An employee-centric website is an excellent way for companies to communicate with their employees. One of the most vital things about this type of site is to make sure there is appropriate strategy behind the message. Without a clear vision, the site can become just another intranet, with too much information on varying topics. This can cause employees to look elsewhere when they can’t find what they need. Other suggestions to make your site great include:

1. Focus on the audience. Don’t create content on a 3rd grade level if you want an audience of college- educated managers to take the site seriously. Similarly, don’t include management tips for communication on a site you want line workers identify with. When the Kellogg Company wanted to work on their relationship with retirees, they created a “retiree-centric” website. From benefits information to news that affects both Kellogg and senior citizens, the site provides valuable information that helps Kellogg maintain their commitment to employees, even beyond retirement. Jim Jenness, Chairman and CEO of the Kellogg Company clearly knows that focusing on his audience is paramount, “Our traditions as a company have remained consistent through the years, though we have also embraced change as necessary to respond to the times,” said Jenness. “We are now looking at opportunities to reach out to more retirees across the country because, as the company has grown, so has our retiree population. In the coming year, we will be exploring how to better serve all of those retirees who belong to the Kellogg family.”

2. Focus on the topic. When Mikron Industries, a Quanex company, encountered a union organizing drive and subsequent election, they created an employee-centric site focused solely on the campaign. They included a personal letter from their President, plus interactive tools like a strike calculator that demonstrated to employees the effect a union strike could have. Even more importantly, facts about employee rights, the union in question, and the upcoming election were easily accessible.

3. Update frequently. When creating an employee-centric site, be sure to plan for daily, or at a minimum, weekly, content updates. Without fresh content, employees hungry for information will go elsewhere. That can produce conflicting data, misinformation and truly the opposite result the company intended. It often makes sense to hire an outside firm to make sure the content is current, fresh and interesting. By enlisting an outsider, news, industry updates and topics of interest to employees specific to your topic can be added, even if no new internal information is available.

4. Provide two-way communication. An employee-centric website should include some method by which employees can anonymously submit questions or comments. This provides the company with the ability to access the unspoken thoughts, and sometimes even fears, that employees are having on the topic at hand. By making sure employees do not have to provide personal information, honest questions and concerns can be voiced. Management can then choose what comments or questions to post on the site (again, without identifying the author) with answers that will continue to maintain a consistent voice.

5. Include a search function. These days, no site is complete without an internal search engine. It provides a catch-all solution when employees are looking for specific information. It allows managers, supervisors, and members of the Human Resources team to have one reference point that they can trust, and refer employees to, knowing that the information is not only readily available but also easy to find.

For more details on how you can build an employee-centric website, and why you should, download our free whitepaper, “Employee-Centric Websites: Immediate and Powerful Communication.”