HR Intranets

Web technology presents an incredible opportunity for organisations to improve their employee communication, reduce their support costs and provide an efficient framework for publishing policies and procedures.

An Intranet is nothing more than a series of web pages accessible only to people within an organisation. Some pages might contain more complex features (such as online forms) but in general, Intranets are not difficult to build. It just needs an understanding of the technology and an understanding of HR - that's where we can help.

What can an HR Intranet provide?

Online policies and procedures

Organisations, large and small, can benefit from making their employee handbook (employment policies, procedures and guidance information) available on an Intranet.

We can help you draft the policies, procedures, guidance notes for managers etc. For documents that you already have in place, we can convert them in to web pages and make them easily accessible.

Employees can then access the policies and procedures from their normal web browser. Documents can be updated without having to reprint and redistribute. Out of date printed documents are no longer a problem.

Employee communications and newsletters

Important announcements can be easily and quickly made with an Intranet. Approved users can be given access to create and maintain information available on the Intranet. Announcements can be scheduled so they appear only at the correct time.

Newsletters can provide incredibly effective employee communication. Printed newsletters are vital for many organisations and will continue to be valuable. However, making articles available via an Intranet can increase readership, as employees may find articles they might otherwise have missed. Hyperlinking between web documents will also increase readership as relationships are explored.

We can help you create dynamic and involving employee communications for both traditional print and online media.

Employee self service portals

Maintaining employee information can be a resource intensive. Communicating and confirming the information changes can add up to an expensive management problem. Allowing employees to review and update information themselves increases the integrity of the data , increases the likelihood of the data being current and reduces the cost of data management.

We can help you develop your HR information system to integrate with a self service web portal.

Online performance appraisals

Regular staff assessments can be an administrative nightmare for managers and employees. Intranets are an ideal tool for simplifying the paperwork and improving the involvement of managers and staff.

Real time management becomes possible: at any time, managers and senior managers can review completed assessments, examine statistical information and run management reports.

Interactive training and assessment

Web based training can deliver information and ideas directly to employees, measurably and consistently. Managers can see the progress their employees are making through the training in real time.

We can help you develop your content and build your web based training from it. A training portal can help employees work through the content in the order you prescribe and the pace you require, or at a more flexible progress if you wish.

Interactive assessments help ensure employees have understood the training material and provide reinforcement. The answers given can, if you wish, be made available to managers to allow them to give personalised support and guidance. Management reports and statistical information can help identify common traits and provide the basis for ongoing improvement in the training material and the overall employee training programme.

Frequently asked questions

How can I deliver an HR Intranet?

There are many complex technologies that underlie an effective Intranet. Some implementations require extensive advice and support from internal IT departments.

We often recommend an outsourced service and can provide the infrastructure to run your HR Intranet without extensive involvement from IT. We can host your documents on our secure servers in a protected and resilient data centre. This allows you to get your Intranet up and running without being dependent on other departments.

If you prefer to keep your facilities in house, we can advise implementation methods and are able to work with any of the leading Intranet technologies.

Can employees who work from home be able to access our HR Intranet?

A key advantage of an Intranet is that it can be made available to all employees, regardless of their geographic location. Employees who work from home can access the Intranet just as easily as those who are office based. Similarly, Intranets automatically become accessible by employees in any office location within an organisation. All an employee needs is access to the Web.

Where do we start?

We love building Intranets and would be pleased to talk about your requirements.

Our first priority is to understand what you are looking to achieve, your timescales and budgets.

We can make your Intranet as complex and fulfilling as you wish. However, we recommend identifying one or two key objectives that can be delivered in a reasonable timeframe. This approach allows employees, line managers and senior managers to realise value early on in the development process.