The challenges of the Covid pandemic put a spotlight on the role of internal communications in the healthcare sector.
During that time, it became vital for internal comms professionals to communicate quickly and regularly with a wide spectrum of employees from clinicians to administrative staff.
Intranets swiftly went from zero to hero as a preferred comms channel.
We’ve since spoken to our healthcare customers to find out some of the lessons they learnt about using their intranet during that time of crisis and what they’ve taken forward in their practice today.
Here’s what we found out:
1. Analytics
Employee engagement figures rapidly became a barometer of employee sentiment. Using analytics, IC professionals could tell what content was being read and engaged with, which helped inform the content they published.
Turning on the ‘must read’ and ‘audience targeting’ features also helped push content to the relevant people and ensured they read the comms intended for them. What used to be nice-to-have features are now commonplace – with audience segmenting and targeting continuing to be regularly deployed.
2. FAQs
Never have FAQs been more important than during the time of crisis. Hospital staff wanted facts and in real time. Providing a regular and consistent single source of truth, that everyone could easily access, became a top priority. FAQs were a quick way to publish necessary and up-to-date information that everyone could rely on.
This self-service function helped to reduce time wasted looking for information or interrupting busy colleagues with repetitive questions and continue to be used in this way.
3. Multi-media content
Internal comms was often the poor cousin to the marketing or website content team prior to the outbreak. Yet, healthcare organisations quickly realised that they needed new ways to attract the attention of and engage with internal staff.
Budgets were reallocated to internal comms which enabled IC professionals to commission and publish a variety of multimedia content for the intranet. From bite-sized inspirational videos recognising employee achievements to personal messages from the senior leadership – the variety helped to lift everyone’s spirits during the challenging times.
Analytics showed that staff responded so well that budgets remain in place and the content being created is still varied.
4. News alerts
Using the hero rotator on the homepage, ‘news alerts’ became an integral way to draw attention to the most important news of the day. During the height of the crisis, IC professionals could update the news alerts hourly – so employees always knew that the banner carried the most up-to-the-minute information.
Although communications have since settled, the news alerts feature remains in place for many healthcare organisations as staff have got used to relying on this quick and visual way to stay informed.
5. Trained and empowered new content editors
Prior to the pandemic many healthcare organisations had strict content protocols, with workflows controlled by a central team of IC professionals.
However, at the start of Covid new governance rules were swifty introduced – opening content creation to departments/section editors who could update their own sites on the fly without having to get sign off from internal comms or IT.
Setting up templates with approved brand colours, fonts and even approved photos really helped to keep the look and feel of the intranet uniform and on brand. Section editors continue to create and update their own content relieving pressure on the central IC team.
6. Turned on comments feature
As in-person group events became a distant memory, many healthcare customers turned on the commenting feature on their intranet to help build camaraderie and maintain morale.
Enabling comments helped colleagues to connect and bond during the challenging times. Even though in-person meetings and events have resumed, the ability to like, share and comment on intranet content has remained for most customers as it’s become part of their online culture.
For further tips on how to use your intranet to improve internal comms:
Watch our on-demand webinar: Boost internal communications in your hospital with Involv
Read our case study to find out how H.-Hart Hospital Lier is using Involv Intranet for enhanced collaboration and document management.
Want to know how to use your intranet to improve your internal comms?
Book a demo with one of our friendly experts today for tips and advice.