Intranet engagement: best practices for a thriving digital workplace

From tax collection offices and banks to solar companies and healthcare providers, these diverse organizations share a common achievement: They’ve made their intranets indispensable to employee engagement and daily operations. By prioritizing user experience, relevant content, and meaningful recognition, they’ve created digital workspaces employees actually want to visit — not because they have to, but because it makes their work lives better.

The Simpplr Employee Experience Excellence Award winners featured in this blog demonstrate that successful intranets don’t just house information — they foster connection, streamline workflows, and build community. Their approaches reveal practical strategies any organization can implement to boost intranet engagement, drive meaningful interaction, and measure real impact.

Foster active participation, not just consumption

An intranet is only successful with active involvement from your people. The winners for Best Employee Engagement have created digital communities where employees not only read but also contribute to content, helping shape their workplace culture.

Manatee County Tax Collector

Serving Florida’s Manatee County, the Tax Collector’s office delivers efficient, customer-focused public services — from driver licenses to property tax collection — with a commitment to operational innovation. How do you get every employee to use your intranet? The Manatee County Tax Collector’s office found the answer by creating truly engaging content.

Their creative intranet content includes:

• Whose Pet Is It Anyway?: Employees guess which colleague owns the pet displayed in posted photos
• Moji Mania: Workers decode movie titles or songs described through emoji clues
• Nearly Impossible Questions: Staff tackle brain teasers like “96% of homes have one of THESE in the fridge right now — what is it?”
• Security Corner: Daily cybersecurity news and tips to help employees avoid hacking and malware threats

Their intranet engagement features these impressive results:

• 100% app adoption across all 145 employees
• 66% of employees are active contributors
• 94% overall engagement rate
• 351 average content views per user
• 541 pieces of content created collaboratively

“These results highlight the transformative impact of Simpplr on our internal communication and productivity.” — Tim Gilbreath, Multimedia Manager

Stockman Bank

Montana’s largest privately owned bank, Stockman Bank blends modern financial services with hometown customer care, supporting local communities through personalized consumer, business and agriculture banking and lending, wealth management, and insurance services.

Their Simpplr intranet, The Stockyard, is the heartbeat of their company culture. This digital space brings employees together to celebrate one another, stay engaged, and feel part of something greater than just their individual branch. The key to their intranet success: a network of more than 100 site managers who create meaningful content for their departments.

Their most popular content consistently focuses on employee appreciation and recognition. During Frontline Staff Appreciation Week, the daily articles, employee giveaways, and photo albums of celebrations across branches generated more than 5,400 views. The intranet team made this content easily accessible with a dedicated homepage tile. They also engage employees through interactive activities, such as voting on images for the company calendar.

The impact of their intranet engagement efforts is clear:

• 97% consistent app adoption rate
• 1,000+ content pieces published in the past year
• 100+ site managers actively contributing

Beyond numbers, the data represents a thriving community of engaged employees who don’t just use their intranet but also help improve it every day.

“The Stockyard may be our digital tool, but its impact runs deep, connecting branch to market, teller to tech, new hire to seasoned leader. It’s a place where recognition is easy, stories are shared, and our employees feel seen, supported, and celebrated.” — Andrea Rhoades, Intranet Administrator

Sunrun

As the nation’s leading residential solar, battery storage, and clean energy lifestyle company, Sunrun empowers homeowners to take control of their energy use while promoting sustainable living and decarbonization.

Before implementing their intranet, Current, Sunrun employees navigated a maze of Google Sites and Drives filled with outdated, duplicative information. This created a lack of trust in resources. For Current, they spent months building new sites, training content creators, and verifying that everything posted was accurate and valuable.

Their specific intranet engagement initiatives include:

• Public recognition system to foster a culture of gratitude
• Team-specific sites for frontline workers to access equipment SOPs
• Video podcast to connect field employees with leadership
• Safety hub providing real-time emergency information during natural disasters

In 2024, they solidified Current as their single source of truth, transforming their digital work hub from “don’t trust it” to “can’t work without it.” 

Their 2024 intranet engagement metrics speak volumes:

• 1,605,282 content views, an exponential increase from their previous platform
• 88% of users actively contributing and participating
• 352,208 searches for mission-critical information
• 87,400 social interactions on content
• 4,876 mobile app downloads by one-third of their workforce
• 4,084 recognitions shared since launching the feature in July 2024

“Current has helped employees connect with the business and their colleagues in new ways, giving them a clearer understanding of company goals and how their work contributes. As our single source of truth, Current is a trusted hub for company knowledge and communication — and we’re just getting started!” — Brooke White, Senior Content Specialist

Create an intranet that keeps employees coming back

Behind every well-used intranet are dedicated people managers with strategies that drive both adoption and ongoing engagement. The winners for Best Intranet Usage excel at making their platforms essential to daily work through personalized experiences, powerful tools, and strategic content planning. Their success shows in impressive adoption rates and regular return visits.

HealthEdge Software

HealthEdge Software provides modern, agile software solutions for healthcare payers, driving smarter, real-time claims processing and improved care outcomes through technology-enabled innovation. 

After launching their global intranet, HElix, the platform quickly became part of the company lexicon, transforming how employees access and share information. In just over a year since launch, they’ve achieved impressive adoption metrics and continue adding new features to boost engagement.

The team sends out a weekly update every Monday, with each item linking back to the intranet. They also cross-post in Microsoft Teams so people receive content in multiple channels. Every six months, they meet with site managers to encourage them to refresh their pages and sites.

Their strategic approach to intranet engagement has paid off:

• 67% adoption rate in just over a year
• 98% of users logging in at least once
• 1,200 content items published and counting

“Creating and launching a global intranet was a significant undertaking for our small team, but Simpplr’s platform made things so easy. I’m able to train new users in minutes to ensure departments have ownership and pride in their own pages and sites, which also boosts engagement across the business.” — Sarah Stockton, Director of Employee Communications

WECU

Based in Washington State, WECU is a member-owned credit union dedicated to enriching lives through accessible financial tools, community involvement, and exceptional service.

Their intranet engagement strategy focuses on keeping their Simpplr-powered platform, WISE, fresh with a mix of business updates, fun content, and engaging series. Their diverse rotation includes everything from “get to know you” videos and industry news to procedure updates, employee benefits campaigns, weekly team huddle messages, and monthly financial deep dives for managers.

They’ve positioned their intranet as the essential destination for:

• Quarterly business updates from the CEO
• Critical information needed to do their jobs
• Resources for maximizing benefits
• Opportunities to engage with their peers
• Recognition and appreciation initiatives

Strategically positioning content around what employees have said they need and want most has resulted in high engagement:

• 99% of users visited WISE in the last year
• 86% of users were contributors and participants

“Employees trust WISE as their hub for all things WECU, and their participation — through contributions, mutual support, and insightful questions — has exceeded what we ever anticipated.” — Cindy Klein, CHRO

Measure engagement through meaningful metrics

The proof is in the numbers. The winners for Best Improvement Metric demonstrated remarkable improvements after transitioning from a legacy system to a modern intranet platform, showing significant gains in adoption rates, employee sentiment, and content readership.

Capital City Bank

A trusted financial institution in the Southeast, Capital City Bank offers personal and business banking services with a strong emphasis on relationship banking and community development.

Before transitioning to Simpplr, Capital City Bank’s legacy intranet was a static, read-only experience lacking interactivity, personalization, and community features. Their 983 associates could consume content but couldn’t contribute or engage. 

Since relaunching their intranet, netinterest, on the Simpplr platform in 2024, they’ve seen dramatic improvements in engagement and functionality.

The benefits of switching from a legacy system are evident:

• 6,311 recognition posts
• 6,415 total recognitions received
• 78% of users recognized
• 85% of users logged in at least once (+21% vs. benchmark)
• 76% of users viewed content (+24% vs. benchmark)
• 15 average content views per user (+6.85 vs. benchmark)
• 58 pieces of content published (+33 vs. benchmark)

“By choosing Simpplr for our digital home base, netinterest, we have transformed our intranet into a modern, engaging, and personalized platform that fosters interaction, recognition, and connection — a significant leap from our previous static experience. These metrics demonstrate the powerful impact of a more dynamic and associate-centered corporate home base.” — Julie DeLorme, Marketing Corporate Communications Manager

Genesys

A global cloud leader in AI-powered customer experience orchestration, Genesys enables organizations to deliver empathetic, AI-driven customer service at scale.

Genesys implemented Simpplr to help improve content access and drive employee adoption and engagement rates. The modernization to their new intranet, One Genesys Portal, has driven remarkable improvements across all aspects of their digital workplace.

Their metrics showcase the improvement in engagement since launch:

• 79% of employees log in every month (industry benchmark: 64%)
• 73% of employees view content monthly (previous benchmark: 49%)
• 2x increase in contributors and participants
• 516K total content views, averaging 78 views per user over the last year
• 73% click-through rate (CTR) on content
• 455 newsletters sent with a 68% open rate and 7% CTR
• Search failure rate decreased from 18% at launch to just 1.8% annually

These metrics underscore the success of their Simpplr intranet, providing a centralized, intuitive, and engaging platform for employees. 

“By improving accessibility and streamlining communication, we have strengthened organizational alignment, boosted knowledge-sharing, and enhanced the employee experience.” — Ashley Norman, Senior Employee Engagement Manager

Westwood Professional Services

Westwood Professional Services delivers comprehensive engineering, planning, and surveying services for infrastructure and renewable energy projects, balancing technical excellence with a deep commitment to client goals. Their team set ambitious goals for their intranet transition and exceeded expectations across all metrics. Their success was built on a deliberate plan to boost engagement.

Their intranet engagement initiatives focused on:

• Creating a strong communication strategy and editorial calendar for site managers
• Staging a scavenger hunt during launch week to encourage exploration
• Building a thorough help center with tips and tricks for users
• Hosting regular workshops for site owners to share best practices
• Securing strong sponsorship from leadership and departments
• Making data-driven decisions about content, navigation, and site design
• Adding people-focused content like “Westwood After Hours” to build connections

The upgrade from their outdated platform enabled collaboration and reduced bottlenecks while creating possibilities to target and tailor communications to a range of audiences. The year-over-year metrics following their intranet upgrade demonstrate its success. By exceeding goals in user adoption, content engagement, search functionality, and employee participation, they have significantly improved employee communication and collaboration. 

The results of their efforts include:

• 98% user login rate (goal: 70%)
• 97% of users viewing content (goal: 65%)
• 34% participant and 10% contributor rate (goal: 8%)
• Under 100 monthly searches with no results (goal: fewer than 150)
• 79% year-over-year increase in search volumes
• 41% newsletter open rate with 13.3% click-through rate
• 93% of users uploaded profile pictures
• 82% positive sentiment average in 2024

“Simpplr’s modern intranet has exceeded expectations, enhancing engagement, efficiency, and satisfaction. We look forward to Simpplr’s capabilities helping us continue improving our employee experience and communication processes.” — Katrina Jagodzinski, Internal Communication Specialist

Build a culture of recognition

Employee recognition flourishes on the right platform. The winners of Most Effective for Recognizing Employees created digital spaces where appreciation becomes visible, achievements are celebrated, and a culture of recognition becomes embedded in daily work life.

Forge Biologics

Forge is a gene therapy contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) committed to enabling access to life-changing therapies by helping bring them from concept to reality, with end-to-end capabilities in a cutting-edge facility.

The team at Forge created an innovative approach to employee recognition with HelixCast, their intranet podcast series. Each month, Forge leaders choose a team member for an in-depth interview that goes beyond work accomplishments to explore their personal passions and interests.

This creative recognition strategy transcends traditional formats by:

• Amplifying voices from all departments and levels
• Highlighting personal journeys beyond job titles
• Creating connections across the organization
• Building an inclusive narrative that celebrates diversity

The HelixCast series builds connection and belonging by spotlighting the unique perspectives each team member brings to Forge. It’s a chance for them to bring their whole selves to work, connect across teams, and maybe even discover who believes in aliens.

“HelixCast exemplifies our commitment to celebrating individual contributions. By creating a space where employees can share their stories, we reinforce a positive and supportive workplace culture that is essential for fostering engagement and connection, especially as we continue to expand.” — Jenny Shields, Sr. Executive Assistant to CEO, CCO, CTO, & COO

Kitsap Mental Health Services

Kitsap Mental Health Services is a Washington-based nonprofit that provides comprehensive mental health, substance use, and crisis services, ensuring compassionate, community-based care for individuals and families in need.

The team maximizes their Simpplr Staff Portal for employee recognition through multiple creative approaches. Their feed offers four categories of Staff Kudos: Congratulations, Inspiration, Kindness, and Superstar, allowing staff to applaud each other’s daily contributions.

Their comprehensive recognition strategy includes:

• Dedicated Staff Recognition site showcasing award winners
• Albums featuring Starfish Award and Employee Spotlight recipients
• New Hires section highlighting employees from the last 30 days
• Homepage celebration sections for birthdays and work anniversaries

Despite budget constraints as a primarily Medicaid-funded organization, they went all out for National Employee Appreciation Day with daily leadership messages, a “Team Spirit” photo album, CEO appreciation video, and $50 Brand Store coupons for each employee.

Since launching in October 2024, their intranet engagement includes:

• 420 recognition posts generated
• 44% of users have received recognition
• 66% of staff viewed their Employee Appreciation Day page, making it their most popular nonmandatory content

“All these efforts are helping build and maintain a positive culture among employees who do a very tough job, working with some of the most powerless and voiceless members of our community. We feel they deserve every kudo we can give them.” — Terri Gleich, Communications Manager

Workiva

Workiva provides a cloud platform for connected reporting and compliance, enabling finance, risk, and ESG teams to collaborate securely with transparency and efficiency.

The company makes employee recognition a centerpiece of their intranet experience with a dedicated site on their platform, CONNECT. They’ve created streamlined nomination processes for their award programs through embedded Google Forms, making it simple for any employee to recognize outstanding colleagues.

Their employee recognition programs include:

• Workiva MVP awards for employees embodying company values
• Innovate Everywhere Awards for creativity and groundbreaking ideas
• Platinum MVP quarterly recognition with special physical awards
• Weekly highlights in the all-company newsletter
• Showcase features on digital signage across global offices

The MVP program provides winners with tech tattoos (removable electronic stickers) and dedicated intranet pages, with manager notifications to share accomplishments across teams. Quarterly Platinum MVP winners receive upgraded recognition, including engraved Hydro Flasks and custom varsity jackets. The Innovate Everywhere Award recipients earn cash prizes and custom vests along with companywide recognition.

“Our Employee Recognition site is one of the top-visited sites on CONNECT, and all employees and new hires are automatically members. Since the launch of this site, we’ve published over 700 MVP pages in just the past two and a half years!” — Chris Worrick, Senior Communications & Culture Specialist

Key intranet engagement takeaways

Successful intranets don’t happen by accident. The Simpplr Employee Experience Excellence Awards winners in these three categories showcase several principles that any organization can apply to transform their digital workplace experience.

Focus on value, not just tools

The most engaging intranets solve real business problems. Create content that helps employees do their jobs better, find critical information faster, and connect with colleagues more meaningfully. When your intranet delivers tangible value daily, adoption naturally follows. Consider what unique organizational challenges your platform could address, from streamlining processes to breaking down departmental silos.

Empower contributors across the organization

Decentralize content creation by identifying and training champions throughout all departments. When employees have ownership in the platform, they become advocates who drive adoption from within. Start small with a core group of content creators, then expand as momentum builds. Provide templates, guidelines, and recognition to make contribution easy and rewarding.

Balance structured content with social engagement

The most successful digital workplaces blend essential business information with opportunities for authentic connection. Mix must-read announcements with recognition features, employee spotlights, and interactive elements that humanize the digital experience. Create regular content series that employees look forward to and establish a reliable cadence that keeps them coming back.

Measure what matters in intranet engagement

Set clear objectives before implementation and track meaningful metrics that reflect your organization’s unique goals. Look beyond basic usage statistics to measure content effectiveness, search success rates, and positive sentiment. Use these insights to continuously refine your approach and demonstrate the platform’s value to leadership.

Make recognition visible and accessible

Build recognition directly into your digital workplace through dedicated spaces, social appreciation features, and companywide award programs. When appreciation becomes visible and frequent, it transforms your culture. Create simple paths for peer-to-peer recognition alongside more formal award programs that celebrate organizational values in action.

Treat your intranet as a journey, not a destination

The most impressive success stories come from organizations that view their intranet as an evolving ecosystem rather than a completed project. Continuously gather feedback, test new features, and refresh content strategies to keep the experience relevant. Remember that what worked last year may not serve your organization’s changing needs tomorrow.

Craft your own intranet engagement success story

Behind each of these award-winning digital workplaces stands Simpplr’s modern intranet platform, providing the foundation that makes exceptional employee experiences possible. By combining intuitive design with powerful features, Simpplr enables organizations of all sizes and industries to create digital environments that employees genuinely value.

This year’s winners demonstrate that the right platform can transform how teams connect, collaborate, and contribute. Their success stories prove that with thoughtful strategy and the right technology, any organization can create a digital workplace that employees genuinely rely on and appreciate.

Ready to write your own success story? Learn how Simpplr can help you build a thriving digital workplace. Request a demo today.