As our work and home environments have dramatically changed in a matter of weeks, corporate communication leaders and intranet teams have moved quickly to provide guidance to employees. Intranets, while always critical, have become even more important for communicating the latest policies, enabling remote work, and connecting people.  

This situation inspired us to launch the Digital Workplace Roundtable, with our first, formative discussion on April 3. Together with our community participants we explored the opportunities leaders have to communicate new policies with candor, leverage global teams to share critical knowledge and the value of doubling down on Wellness initiatives.

We listened to stories our workplace community members shared about leaders providing regular and candid process updates to their employees from their basements, sometimes with pets and kids nearby. The need for information is high and it’s a balancing act to enable remote work while keeping an eye on running the core business. 

Global companies were able to leverage the knowledge and experiences of their teams in other countries who had already implemented process changes due to Covid-19. This helped teams around the world move faster with more confidence when changing policies and processes. Employee concerns ranged from avoiding illness to hiring and onboarding new employees with virtual shadowing, and a lot of questions about facilities, technology and benefits. Some companies had started preparedness drills early and had a 2 week advantage in their planning.

We also noted an emphasis on Wellness to combat the impacts of social isolation, restrictions on mobility, and potential illness.  Many teams are sharing links related to fitness, stress reduction, mindfulness and ergonomics. We also learned about paying attention to legality of sharing certain information, which warrants additional research.  

Given the wealth of information we encountered in our first Digital Workplace Roundtable, I’m excited to announce that our next Digital Workplace Roundtable is scheduled for May 7 – register here.  I hope to see you there!

Dig Deeper

In the Coveo Relevance Report 2021, you’ll uncover: the consequences of data-finding frustrations; importance of making the digital workplace relevant for employees; and how AI can help you do just that—to grant employees access to the knowledge they need, when they need it.