Find and fix pain points to build an employee intranet that everyone wants to use.
Let’s be real here. The word “intranet” doesn’t exactly spark joy in employees.
For many, it’s synonymous with clunky logins, endless scrolling, and outdated information. It’s the digital equivalent of a dusty bulletin board. It’s just there — not doing anything to help the employee experience.
In fact, just 13% of employees say they use their intranet daily — and 31% said they never do.
But it doesn’t have to be that way.
A modern employee intranet isn’t defunct. There’s a place for it within the modern workplace tech stack. And, if we listen to what employees actually want, you can turn an unpopular intranet into an employee magnet.
Here for the work? Let’s unpack what employees hate about your intranet experience and what you can do to fix it.
Employee intranet pain points — and what you can do to address them
#1. “It’s too hard to find anything”
Your intranet is packed with employee handbooks, policies, HR forms, org charts, benefits info, and company news. But can anyone actually find what they’re looking for?
If your intranet software is the digital black hole where documents go to die, employees will soon realize that searching through files in search of the resource they need simply isn’t worth their time.
The fix: Tidy things up
Make your company intranet easy to navigate. You can do this by:
- Improving search functionality. Allow for misspellings and synonyms, ensure results are relevant, and support employees with autocomplete and filter functions.
- Grouping content logically. Think like a user — or run focus groups — asking where you would expect to find each piece of content.
- Cleaning up your navigation. Simplify dashboards and use clear, intuitive labels that make sense to everyone.
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#2. “It’s only updated once a quarter”
If your intranet is only updated once in a blue moon, it’s no wonder employees aren’t logging in. There’s nothing new to see — and no reason to trust that the internal communications and resources they do find are up-to-date.
The result? Your intranet becomes a ghost town, with fewer and fewer employees bothering to pay a visit.
The fix: Keep it fresh
When your intranet is relevant and up-to-date, employee engagement follows. Your intranet becomes a place worth visiting, which means employees are more likely to see critical messages.
Don’t wait for “big news.” Celebrate small wins. Share behind-the-scenes moments. Post real-time updates. And take a look at these intranet content ideas if you need a little inspiration.
Internal communications team already stretched too thin? Then add employee-generated content (EGC) into the mix. Allow your entire workforce to interact with intranet content — and post content of their own — and there’s always something new and exciting for your audience to engage with.
#3. “It wasn’t built for people like me”
This is a common problem for frontline employees and more remote teams. Just 10% of frontline workers say they have high access to the tools, tech, and opportunities they need to connect and advance in their workplace.
Imagine a retail assistant who spends their days in a store serving and supporting customers. Unlike the team at HQ, they only have access to a desktop computer in the breakroom at lunchtime. And they don’t have a company email address.
It’s then difficult — if not impossible — for them to access vital workplace documents and updates via the intranet. They feel disconnected from the company and frontline employee engagement suffers.
The fix: Go mobile
To create an intranet that your frontline employees will love, you need to think mobile-first:
- Make company resources and employee communication channels available on smartphone
- Use frontline-friendly login methods that don’t require a corporate email address
- Design for mobile devices — don’t just squeeze the desktop experience onto a smaller screen
Make your employee intranet accessible to frontline workers and you ditch the two-tier experience, where office staff feel connected to company culture and each other — and where frontline workers are left behind. You create an enjoyable intranet experience that works for everyone.
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#4.“It’s all corporate fluff”
Does your content feel like it’s gone through five rounds of legal, then taken a trip via the buzzword bus stop before finally landing on the employee intranet? Then your audience is likely to scroll right past it.
Formal, corporate language is unengaging. It’s also difficult to read. Long words, long sentences, long paragraphs. They don’t reflect the way people speak to one another in the real world. And they get in the way of meaningful employee communication and connection.
Likewise, if you only use your intranet to talk about high-level corporate happenings, employees will struggle to relate. If they can’t see themselves in the story, they’ll tune out.
The fix: Make it human
Yes, company news matters. But it doesn’t need to sound robotic and overly formal.
Write like a human. Use plain language, short sentences, and a conversational tone — just like you would talking to someone face-to-face.
And don’t forget to share stuff that your people really care about. Use your employee intranet to celebrate employee stories and customer stories. Put people at the center of each piece of content.
One final tip for ditching the corporate speak? Play around with content formats. Swap dry text-based documents for dynamic images, videos, polls, GIFs, and infographics. You’ll make the intranet feel less like a bulletin board and more like a digital community.
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#5. “It’s ugly and feels like 2009”
Still working with your parent’s intranet? Today’s employees get super-slick experiences on the tech tools they use at home. So they have increasingly high expectations for the tech they use at work.
They want minimal friction. Intuitive dashboards. Easy navigation. And then there’s personalization.
A one-size-fits-all approach to the intranet is outdated. Because most of today’s software experiences are tailored to the preferences and behaviors of each individual user.
Up against consumer-grade digital tools, a traditional intranet feels like a lumbering dinosaur. It’s hard to use and fails to delight employees.
The fix: Upgrade intranet UX
A modern intranet should look and feel like the tools employees already love using. We’re talking:
- Clean, mobile-responsive design, available via desktop and smartphone app
- Intuitive navigation and integrations, so everything employees need is just a couple of clicks away
- Personalized dashboards, based on role, location, team, and tenure
- Social features, like chats, forums, emojis, and news feeds — and lots of engaging visuals
Modern intranet features like these are no longer nice-to-haves. They’re essential if you want to meet employee expectations and keep them coming back to your social intranet for more.
#6. “No one ever showed me how to use it”
For some employees, it’s not resistance. It’s simply a lack of intranet know-how.
They don’t know how to log into the intranet or download it to their device. They’re unaware of how the intranet can support their work and don’t know how to use specific features.
Without clear training or support, they never give your intranet a try — and never discover all the amazing things it can do for them.
The fix: Support employees to get started
A good intranet should feel intuitive from the get-go. There’s a minimal learning curve and better employee adoption because the platform has a familiar and user-friendly interface.
But, beyond choosing the right intranet platform, there are a few other things you can do to support employees to use it:
- Create intranet ambassadors. Offer intranet training to a select band of employees who can share their knowledge with teammates.
- Offer how-to tips within the intranet. Add pop-ups and quick tips on relevant pages so employees get support when and where they need it.
- Bake it into onboarding. As new hires start work at your company, make an intranet walk-through an integral part of the employee onboarding process.
#7. “It doesn’t help me do my job”
Too many corporate intranets are built around what the organization wants to share — not what employees actually need. So what happens?
People work around it. They ping their manager for shift information, share documents by email, and complete HR forms by hand. They don’t see the value in your employee intranet so they don’t choose to hang out there.
The fix: Build it around employee needs
Start by asking employees what they want the intranet to do. Ask which tools they’d find useful. Then shape the user experience around that.
Some essential features that tend to be popular?
- Integrations. Link your intranet to the other workplace software you use, so employees can access the tools they need from their intranet dashboard.
- HR self-service. Support employees to request PTO, swap shifts, leave feedback, access benefits, and submit expenses — right within your intranet platform.
- Employee directory. Make it easy for employees to find and connect with colleagues across locations, teams, and shifts — even without a corporate email.
- Interactivity. Turn your intranet into a digital water cooler by providing channels for peer-to-peer connection, team collaboration, and the sharing of company culture.
From ignored to adored — your intranet makeover starts here
Let’s recap.
Most employees don’t hate the idea of the employee intranet — they just hate the version they’ve been stuck with. Outdated, clunky, hard to use, irrelevant…
But that doesn’t mean you have to scrap it and start over.
You can build a better digital employee experience by listening to your people, modernizing the experience, and meeting them where they are. On mobile — with real stories, useful tools, and relevant content that actually reflects their day-to-day work.
Build a modern intranet and your platform can become a digital home for internal communications, community, and culture — and an app that employees across your entire company enjoy opening every day.
Blink. And build an employee intranet that works for everyone.
