Hugo Nunes • Published on July 23, 2024 • 6 min read
A company intranet is a private, internal network designed for use within an organization. It is a central hub for communication, collaboration, and information sharing among employees. Unlike the Internet, which is accessible to the public, an intranet is restricted to authorized users within the company, providing a secure environment for sharing sensitive information, documents, and resources. Essential features include employee directories, project management tools, internal messaging, and news updates, all aimed at streamlining operations and enhancing productivity.
Table of Contents
Intranets vary company by company, depending on size, industry, departments, and other factors. But while there is no one-size-fits-all layout for intranets, they typically have some or many of the following elements.
Home Page: This is the first screen an employee sees, and it typically displays company news and announcements, messages from the CEO or other executives, and quick links to important resources for easy access.
Employee Directory: Here the employees can find contact information for all team members, lists departments and teams for better organization, and organizational charts to visualize the company structure.
Document Management: The intranet stores policies and procedures, provides access to templates and forms, and allows for document storage and sharing among employees.
Collaboration Tools: Intranets can provide team workspaces, project management, and discussion forums and chat rooms.
HR Resources: A self-service HR portal can turn your intranet into a valuable resource for employee and HR team alike, housing employee handbooks, benefits information, and integrated systems for time-off requests and tracking.
IT Support: Similarly, IT communication can be funneled through an intranet, via help desk tickets, troubleshooting guides for common issues, software downloads and updates, and disaster recovery if you've been hacked.
Training and Development: Intranets can contain learning management systems (LMS) for training programs, training schedules, and e-learning modules.
Event Calendars: A company calendar within your intranet lists company events and meetings, highlights holidays and important dates, and allows employees to book conference rooms. This often is displayed on the home page.
Feedback and Surveys: An intranet can capture passive feedback via suggestion boxes, or active feedback through regular surveys. Performance feedback tools for evaluations are often integrated into the platforms.
Social Features: An advanced intranet can house employee recognition programs, include social feeds and blogs to keep employees engaged, and highlight interest groups and clubs for employees to join.
Search Functionality: A universal search feature with advanced filters and categories helps employees find information quickly. As you can see, an intranet can be stocked with crucial information.
Now that we have a baseline for common elements found within company intranets, let’s look at examples of six common types.
Use our company intranet template and customize to your team’s needs.