024 and beyond.

Note: this blog was last updated on 7th March 2024

Hybrid and remote working is on the rise worldwide. 

In fact, estimates suggest that there will be 92 million remote employees across the world by 2030.

So, if you want to thrive in the digital workplace era, you need the right employee engagement platform. 

What are the benefits of an employee engagement platform?

Many businesses are seeing the benefits of a hybrid and remote working world.

After all, they can attract the best talent from across the globe through flexible working and attractive benefits packages. All of which increases productivity, collaboration and engagement. 

Flexible working also has a significant business benefit, with research suggesting that it can lead to 21% revenue growth. This is 16% more growth than companies with return-to-office mandates.

But, to gain these benefits you need technology to support you. That’s where an employee engagement platform comes in. 

With the right software you will be able to:

1. Improve team performance, communication and collaboration

Companies with engaged employees are 18% more productive and 23% more profitable than those with low engagement.

With the right platform you can track engaged employee performance, seeing how they communicate, collaborate and perform in real-time, in a centralised location. You can also promote knowledge sharing, helping colleagues learn from each other. 

What’s more, you can ensure there is a single source of truth on team goals, progress and responsibilities. Reducing confusion and time wasting across your business. 

2. Increase employee retention with meaningful engagement

Engaged employees are 3 x more likely to stay with their company long term. So focusing on embedding a workplace culture of wellbeing and belonging is vital.

Software allows you to monitor employee sentiment, as well as burnout and engagement levels in a meaningful way. 

Also, you can provide a two-way communication and feedback loop between employees and leadership. Letting them voice concerns, receive support and feel like they are a vital part of your business. All of which means you can keep good people longer. 

3. Use data to make better business decisions

Being data driven makes your business 58% more likely to exceed revenue goals. 

With comprehensive dashboards, employee engagement tools can help you make better decisions and become more profitable. 

Not only that, engaged workers are more invested in your success. If you want to grow your business, gather their feedback, insights and ideas. 

3 steps to choosing the right platform for your business

1. Conduct a requirements analysis

As with any investment, getting a good return on your employee engagement platform relies on understanding what your goals are.

If you’re not sure, conduct a requirements analysis before researching your options. 

To do so, you’ll need to survey the likely stakeholders and users of your platform. This will help you find out what works well currently, what doesn’t and what improvements they would like to see. 

Stakeholder identification is simple – if they are going to use the platform, their opinion matters. So, if practical, speak with them. 

If you are in a larger organisation it’s likely you won’t be able to speak with all stakeholders. That’s okay, just make sure you talk to people representing:

Once you have identified your key stakeholders, you need to find answers to the below questions.

20 questions to ask during your requirement analysis

1. Why do we want to implement an employee engagement platform?
2. How will this platform align with our overall business strategy and values?
3. What outcomes or KPIs do we want to achieve with this platform?
4. What features and functions do stakeholders expect from the platform?
5. What employee engagement gaps or challenges will we address with this platform?
6. What types of content will we prioritise and use on the platform?
7. What accessibility requirements do we need to ensure inclusivity for all employees?
8. How important is mobile access?
9. What functions and features need to be available on mobile devices?
10. What languages should the platform support to cater to all employees?
11. How should the platform integrate with existing tools or systems? Are we replacing or integrating with legacy software?
12. What data privacy and security requirements do we have?
13. How will the platform collect, use and protect employee data?
14. What are the potential barriers to adoption, and how do we mitigate them?
15. Will we need training and support for users?
16. How will we measure employee engagement ROI with the platform?
17. How will we collect feedback on the platform? And what process will we use to action feedback on the platform?
18. How adaptable does it have to be to meet evolving business needs?
19. What is our budget for implementation and maintenance of the platform?
20. What internal resources do we need to launch and maintain the platform?

2. Make a list of priorities

Once you have spoken with everyone, collate the information into an actionable requirements analysis. For example, you may find that: 

Identify common themes and prioritise based on their importance to both your employees and your business. This means you can improve employee retention and satisfaction while achieving your business goals.

When researching the best employee engagement platform, map these priorities directly to the features on offer. 

For example, knowledge transfer issues due to information silos can be solved using discussion rooms, instant messaging and other intranet communication and collaboration tools. 

Or perhaps security is your focus, meaning you need single sign on capabilities on a secure, compliant platform? 

Find the perfect platform for you by rating it against your needs. No matter how complex, you will find a software that can do everything you need. It’s just a matter of time and research. 

Here are a few resources and ideas to help you find the right software:

3. Research vendors and invite them to demo

Once you have identified a few platforms that meet your needs. It’s time to try them out. 

Invite your shortlist to provide a demo of their engagement platform. 

Ideally, this would be a personalised demo that speaks to your specific needs. This will give you a good indication of whether or not the software is for you.

If you’re not sure how to rate the software during the demo, look out for the below:

1. Ease of use

2. Customisation capabilities

3. Integrations

4. Analytics and reporting

5. Feedback mechanisms

6. Communication tolls

7. Support and training

Here are some useful questions that will help you make the most of your demo session.

10 questions to ask during your demo

1. Can you run through a specific, real-world scenario that shows me [desired outcome/feature]?
2. Can you show how the platform integrates with our existing toolset?
3. How customisable is the platform? Can it adapt to my brand and specific employee engagement strategies?
4. What employee engagement analytics and reporting are available? 
5. How does the platform enable employee recognition and rewards?
6. How would we gather employee feedback? Are there mechanisms in place to ensure anonymity?
7. How can the platform support initiatives for wellbeing, culture and belonging?
8. What security measures are in place to protect our sensitive data?
9. Do you offer training and support services during and after implementation?
10. What is the pricing model? How does it scale and does it include everything?

Boost employee engagement in 2024 and beyond 

For internal comms teams, employee engagement is the number one measure of success. Yet, the majority of teams have neither the time nor resources to really make an impact.

We’ve talked about how you can find the perfect software to help you. But what about the rest?

Software is a tool, you need a strategy if you want to increase employee engagement and demonstrate ROI to leadership.

That’s where we can help.

Click below to download our latest guide on how to create a world beating internal communications strategy.

It’s full of actionable recommendations on how to enhance employee engagement and collaboration, increase productivity and create a company culture that you can be proud of. All in an environment where teams are expected to do more with less.

Ensuring compliance with industry standards and regulations is a critical aspect of most businesses’ operations, as it mitigates legal and financial risks, enhances trust with stakeholders, and fosters a culture of integrity at every level within the organization.

However, managing compliance processes can be complex and time-consuming, especially when relying on manual paperwork or outdated systems. Simple mistakes or oversights can be costly, both financially and reputationally. Compliance software, however, can significantly improve the efficiency and accuracy of compliance processes, particularly through the provision of versatile e-forms.

What is compliance management software?

Compliance management software is a specialist digital tool that is designed to streamline and automate different aspects of regulatory and legal compliance. By facilitating the creation, implementation, and tracking of compliance policies and procedures, compliance software helps organizations to efficiently manage compliance-related tasks, track employee adherence to policies, conduct audits, generate reports, and ensure alignment with relevant laws and best practices.

How can compliance and risk management software streamline critical processes?

A key feature of the Claromentis digital workplace is its e-forms which can be easily created and customized with no requirement to have specialist coding knowledge. So, how could Claromentis e-forms help to streamline your organization’s compliance processes?

Approval workflows

Claromentis enables managers to create custom approval workflows tailored to their specific needs. Whether it’s the ISO 9001 management review or supplier management processes, Claromentis e-forms facilitate smooth and efficient approval processes. By automating these workflows, organizations can minimize delays and ensure that compliance-related decisions are made promptly and accurately.

Project initiation forms

Initiating new projects often involves multiple stakeholders and thorough evaluations. Claromentis e-forms enable users to propose, review, and approve new projects to make it easier to track the entire project initiation process. By using Claromentis e-forms, organizations can ensure that all necessary compliance checks and assessments are carried out before moving forward with projects.

Incident reporting forms

In any organization, compliance breaches may arise from time to time. With Claromentis e-forms, employees can report incidents using the appropriate reporting forms, such as the ISO 9001 complaint form or the ISO 27001 incident report, to facilitate the prompt identification and resolution of issues, and to promote a proactive compliance culture.

Compliance-related tasks and processes, such as audits, inspections, or onboarding, can be complex and time-consuming, so Claromentis allows users to create checklists for such tasks to ensure that no crucial steps are overlooked during the compliance process. By using these checklists, organizations can improve consistency and adhere to industry standards.

Policy and risk acknowledgment forms

Communicating with staff and ensuring that they understand policies and procedures is crucial for organizations to achieve compliance. Claromentis provides electronic policy acknowledgment forms, such as ISO 9001 Risks and Opportunities Management, that employees can easily access and complete to provide managers with a convenient way to track policy compliance and risk acknowledgment across the organization.

Access request forms

Controlling access to specific resources, systems, or sensitive data is essential to ensure compliance and maximize security. With Claromentis e-forms, employees can submit access request forms which help organizations to enforce access controls and ensure that the right people have access to the right information and comply with ISO 27001 Data Access. We also ensure our e-forms and processes can be supported by knowledge base articles that provide relevant information and context – rather than processes in isolation, with nine free templates for key ISO27001 processes which each employee can of course customize with our no-code customization tools.

Act now to safeguard your business

If you need to improve your business’s compliance to protect your staff and your organization from risk, please get in touch today or sign up for your free trial of Claromentis.

]]> https://www.claromentis.com/blog/microsoft-sharepoint-vs-claromentis-intranet/ Wed, 27 Dec 2023 09:00:00 +0000 https://www.claromentis.com/?p=32392 If you’re considering investing in an intranet software for your small business, naturally you’ll want to make an informed and risk-free decision. The last thing you will want to do is to spend money on a platform that, because of]]>

If you’re considering investing in an intranet software for your small business, naturally you’ll want to make an informed and risk-free decision. The last thing you will want to do is to spend money on a platform that, because of its complexity, proves to be a white elephant. While many businesses may automatically turn to a market leader, such as Microsoft SharePoint, there are cost-effective alternatives for effective document management, collaboration, and knowledge sharing that are more suited to the needs of small businesses.

In this article, we’ll consider the pros and cons of SharePoint and Claromentis and consider whether SharePoint alternatives for small businesses are a worthwhile investment.

Ease of use

For some new users who are unfamiliar with intranet software, SharePoint’s complex interface needs IT staff to build the solution and continually evolve the intranet for it to work for the business, which can be overwhelming for employees, resulting in steep learning curves and interruptions in work! If employees find an intranet confusing or difficult to master, it is unlikely that they will engage with it; consequently, the platform will fail to make the required impact and will deliver a poor return on investment. Claromentis, however, does not need technical expertise to build the intranet and excels by integrating all essential apps into a cohesive digital workspace, with an intuitive and user-friendly design that ensures employees quickly adapt to and engage with the platform, with IT only needing to be involved in the build to check security, single sign-on etc, after which they become just another department sharing all the intranet has to offer.

Pricing

For small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in particular, SharePoint can be a costly investment, with licensing fees, customization costs, and infrastructure expenses that quickly add up. Claromentis is a cost-effective SharePoint alternative because it includes unrestricted access to intranet apps, cloud hosting options, and in-house customer support, and is an affordable solution that offers good value for money. This makes Claromentis an attractive option for organizations who are looking to optimize their budget without compromising on functionality.

Customization and development

Customizing SharePoint often requires skilled developers who are familiar with its unique development environment. This can be time-consuming and expensive, as organizations need to recruit and train staff to undertake the work. In contrast, Claromentis puts ease of use first by offering no-code intranet design tools, so administrators can easily tailor the platform to meet the needs of the organization and its employees without the need for extensive technical expertise.

User interface and design

SharePoint’s user interface has, historically, lacked the modern and intuitive design of other collaboration platforms which impacts user adoption and engagement. In contrast, Claromentis’s user-friendly tools enable organizations to create visually appealing intranet sites that align with their brand identity and deliver an engaging user experience, with no specialist knowledge of coding required.

Mobile compatibility

Historically, SharePoint’s mobile experience has been less robust and user-friendly compared to its desktop counterpart, a limitation that can hinder productivity for dispersed teams and remote workers. Claromentis, on the other hand, is optimized to be immediately compatible with mobile browsers, allowing employees to access the intranet seamlessly from their smartphones and tablets wherever they are.

Book your free demo of Claromentis

If you’re searching for an optimized and easy-to-use intranet for your employees, please get in touch or get your free trial of the Claromentis digital workspace solution.

]]> https://www.claromentis.com/blog/intranet-improving-business-processes/ Wed, 20 Dec 2023 09:00:00 +0000 https://www.claromentis.com/?p=32386 Thriving businesses depend on effective communication, collaboration, and knowledge management to stay competitive and productive, but achieving these can be challenging. Fortunately, modern intranet solutions, such as Claromentis, provide powerful tools that can enhance the implementation of business policy and]]>

Thriving businesses depend on effective communication, collaboration, and knowledge management to stay competitive and productive, but achieving these can be challenging. Fortunately, modern intranet solutions, such as Claromentis, provide powerful tools that can enhance the implementation of business policy and improve the efficiency of strategic management.

In this article, we’ll consider the key factors affecting business processes, policy, and strategic management and how a digital workspace strategy can help your organization to operate more fluidly.

Improving organization-wide communication

Communication breakdowns are one of the most common hurdles faced by businesses. Miscommunication can lead to misunderstandings, delays, and even costly mistakes. The Claromentis digital workplace provides an accessible platform that promotes seamless communication within the organization, to ensure that staff at all levels and locations are always on the same page. Features, such as instant messaging, forums, and news feeds, help employees to stay informed, share ideas, and discuss important issues – ultimately shaping a more open, inclusive culture that encourages discussion and debate.

Improving Processes

An intranet, such as Claromentis, can become the backbone of modern businesses, weaving together various processes to boost efficiency and collaboration. By centralizing documents, resources, and communication tools, it streamlines information sharing and enables seamless cross-departmental teamwork. Integration of task management and workflow automation further enhances processes, reducing errors and accelerating task completion. Ultimately, an intranet fosters transparency, collaboration, and efficiency, driving significant improvements across the organization.

Promoting collaboration

If you’re responsible for a large organization with multiple departments or dispersed teams, how do you promote effective collaboration between your employees? Collaboration can be challenging for many reasons, including diverse perspectives, conflicting priorities, or challenges in aligning different work styles or communication preferences. The Claromentis intranet fosters collaboration by providing innovative tools, such as centralized project management tools, shared workspaces, and document management systems, that make it easier for staff to work together, even when they’re in different departments or locations. With enhanced collaboration comes improved decision-making, increased innovation, and a stronger sense of teamwork.

Enhancing knowledge sharing

Inefficient knowledge management hinders productivity and growth as employees are unable to access the information they need to make reasoned, risk-free decisions. Claromentis serves as a central repository for knowledge sharing and management so that staff can quickly access crucial information, resources, and documents, making it easier for them to find what they need, when they need it. This improves productivity, reduces redundant work, and ensures that organizational knowledge is not lost when employees leave.

Streamlined access to information

As well as improving knowledge sharing within an organization, Claromentis intranet solves the problem of information that is scattered across different platforms and systems. By providing a single access point to all relevant information and consolidating data from various sources, the platform ensures that employees can make informed decisions based on the most up-to-date information available, without spending unreasonable amounts of time hunting for what they need. 

Safeguarding critical business data

Protecting sensitive business information and intellectual property from external threats is crucial for the success of all companies at a time when cybercrime is becoming increasingly complex in its methodology. A business intranet provides a secure platform for communication and collaboration underpinned by robust security features, such as access controls, data encryption, and multi-factor authentication to ensure that confidential data remains safe from prying eyes.

Streamlining policy management

To streamline policy management within an organization, Claromentis’ Policy Manager tool enables businesses to efficiently create, update, and communicate policies across departments. With a centralized policy management system, managers can ensure that employees are aware of the latest policies, reducing compliance risks, and enhancing organizational governance.

Find out more

If you want to empower your business and its employees to achieve their potential, speak to us today about the Claromentis digital workplace solution or sign up for a free trial, so you can see how Claromentis can benefit your organization.

]]> https://www.claromentis.com/blog/what-is-the-difference-between-intranet-and-extranet/ Wed, 22 Nov 2023 09:00:00 +0000 https://www.claromentis.com/?p=32239 Effective communication and seamless information transfer are crucial for businesses to thrive, so organizations often turn to dedicated networks – intranets and extranets – to accomplish these processes. Although intranets and extranets sound similar, there are important distinctions between the]]>

Effective communication and seamless information transfer are crucial for businesses to thrive, so organizations often turn to dedicated networks – intranets and extranets – to accomplish these processes. Although intranets and extranets sound similar, there are important distinctions between the two, with each serving different purposes within a business’s ecosystem.

In this article, we’ll explore the key differences between intranet software and extranet to help you to determine which is most suited for your needs.

What is an intranet?

An intranet is an internal network that is accessible only to a company’s employees and serves as a central platform for communication, collaboration, and information sharing. It enables employees to access company resources, documents, and tools, allowing them to work together more efficiently and productively. As a secure and private platform, it supports staff to share knowledge, experiment with ideas, and undertake professional development, without fear of hacks or data breaches and puts all the information they need to undertake their responsibilities in one easy-to-access place.

What is an extranet?

In contrast, an extranet’s reach expands beyond the boundaries of an intranet, allowing external parties, such as customers, vendors, and partners, to access parts of the company’s network. Controlled external access creates a secure environment in which authorized individuals can interact with the company’s resources and systems to share information, conduct transactions, and engage in collaborative projects.

What are the main intranet and extranet differences?

When comparing intranets and extranets, there are three key differences to consider:

User focus

The main distinction between intranets and extranets lies in their focus. Primarily, an intranet caters to the internal needs of an organization and its employees, while an extranet extends its reach to encompass external parties, catering to customer-centric activities and fostering strong business relationships.

Therefore, an intranet is an ideal choice if your primary objective is to enhance internal communication and streamline processes among your employees. However, if you need a platform to interact with customers, vendors, and partners, an extranet is the best option.

Network management

Intranets, typically, are managed by a single organization, giving them full control over the infrastructure, security, and content. Centralized management ensures data privacy and integrity of the company’s internal communications.

However, an extranet can be managed by one or more organizations as it involves collaboration between the company and external stakeholders. Shared management requires careful coordination to maintain data security and access control.

Security

Security is a critical aspect of both intranets and extranets. Intranets rely on firewalls and other robust security measures to protect sensitive internal information from external threats, such as hackers.

Acting as a barrier between the intranet and the internet, a firewall ensures that unauthorized access is prevented. In comparison, an extranet firewall separates the extranet from both the internet and the company’s intranet, safeguarding the company’s internal resources from the potential risks that are associated with external access.

Claromentis Intranet: The Best Of Both

Claromentis intranet stands as an enhanced solution that seamlessly integrates intranet and extranet functionalities into a single, cohesive platform, offering a professional and informative user experience.

Its hallmark feature lies in its capacity to tailor information, menus, and design specifically for external parties while granting them access to the extranet section. This ensures that external stakeholders only see the pertinent content essential to their engagement within the organization. Simultaneously, employees and internal stakeholders accessing the intranet component benefit from a common information repository, fostering collaboration and consistency throughout the organization.

This dual-system approach enables businesses to maintain secure and controlled interactions with external parties while preserving a unified and standardized digital environment for internal communication and knowledge-sharing. With Claromentis, enterprises can confidently manage interactions with both internal and external users in an efficient and personalized manner, making it a versatile and comprehensive solution for modern workplace needs.

Arrange a free branded demonstration

For a branded demonstration and full proof-of-concept of the Claromentis intranet solution, please contact us today or download our Intranet Platform Overview brochure to find out more.

]]> https://www.claromentis.com/blog/benefits-of-an-intranet-for-financial-services/ Wed, 15 Nov 2023 09:00:00 +0000 https://www.claromentis.com/?p=32230 Financial services companies handle a wealth of confidential customer information and must scrupulously maintain records of all transactions and communications for years with the information needing to be shared quickly and easily with authorized employees. Still, many businesses in the]]>

Financial services companies handle a wealth of confidential customer information and must scrupulously maintain records of all transactions and communications for years with the information needing to be shared quickly and easily with authorized employees. Still, many businesses in the industry doggedly rely on paper-based processes that are prone to errors and easily lost in vast siloes of data. As well as being incredibly inefficient, these processes are potentially insecure.

If your business operates in the financial services sector a financial intranet offers many benefits which, in this article, we’ll outline.

Enhanced speed and efficiency

A dedicated intranet enables companies that provide financial services to increase the speed and efficiency of their customer service. With all business data stored in a single centralized location, staff members can quickly and easily access the resources they need to respond promptly and accurately to customers’ enquiries. An intranet platform for financial services also ensures that staff receive real-time notifications about incoming customer requests so that no enquiries go unnoticed or unanswered.

Also, customized workflows and e-forms reduce the time needed to complete manual tasks, such as mortgage applications or purchase order requests. By streamlining business processes and minimizing response times, financial services companies can enhance their customer service, thereby securing the long-term loyalty of customers.

Up-to-date and centralized data

Compliance is essential in the financial services industry, with punishing sanctions for inaccurate advice or information. By implementing a financial intranet, businesses can improve the storage, management, and dissemination of data to provide staff with the most up-to-date information and eliminate the risk of giving customers misleading or incorrect advice.

With a reliable and centralized data repository, financial services companies can enhance their operational efficiency and minimize errors, showing themselves to be trustworthy and credible.

Enhanced data security and privacy

Data security and privacy are paramount in the financial services industry as a data leak can be extensive. An intranet allows companies to maintain strict control over customer data, ensuring that only authorized personnel can access sensitive information. When combined with robust security measures, such as user authentication protocols and data encryption, financial services companies can safeguard customer data and prevent unauthorized access.

By making data security and privacy a priority, financial companies can build trust with their customers and comply with demanding regulatory requirements.

Targeted staff training and knowledge sharing

An intranet serves as a valuable platform for staff training and knowledge sharing within financial services companies. Up-to-date knowledge and skills are vital in an industry that is constantly evolving, so professional development modules and resources can be created and made accessible to employees to ensure they are well-placed to serve customers effectively and comply with regulatory requirements.

By providing targeted and up-to-date training, companies can enhance their service capabilities and ensure that customer information is handled with care, avoiding data breaches or privacy concerns.

Contact us for a branded intranet demonstration

The best way to see the benefits of an intranet for financial services is to arrange a branded demonstration of the Claromentis platform. To book your personal tour, please contact us today.

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