As we slowely approach the end of lockdown in the UK, the one thing that is certain is uncertainty. What “normality” will look like is anyone’s guess, and with conflicting advice around work arrangements coming from all angles, many employers are holding back on making any decisions. Much of the UK workforce was thrown into homeworking without much warning, but now employers and employees have had time to reflect on the pros and cons.
Over the past year many employers ceased leases on office spaces after seeing the benefits of home working and associated cost savings. Others retained central workspaces: the Institution of Engineering and Technology in fact took the opportunity provided by their Stevenage workforce being at home to bring forward their refurbishment project of Michael Faraday House: “The project started whilst employees are working from home during the pandemic, providing an opportunity to complete the work in a safe and efficient way, as well as speeding up the project timescale.”
As employers attempt to adopt best of both, “hybrid working” emerged, and many are citing that this will be a long-term arrangement. So if some of your team are operating in the office, and some are at home, how can you ensure everyone is equipped to succeed? Take a look at your intranet. The UK Sports Council hit the nail on the head when they said “During remote working, the intranet is essentially an extension of the office, so it is important to get it right.”
So how can your SMLWRLD intranet get the best out of hybrid working?
One of the fundamental requirements of an intranet is knowledge-sharing. With streamlined document management, your colleagues can upload and share documents, articles, presentations, news and announcements publicly to the company, or privately between select individuals. You can also set review and deletion dates to ensure documents stay up to date, assign ownership and use multiple different styles to present knowledge in an interesting and digestible format. No more lost documents, duplicate files, boring essays or incorrect versions to contend with!
Online communities are a powerful tool to creating joined-up teams. On the SMLWRLD intranet you can create private and open communities where colleagues can collaborate, hold discussions, answer each other’s questions and share materials. They can also be self-managed by appointing one or more team admins.
The move to online format for training and events was probably one of the most challenging aspects of remote working. But to some it was an opportunity, such as Home-Start UK. Home-Start is a charity which supports families across the UK, and it was one of the chosen charities for the 2020 John Lewis Christmas Campaign. Yvonne, their Network Engagement Officer, saw a huge uplift in external webinar attendees since the move to online: “I’ve had webinars that have had over 100 people attend. Before that it was more like 14. Covid helped push a lot of people to go digital.” So it makes sense that the same can be said for your internal events and training. With a SMLWRLD intranet, you have an Event Management System to provide event calendars and e-learning capabilities. Calendars can be global or select specific types of events, as well as use tags and keywords, subscription capabilities, reminder emails and personal individual calendars.
Often one of the biggest grumbles from workers is having to use multiple different systems, platforms and programs, not to mention all the associated login details. Sometimes it is unavoidable. But you can help prevent it becoming a daily stumbling block by integrating your tools and keeping everything housed in your intranet, so the intranet is the daily one-stop shop. SMLWRLD is built on a Microsoft tech stack, meaning it plays nicely with Microsoft Office 365, as well as supporting external integrations. And where authorisation isn’t provided to the third party, SMLWRLD can perform a “handshake” where the login details are stored encrypted within the intranet user’s profile. Think of how many annoying calls to IT that would save!
Your SMLWRLD intranet contains a complete email campaign management tool. Whether it’s one-off updates, automated newsletters, or personalised digests based on the individual’s viewing habits, we’ve got it handled. And we understand how important analytics are, so once your email has gone out you can track its success by monitoring the receipts, opens and clicks. Well, that’s something to write home about.
All of this is just the tip of the intranet iceberg – there is so much more to discover about what SMLWRLD can offer your organisation. So check out our website or get in touch to discuss your intranet needs, big or small.