RICK’s internal interactive intranet, the RICK Hub, received the first-place award in the very competitive Impact Category of the international ThoughtFarmer Best Intranet Awards. The awards were hosted by ThoughtFarmer, a leading modern intranet software company, and were judged by outside experts.
This award recognizes organizations that have excelled in leveraging their intranets to drive improvements in productivity, employee engagement, and organizational efficiency, all of which deeply impact company success.
“Congratulations to our teams who have truly set a benchmark for excellence! Each of these organizations has used their intranet not just as a tool, but as a strategic asset to foster a connected and efficient workplace. We are proud to recognize their achievements and the positive changes they have driven.”
—ThoughtFarmer
Launched just two years ago, the RICK Hub was a forerunner to the many steps in technological advancement RICK has taken in recent years. The intranet serves as a comprehensive central source of information and collaboration for RICK employees through the ThoughtFarmer software platform. It’s a one-stop shop for storing, managing, and retrieving updated documents, links, information, resources, etc., and the Hub has also been a place to celebrate company success, share event information, complete administrative tasks, collaborate on best practices, read the latest news stories, and much more.
The RICK Hub revolutionized internal communication and collaboration for the entire company. Even though RICK had never used an interactive intranet before, our forward-thinking team members actively embraced technological advancement and transformed the firm’s internal processes and communication to high levels.
The RICK Hub has improved collaboration, communication, connection, and productivity across the company, providing staff with increased time, resources, and opportunities to best serve our clients and communities. The intranet’s technology and ease of use has also increased job satisfaction and connection for RICK employees, both of which are in line with the company’s focus on a people-centric culture.
“From concept to creation and forward from there, the RICK Hub has been a massive team effort. The way our entire RICK team has embraced this incredible shift in technology and actively contributed to its success has far exceeded expectations and taken our company collaboration, communication, and efficiency to new heights. We are honored to receive this award in recognition of these incredible efforts, all of which are a direct reflection of our collective passion to be an exceptional company for our clients, our team members, our partners, and our communities.” —Jennifer Shenefield, RICK Communications Manager
The award judges recognized these impacts on several levels, leading to RICK’s selection as the Impact Award winner. Among other pages and features RICK uses the Hub for, those recognized as having the biggest impact are the live news feed, the Good News Friday Forum, internal digital forms, and the People Directory. Our news feed features 15 or more articles each month that employees can engage with via comments and likes. Although our Communications team regularly strategizes articles to post, a large majority of the content, ideas, and information come from our employees across RICK, and at a rapid and regular rate!
Our employees also regularly post in the employee-favorite Good New Friday Forum, an interactive blog-style forum that allows employees to share celebration-worthy stories from their personal and professional lives.
“I love seeing employees giving shout-outs to each other and posting pictures of their newborns or recent trips and/or accomplishments! It’s such a positive way to stay connected, especially with employees in other offices that we don’t get to see often.” —RICK HR Manager
Finally, the People Directory has transformed the way employees connect at RICK. We’ve had several employees tell us how great it is to easily see who works in each office, to see headshots of team members before they go into a meeting with them for the first time, and to learn about their coworkers’ positions and expertise.
“I feel like we are all working in one location when I can see all the activities from other offices on the Hub. The most interesting thing is that I can learn about people who work in different locations just by going to their profile and reading their bio, their experience, and how long they have been working in RICK. It gives me encouragement and inspiration to know I work with such professionals.” —RICK Assistant Engineering Designer
In addition to these ongoing interactive pages, the RICK Hub has helped implement several large, groundbreaking initiatives over the past year. The importance of these undertakings and how they move the company forward demands clear communication and ready resources for staff, so we have used the RICK Hub to provide successful rollouts for each one.
In late March of this year, RICK was excited to launch a complete Brand Refresh. The impact for the company of the final brand refresh was tremendous, so we used the Hub to communicate with staff and provide everything new at the time of launch in one central space. RICK’s Human Resources Department and our management teams also use the Hub for things like updated company handbooks, best practices manuals, and open enrollment. With so much to communicate and provide to staff in undertakings like these, having everything in one spot for employees proved to be a gamechanger in making launches and implementations successful. When provided with all the latest company information, our staff are well-equipped to share needed information and new offerings with our clients and potential new team members.
Receiving this award was such an honor! We’re thankful to the helpful and incredibly smart team at ThoughtFarmer for their partnership in building and launching the RICK Hub. Most of all, we’re grateful to the RICK employees who make the RICK Hub a vibrant, collaborative space. In the years to come, we hope its impact grows and evolves with our employees and becomes even more valuable.