Blog | 24 February 2021
Rikshem changed its way of working – and developed a completely new intranet
Rikshem is one of Sweden's largest private real estate companies with offices in 17 locations. At the same time as they had to change the way they work during the past year, they developed a completely new intranet. The Entrén intranet was named Sweden's best during this year's Web Service Award. We had a chat with Lillemor Odgren, communications officer at Rikshem.
You have built a brand new intranet during the pandemic. Tell us about it!
We had been planning for the new intranet for a long time, conducting feasibility studies and tenders. We started in March, just as the pandemic reached Sweden. A year later, we've only met the project team at our partner Soleil Digital. But it has gone smoothly and very well, with a successful outcome. It proves that the digital ways of meeting also work for developing new things, holding workshops, testing and brainstorming. Of course, we can't wait to meet in person. For example, we had to eat the launch cake ourselves here in the office.
How has the intranet been received internally?
We did a zero measurement on the old intranet, together with the analysis company Web Service Award, to have concrete values to start from. The fact that we got low figures came as no surprise. We knew that many things needed to be improved and received confirmation that we were on the right track. Our goal was to reach a Web Service Index (WSI) of 50, well above the industry average of 48 – the follow-up survey showed that we reached 71. In addition, we can see that all sites, departments and roles agree that we have a better intranet.
Lillemor Odgren, Kommunikatör på Rikshem
Which features are you most satisfied with?
We have focused a lot on the social functions to increase interactivity and the opportunity to share internally. We are spread across 17 locations and one of our goals is to work as One Rikshem. We want to avoid becoming several companies in the company. The level of commitment is good and we continue to push in various ways for everyone to feel proud, share knowledge and learn from each other. The social flow is very good here, as are the groups that provide employees with relevant information.
The search function is another focus area. Among other things, we have integrated our new document management system so that the intranet also shows search hits on the documents there. Everything should be gathered in one place, for the sake of user-friendliness but also to make it easier to keep up to date.
We completely reworked the structure, without migrating any content. We have received a lot of positive feedback that it is easy to find your way around.
How has internal communication been affected during the pandemic?
We have not canceled, we have changed. We have had to find other ways to meet, such as video meetings, and we have recorded our "big meetings" and published them on Entrén. The leaders' days were broadcast live via Teams, so participants had the opportunity to chat and ask questions, and we could bring in speakers who broadcast from home.
Once a year we have a large business conference, Rikshemdagen, and it is the only time of the year that we all meet. We were also able to convert this into a live interactive conference that was broadcast from the Vasateatern theater in Stockholm while the employees were in their respective locations. It was very much appreciated.
Have you done anything to keep your motivation up?
We have regular meetings and coffee breaks every week where we not only talk about work but also chat a bit. The things you miss when you're not running into each other in the corridors. At Entrén we have created a group called
"Work at home" where employees can raise everything from technical issues to tips on how to get a good work situation at home. Our CEO also has an Instagram account where she gives pep talks.
What do you think about the workplace of the future?
I think that the possibility of working from home, for those who have the opportunity to do so, will be combined with the benefit of actually meeting in person. That we adapt and are flexible based on what we need to do: if you want to sit undisturbed and write, you are at home and if you want to be in creative meetings, you go to the office.
Above all, this has given us a greater familiarity with technology, everyone can handle a Teams meeting without problems. And we have many other services that have been digitalised. We quickly had to find new ways of working, such as digital viewings of apartments and signing contracts. Going forward, I think it will be a combination.
