Multi-channel Employee Relations & Internal Comms: How an Enterprise Mobile App Upgrades Workplace Culture
6 minutes of company culture and internal comms à la Netizens: our internal mobile app, intranet & beyond
What makes people wait in line to join some companies? Why some enterprises have such low employee turnover rate? Why some companies create such positive work climate that employees hang out together even after hours?
It’s the elusive workplace culture. But what is it, actually?
We all intuitively know, but let’s give it a quick Google:
So, workplace culture is a mix between good communication, treating employees fairly, believing in certain common values, sharing, being comfy with co-workers… It’s simply feeling good at work, to put things simply.
Now: how to make employees feel good at work? How to create an awesome company culture? Employee benefits are not going to cut it and neither is great pay. That’s not what organizational culture is about. So how about using technology to build an enjoyable company culture? Sure, technology alone won’t get the job done either. But it can help. And since employees are glued to their phones anyway… Workplace culture? There’s an app for that!
It’s 2017 and app culture meets workplace culture. Incorporating a mobile app into companies’ workflows is gaining momentum. The mobile channel
is such an obvious choice when looking for ways to improve employee experience. And since Netizens likes to be up to date with what’s currently in tech fashion, we have just that: an internal mobile app! :)
Meet Neti, our enterprise app
This is how we facilitate our natural company culture here at Netizens: with an internal mobile app called Neti. We built Neti from scratch, designing it the way we wanted. Our app comes with a range of cool features enhancing workplace experience. Let’s explore Neti, shall we? :)
Within Neti, we can find the full employee database, with our working hours (not everybody at Netizens is a nine-to-fiver) and telephone numbers
(in-app calling is great! no need to store all the numbers in our contact list).
Since we have kitchen duties to make sure the office kitchen etiquette at Netizens is top-notch, Neti sends us push notifications reminding us that today it’s our turn to stack the dishwasher. No “I forgot” kind of excuses! :)
Another thing about our app: since there’a also a long-established lame jokes tradition at Netizens, our employees can add their corny jokes to the database in the app, for co-workers to enjoy.
Neti contains our company calendar as well, so we can verify what meetings are taking place on a given day. We can also check conference rooms availability on our smartphones, at any time. No need to climb the stairs
in vain just to see the room we wanted is already in use.
Another awesome feature? Beacon-based employee tracking! Neti provides the employees’ last known location. This is really useful, since Netizens occupies two floors and most of us are not deskbound. Sometimes we need help from someone and finding that someone can get tricky,
given our dynamic workforce :)
Another thing: Neti is integrated with the GoodieBox machine, our way to motivate and reward employees.
Which means we can thank co-workers for help and appreciate them by sending GoodieCoins via the app. And obviously receive GoodieCoins as well. And then of course the fun part happens: we get to collect our gifts from the machine.
And to make the fun part even more fun, some of us prefer to… use a kick scooter instead of just walking up to the machine to pick up their gifts.
We’ve got a really cool software-enabled kick scooter here at Netizens that keeps count of the traveled kilometers. The Neti app presents the results on the map
(no, we don’t actually travel around the region ;))
To sum all of this up, an internal mobile app is both cool and useful when it comes to shaping workplace culture: it takes advantage of the mobile channel, it allows the employer to deliver a timely message and reach employees easily, it facilitates work, it creates an engaged workforce.
But our company culture and internal communications at Netizens rely on much more than just the Neti app. The app is a gateway to our secret website and blog :)
Top secret: Netizens behind the scenes
Accessible from the app, there lies our internal website. It’s confidential (restricted access!) and intended just for our employees. Apart from all the necessary red tape regulations (company structure, procedures, invoices, travel expenses, sick leaves…), the site contains also a small library or inspiration section where we can share cool work (or not) -related stuff.
But the most important part are our monthly newsletters, a fun way of keeping everyone updated. Each newsletter at Netizens contains:
1. A word from the CEO — where Witek, our CEO, shares his thoughts and vision
2. Updates — What we achieved in the past month, what projects we delivered, what clients we acquired, what challenges are ahead of us
3. People — where we say hi to those who joined Netizens in the past month and get to know a bit more about them
4. Media coverage — who wrote what about Netizens in the past month
5. Selection of links, articles, videos — what’s hot in technology right now
6. Where to be — meet ups, workshops to attend
Our secret website and monthly newsletters are the online part of how we manage shaping company culture and internal communications here at Netizens. And no matter what we do, we always bridge online & offline. Let’s take a look at the offline side of our workplace culture.
Good old conversation
Internal mobile app or secret blogs are not enough. Nothing can replace good old conversation. So, at Netizens, every Monday, we all gather together in one room to hear what’s been going on at our company.
The meetings are held by Adrian, our PR & Marketing Manager, who keeps us updated and shares all company secrets with us. This creates an open, friendly workplace culture.
Actually, you know what? We must be pretty good at this whole company culture thing since one of the biggest Polish newspapers (Rzeczpospolita) wrote about us! :) Adrian gave an interview in which he explains how employee culture and internal communications at Netizens are not just buzzwords.
So who’s behind the positive atmosphere and company culture at Netizens? Of course our PR & Marketing Manager, Adrian :) He takes care of our internal mobile app, our intranet, and weekly meetings. And when he’s not busy shaping our workplace’s climate, he does this…
It’s time to wrap this all up: company culture and internal comms à la Netizens combine the online and offline worlds. We mix our internal mobile app, intranet, and face-to-face meetings to create an enviable workplace atmosphere. Do we recommend such a fusion of channels?
We do. Highly! :)
Stay tuned for more things à la Netizens. In the meantime, if you still haven’t seen it, jump to our most read post here on Medium that introduces us properly. Enjoy! :)
