When it comes to hard-to-reach employees, few sectors are more challenging than the manufacturing sector.
With the majority of staff being non-desk-based, working on the production line or sales staff out in the field visiting existing and potential new customers.
Not to mention the fact that many manufacturing companies are based over multiple sites, possibly even operating in multiple countries, which mean reaching employees with the right message, at the right time is an uphill struggle.
So, with this in mind, how do internal comms professionals engage such a workforce? Is an intranet even a relevant platform for such a distributed set of employees?
The answer is yes, and we’ve spoken to some of our manufacturing sector customers to find out how they’re using their intranets to get their message across.
Here’s what we discovered:
Centralised comms hub
No matter where your employees are working, an intranet is still a key place to store your organisation’s news and information. Using your intranet as a centralised communication hub will reduce reliance on email and act as a single source of truth where all information in your organisation is easy to find. We’ll look at ways to reach specific audience groups later in this blog.
Document management
Intranets for manufacturing serve as a central space for storing and managing critical manufacturing documents, such as standard operating procedures, work instructions, health and safety guidelines, quality control protocols, and equipment manuals.
By making them easily available via the intranet, staff are more likely to look for them there, rather than requesting the information from other staff members, saving everyone time, as well as reducing the risk of multiple versions circulating.
Audience targeting
Whether you’re sharing sensitive content that you only want specific staff to see, or whether your content is of particular interest to certain departments or locations, audience targeting is a useful component in the IC toolkit. It allows you to deliver the right message to the right people and avoids overloading employees with irrelevant information.
Multilingual tool
As we mentioned earlier in this blog, many manufacturing businesses operate across multiple locations and even multiple countries. An intranet with a multilingual tool is invaluable for quick and easy native communication with all your organisation’s employees, allowing your employees to translate your content automatically, at the click of a button.
Mobile intranet
For non-desk-based staff who regularly work in the field, such as sales or operations staff, an intranet with a mobile app is an ideal way to make sure they stay connected to company news, documents, people directory, meetings and email wherever they are. Push notifications are also a useful way to alert field-based employees about important updates.
Shared workspaces
For production staff who are non-desk-based, unlikely to upload the mobile app or simply don’t have a licence to use the app, shared workspaces in communal areas, such as the staff canteen or staff room, can be used to give intranet access to employees. By setting the company intranet as the default homepage, staff will automatically see the latest news and be able to access useful tools such as quick links, the staff directory and events information.
Pro tip: Involv’s Customer Success Manager Tom Van Rousselt suggests using things your employees are interested in, such as what’s on the staff canteen menu or how to book time off, to tempt them to the staff to read the intranet.
Digital signage
If shared workspaces aren’t feasible for your organisation, an intranet with a digital signage solution will allow you to share key news and information from your intranet on screens throughout the workplace. Sharing the latest news alongside useful information like pensions updates and policy changes will help staff feel connected to the organisation.
If you’re a manufacturing business and you 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.