November 16, 2019
Intranet Technology – the Overlooked Key to Lifting Employee Productivity
by Dhiram Shah
All organizations around the world are constantly looking for new ways to maximize employee productivity. Unfortunately, productivity statistics are not very encouraging at the moment. One study found that workers are only productive 60% of the time that they are on the clock. General productivity only increased by 0.3% between 2011 and 2016.
Organizations should look into all possible technological resources to get more productivity out of their employees. One of the best options they should consider is creating a company intranet.
Company intranet can be invaluable for increasing productivity
The majority of organizations that have set up their own intranet have found that it has done wonders for productivity. Here are some points to consider.
An Intranet minimizes traditional online distractions and the tendency for social loafing
Companies are still struggling to regulate employee access to the Internet. Around the turn of the century, the general policy was to completely prohibit employees from accessing Facebook and other websites that tempt employees to waste their time. They have since taken a more tolerant view, because they recognize that these websites can also provide useful resources and help employees decompress when they have some downtime.
However, companies are also aware that employees often waste time on these types of sites. Employees often go to these sites out of force of habit, because they can access them so easily if they have a standard Intranet connection. One poll showed 65% of companies used the Internet for non-work related issues during the day.
Setting up an intranet is a compromise that helps minimize the risk of social loafing. Employees won’t be completely cut off from traditional Internet services, but they will not be able to use them when they are on a machine dedicated to using the company’s internal network. This minimizes the time employers lose from their workers being on other websites.
Simplify the process of searching for important company resources
A growing number of companies are using the cloud to store important documents. This is not always the best idea. Cloud technology has created a number of security risks that companies don’t have to worry about when using an Intranet instead.
In addition to the security risks, cloud technology also can stifle productivity. Employees will have an easier time being productive on an Intranet network instead. One of the biggest reasons is that they can search for content much more easily.
Companies that rely on cloud storage tend to have documents scattered across different cloud platforms. They might have some files stored on Dropbox and others stored on Google Docs. It can be a huge hassle for employees to look for the documents they need on multiple platforms.
They won’t encounter this problem when they are trying to look for files on the Intranet. They will all be stored in a single repository, so they can easily search for them by keywords or file names. They can even refine their search to specific directories if they know where to start.
Improving activity through greater employee happiness
Companies that use Intranet services tend to have stronger employee relationships. This is an often-overlooked benefit of productive companies.
Employees are 20% more productive when they feel happy. Companies should try to use their Intranet to strengthen and play relationships and boost morale. This alone can make a big difference in their productivity levels.
Removing traditional employee boundaries
Many traditional team building platforms focus on segmenting employees. They are often isolated by geography or their role in the organization. This approach obviously has some significant drawbacks, because different types of employees often need to collaborate.
Employees can collaborate much more easily through an Intranet portal. These networks tear down traditional silos that isolate them, which drastically improves communication and collaboration.
Resolving issues more quickly
Every organization is going to experience its share of technical problems. Fortunately, Intranet technology makes then more responsive to these issues. They can solve problems much more quickly, which reduces periods of zero productivity.
Intranet technology is the key to boosting productivity
Productivity is one of the top concerns of every organization. Sadly, many companies are struggling to get the most out of their employees. The good news is that Intranet technology is helping boost productivity in significant ways.