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65+ employee newsletter ideas for April 2023
Four months into the year, your April employee newsletters should feel like a breath of fresh air…but they shouldn’t take you an entire spring break to produce! So if you’re looking for a little content planning shortcut, you’ve definitely come to the right place. We’ve culled and compiled and come up with a long, creative…
5 internal communications job descriptions for your next hire
Having a dedicated internal communications employee or team is so important to the overall health of any organization. In fact, some would argue that internal communications is the heartbeat of any organization (and we couldn’t agree more). By having a dedicated IC team in place, companies are able to build trust within the organization, increase…
11 examples of holding statements for crisis comms
When a crisis breaks out, one of the very first things that you need to do is to issue a holding statement (internally and externally). If company operations are disrupted, customers will want to know how they will impacted. Employees may be concerned and will want answers. The media might be knocking on your door…
How to segment your internal audiences (with examples!)
Internal communication is essential to keep employees informed and engaged, but sending the same message to all employees can be too much (and can ultimately lead to communication overload and decreased engagement). That’s why audience segmentation is so powerful! With just a few small shifts, you can send targeted and relevant messages to specific groups…
March Madness ideas for work
March Madness is the NCAA Division men’s single-elimination basketball tournament of 68 teams that compete in 7 for the national championship. And with the event right around the corner (it begins on March 14), your team may be thinking of ways to join in on the fun and festivities. We’ve compiled a few tips to…
How to create an engaging internal communications newsletter
What is the purpose of an internal newsletter? The purpose of an internal newsletter is to inform, include, and inspire employees. You want to inform your teams about what’s happening in and outside of the organization; include their voices, stories, and accomplishments wherever possible; and inspire them to live the company’s values and reach its…
23 of the best HR, employee experience, & internal comms conferences to attend in 2023
We can feel a significant shift in workplace culture happening before our very eyes. People operations, internal communications, executive teams…none of us have seen anything like what we’ve experienced in our day-to-day jobs over the course of the last few years. That’s why there’s no better time than now to embrace a spirit of continuing…
How to perfect your internal communications plan
You’ve got your internal comms plan filled out and ready to roll, but…what if you’ve overlooked something? We all get that nagging feeling every now and then, but we’re here to walk you through a quick set of questions that can ensure you’ve got every base covered for your next internal launch. This list has…
The only 4 internal communications tools you need in 2023
We’ve read enough extensive roundups of “the 20+ internal communications tools you need” and could add to your tech stack…but to be honest, that sounds like an absolute nightmare. There’s no way a full-time internal communications team could manage the implementation and day-to-day use of almost two dozen different pieces of technology. Plus, over-relying on…
Workshop raises $5.2M to streamline internal email and communications
Happy Monday! In case you missed it, today we announced that we’ve raised $5.2 million in additional seed funding, led by McCarthy Capital out of their Emerging Growth strategy. It also included support from a group of prominent Silicon Valley and Midwest venture funds, including Coelius Capital, All Access Fund, Invest Nebraska, and M25. With…
How to announce new employees and new hires via email
A new employee announcement email introduces a new hire to the rest of their specific team, their department, or the company as a whole! Why is a new employee announcement email a good idea? Announcing a new hire is a vital step of the onboarding process. Not only does it keep communication open and increase…
Can you use Mailchimp for internal communications?
As a communications professional, you’re probably used to the idea of “making it work” with the tools and budget you have at your disposal. Many times, that’s whatever email tool the marketing team is already using for external communications: Mailchimp, Constant Contact, Hubspot, Marketo, Campaign Monitor, Flodesk, etc. But when it comes down to it:…
275+ examples of employee survey questions
Whether you’re looking for a few interactive ideas to spice up your weekly newsletter or want to dig in for some real employee feedback, here’s a long (but nicely organized) list of survey questions that you can reference all year long! Here’s a handy table of contents, if you’d like to skip to the section…
How to measure the effectiveness of internal communications
Internal communications can borrow from many of the tried-and-true metrics of external marketing, but it also deserves its own unique set of data. After all, you aren’t dealing with hundreds of thousands of contacts; this audience is particularly unique. This audience is made up of the people you work with every day and the team…
The creative art of the all-company meeting
This blog post is a rough transcript of a workshop that we recently hosted with the dynamic and talented Phil Jarrett, Senior Manager of Internal Communications and Employee Brand at WP Engine. You can watch the entire workshop on YouTube here, or just hit the ‘play’ button below. Hi, I’m Phil Jarrett. I’m currently the…
How Dyson creates an exceptional new hire onboarding experience
Outside of the interview process, onboarding is one of the first and most important experiences your employees will have with the company. Onboarding has the potential to reiterate their decision to come work for you…or make the employee question their decision altogether. Making new hire onboarding an intentional part of your employee experience is key…
21 creative & virtual employee recognition ideas
The non-stop conversation about the “Great Resignation” might have you absolutely terrified about attrition, but don’t worry—it’s time to take a deep breath. While it’s certainly true (and it always will be) that a few members of your team might seek out greener pastures or something new, try not to focus entirely on the employees…
How to get a bigger budget for employee experience & communications
When calculating a marketing budget as a percentage of revenue, the typical rule you hear is to invest about 10%. By contrast, HR and communications budgets often pale in comparison, typically coming in at about 1% of the entire marketing budget. That’s not enough. In fact, we’re here to say that you should be advocating…
How to make a hybrid work model work
Everywhere you look or listen, hybrid models are being celebrated as the “future of work.” But with offices re-opening left and right…where does that leave us all today? The Workshop team and three absolutely outstanding panelists came together to have a realistic and transparent discussion about this massive shift in the way we structure our organizations,…
How to manage change for frontline employees
Driving change across a frontline workforce is often a particularly challenging problem. If you have the last two pieces in place — a reliable way to reach them, and a more engaged group of employees — you’ll have a solid foundation for successful change management. We’re with the original Harvard Business Review article: work closely…
How to engage frontline employees
According to a Gallup study, only 15 percent of worldwide frontline workers around the world feel engaged in their work. Pair that up with employee turnover data, and you start to get a really startling, serious picture about the state of frontline employee engagement. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, more than 50 percent…
Reaching and changing frontline employees: the 2021 edition
There’s an incredibly popular Harvard Business Review article from 1996 (!) that I see referenced constantly on LinkedIn, even to this day. The article, “Reaching and Changing Frontline Employees,” is a must-read for anyone leading a frontline team. The story was updated again in 2001 and is now available for a one-time purchase of $8.95….
What is internal marketing?
If you’re looking to scale the success of your marketing initiatives (for free), then it’s time to step away from the SEO research and look inward! Companies need to start allocating more time, energy, and resources to internal marketing — a strategy that is seriously overlooked in almost every business, and deserves all the same…
How to improve communications in healthcare (& make it more effective)
When it comes to internal communication, health care facilities and hospitals face a pretty intense set of challenges. Communicating with doctors, nurses, and medical staff is really difficult; they’re incredibly busy, often handling urgent patient needs, and they’re rarely at their desk to check email. On top of that, the healthcare industry still overwhelmingly relies…
4 easy wins for better employee engagement
You know employee engagement is important, but how do you make an impact on it quickly? It seems like most of the efforts and programs that go into creating a big impact also come with a big price tag: not only money, but also time, energy, buy-in, focus, team effort, and so much more. While it’s not…
Our favorite Slack hacks & tips
We are huge fans of Slack for real-time communication. When your immediate co-workers are all online at the same time, it’s the best place to have a quick back-and-forth conversation. That being said, Slack absolutely has its communication downsides. Left to scale on its own, it can become noisy, overwhelming, distracting, inefficient, and can actually…
10 questions to ask before building an intranet on WordPress
Implementing a company intranet can be a big undertaking. There are different tools and platforms that can be used to power the backbone of an intranet; you can choose to get a custom one developed ($$$), look for software to assist you, or build it on a tool that your team is already using. Because…
How to create a listserv
A listserv is a basic tool that gives an organization the ability to send an email to a group of people. It requires relatively little work, which is one reason this super out-of-date technology is still in use today (mostly in government, legal, and educational sectors). All you have to do is to create an…
How to implement a meeting-free day at your company
A day without meetings may sound like an absolute dream, but there are plenty of companies who have decided to make it a reality. It’s an opportunity to step away from the packed, color-coded calendar and knock out all of your most important action items. You can spend the day deep-diving on a big project…
The official launch of Workshop!
Today’s marks the official launch of our ✨delightful✨ internal communications platform! We’ve been hard at work building a solution for efficient, engaging employee communication, and we are proud to introduce it to you today. A bit of a backstory: We believe passionately that internal comms is the most vital part of a company’s culture, but…
How to run an impressive internal communications audit (in 7 steps!)
What is an internal communication audit? An internal communication audit evaluates the effectiveness of your internal communication. To us, internal communication goes far beyond just a company newsletter or a regular all-hands meeting, and includes how your managers, department heads, and other internal leaders are regularly communicating and getting in front of the company. It’s…
Intranet names: best practices, ideas, and examples
Naming your company intranet isn’t necessary, but when done well, it can be a delightful way to add to your internal brand and build extra affinity with your employees. Don’t put too much pressure on it, though; it doesn’t need to be some magic word that perfectly portrays your company culture. But, if you’re looking…
The 29 clear benefits of a company intranet
Whether you’re a team of thirty or thirteen thousand, you’ve likely experienced the number one problem with internal communications today: too much information, and never the right stuff. Between all the Slack pings and the email threads and the software notifications, it’s really hard to sift through the noise and know or find the truly…
How to have a successful virtual meeting
In my previous role as an account director, I attended approximately 20 to 25 meetings per week. These meetings were a blend of client-facing meetings and internal meetings. Pre-COVID, the meetings were mostly held in person, but when March 2020 hit, the company shifted to holding these meetings virtually. To say that I’ve done close…
A guide for using text messages to communicate with employees
Your employees sift through a lot of information every day. Whether it’s for work or their personal life, you’re competing with dozens of messages across many channels. Add the recent move to remote or flexible work, and your job communicating with employees is harder than ever. It’s also more important than ever. So, how do…
Who should own your company’s intranet?
If implemented correctly, most of your employees should see or interact with your company’s intranet on a daily or weekly basis. However, in order to have a thriving intranet that your employees get value from, there needs to be a person or team who “owns” your intranet and can work across departments to ensure it…
5 tips for creating a strong culture in a remote team
As more and more teams are transitioning to remote work (especially during Covid), it can be easy to overlook some of the things that may be a bit harder to accomplish when your teams are not physically in the same space. Creating and promoting a strong culture is one of them. When your team doesn’t…
8 hacks for more productive meetings
Keeping meetings productive is a constant struggle for a lot of companies. How do you ensure that the attendees of your meeting are actually getting some benefit out of being in a meeting as opposed to back at their desk cranking on their daily work? We’ve compiled 8 of our favorite meetings hacks to make…
How to run a brainstorming session
Your team often has to tackle unique problems without a clear solution. If your team is tasked with coming up with a new slogan for a product, there is no specific right or wrong answer, but you’ll likely have a better output when you bring a few creative folks together to help spark new and…
The best meeting scheduling apps
One of the most prominent annoyances for anyone who has to schedule meetings is finding a time that works for all the participants. Sending 3 or 4 emails back and forth before you find the right time to meet used to be commonplace, but now as a plethora of scheduling tools are available to solve…
How to keep your team meetings on track
Everyone has been in a meeting that’s gone way off subject. You had a specific goal in mind when you started the meeting, and then somehow the meeting ends up getting derailed by one seemingly innocent question or comment, and all of sudden the meeting is over and you didn’t make any decisions and you…