Public podcasts are a fantastic medium. They can entertain, educate, advertise, and most importantly, grow your podcast audience. Thanks to their popularity, brands have increasingly been using them as a valuable and less intrusive form of advertising and marketing. There are now nearly 500 million podcast listeners worldwide, that’s a potentially huge pool of customers to attract.
But what if there was another equally useful way to utilize podcasts? Well, good news – there is! This article will focus on internal podcasts for employees. We’ll give a definition, explore some benefits, and, most importantly, share tips to help you set up your internal podcast.
What are internal podcasts?
Internal podcasts are private podcasts made exclusively for your employees. Instead of heading online to a streaming platform, employees will use their local intranet to access and download a podcast.
An internal podcast for employees is useful for a variety of purposes. They’re a handy way of keeping everyone in the loop. Whether you’re working in remote teams or on-site, you can tune in and listen to the latest company updates.
Internal podcasts are a tried and tested method, being utilized by organizations of many different shapes and sizes. One example is American Airlines’ ‘Tell Me More’ podcast, which provides behind-the-scenes info to employees.
Below are some examples of the type of content you might share on your internal podcast.
-- Future company plans.
-- Updates on certain developments or projects.
-- Interviews with staff members, sharing knowledge and expertise.
-- Training and development materials.
-- Employee stories, successes, and feedback.
-- Notifications and reminders about upcoming conferences.
5 Business-boosting benefits of internal podcasts for employees
Thanks to their versatility, internal podcasts for employees have many benefits. We’ve explored some of the highlights below.
Provides engaging and enjoyable learning formats for employees
Traditional forms of workplace learning aren’t always great for employee engagement. Reading instructional leaflets or sitting through long presentations can quickly become dull and uninspiring. It’s safe to say that employees don’t always thrive in these environments – instead of gaining new valuable information, they often switch off.
Podcasts are a fun alternative to traditional forms of learning. Designed to be a less formal medium, you can sprinkle in some jokes and lighthearted humor. As well as informing employees, you’re entertaining them. Instead of a dull learning activity, your podcast becomes something enjoyable.
For proof of their effectiveness, you only need to look at the stats. Studies show that podcasts have a listen-through rate of up to 90%.
Enables information exchange without disrupting schedules
As much as some employees might like to, you can’t pause a seminar. Some staff prefer learning in chunks. They might want to go back over what they’ve learned and reinforce certain aspects. You can do this with written materials, but even then there are some limitations. It’s not a good idea to read when driving to work or when moving between buildings.
An internal podcast for employees is the ultimate in flexibility as it won’t disrupt your staff's day-to-day schedules. Where time needs to be allocated for activities such as training, a podcast can be accessed in pretty much any scenario. This includes when using transport, walking, or even before going to sleep. When an employee has had enough, they can simply hit ‘pause’ and come back later.
Utilizing scheduling and HR software solutions you can even schedule your podcast to release at the optimum time for engagement. You can look at employee working patterns and try to match your podcast releases with periods when employees are less busy.
With so much flexibility, employees can learn on their own terms.
Facilitates leadership messaging and promotes transparency
A podcast is a fantastic way of boosting internal communications, providing an easy medium for senior leadership to talk to employees. This is especially important for larger organizations with teams spread out in different places. Some employees might never have interacted with senior leadership, leading to feelings of disconnect.
By creating an internal podcast for employees, leaders can share updates and signpost a future direction for the company. With everyone in the loop, staff will feel more empowered to work towards company goals. Leadership can even ask for feedback and suggestions about how the workplace can be improved. This helps to boost transparency: instead of important decisions being made behind closed doors, everyone is involved.
An internal podcast for employees is also an opportunity for leaders to share knowledge and give tips. You could even have junior team members guest on the show, and ask questions.
Connects siloed structures through cross-functional interviews
It’s all too easy for employees to forget that they’re part of a wider organization. When different departments don’t communicate effectively, they become oblivious to each other. Silos start to develop and overall progress towards company goals is slowed. Underlining the problem, 80% of workers say reducing silos is a top priority for their organization.
To succeed, every department needs to recognize its role in the wider machine. An internal podcast for employees can be a fantastic way of facilitating this. Representatives from different departments can collaborate on a podcast. What’s more, they can even have guests from other departments who ask questions.
This increased understanding helps to boost cross-department teamwork. Employees begin to get a sense of how different departments are working towards company goals. They gain a birds-eye view of company processes and begin to think more of the ‘big picture’.
Strengthens company culture and employee connections
Company culture is essential in the modern workplace. It should embody your organization; its ethics, goals, and general approach. With the right culture, employees can stay connected and in synch with their employer.
Implementing a solid culture, though, is difficult. To be effective, it needs to be embodied by all your employees, from those at the top to the most junior team members. Luckily, an internal podcast for employees can be an excellent enforcer of company culture.
With regular updates and staff interaction, you can make your culture more ingrained within your organization. What’s more, as mentioned, you have the opportunity to involve the whole team. A regular podcast can be culture-affirming for the whole team, from senior leaders to first-time employees.
Tips for rolling out internal podcasts for businesses
There can be no denying that an internal podcast for employees brings many benefits. But where should you get started? Try implementing the following tips when starting your podcast.
Match topics with corporate goals and employee preferences
Struggling to find a topic for your first podcast episode? Start by thinking broadly about your organization. Try to ask some of the following questions.
-- What are your immediate and long-term goals?
-- What are the challenges for your organization?
-- Where is improvement needed?
Build your podcast topics around your answers to these questions. For example, if you think there is an issue with productivity in the workplace, have an episode focusing on time management and discuss some of the best software solutions your employees can leverage to boost the way they manage their daily tasks.
Using career planning and development software could be another method of identifying podcast topics. Using the software you can identify subjects that align with employee goals.
If you want maximum engagement, involve employees in the decision-making process. Run regular surveys asking for feedback, and allow staff to suggest future topics for episodes.
Encourage employees to share ideas and engage in interviews
Internal podcasting only works when everyone is involved. Having staff suggest topic ideas is a good start – now you need to think of ways to involve them in the podcast itself. An obvious place to start is with interviews, as these are a fantastic way of involving people from across your organization.
Wondering where to start with interviews? Here are some potential ideas.
- -- Have junior staff members interview leadership.
-- Interview the tech team on new software coming to the workplace.
-- Have a ‘get to know staff’ feature focusing on a different employee each week. Have them talk about their career, hobbies, and general interests.
-- Cross-department interviews, eg. have a marketing manager interview a sales manager.
Foster collaboration by featuring content from various departments
Free to use image sourced from Unsplash
We’ve mentioned how increased cross-department collaboration is a major benefit of an internal podcast. A podcast can introduce employees to new perspectives, ideas, and ways of collaborating.
There are multiple ways you could involve different departments in your podcast. One example could be to feature a different department each week. Emphasize their contribution and how they help to move your organization forward.
Where possible, try to draw lines to other departments. Underline the importance of cross-department collaboration. One way of achieving this is by having guests conduct interviews.
Make podcasts easily accessible across different platforms
You need to make it as easy as possible for your employees to listen to your podcast. The less accessible your podcast is, the fewer people you’ll get tuning in. First and foremost, make sure that your show is accessible to mobile users. Most podcast users will tune in whilst on the move, so there’s no point in having a podcast only for PC users.
Remember, your staff will likely be accessing your podcast via your local intranet. Make sure you’ve got the software to allow staff access to this remotely. People won’t always choose to listen at work, and your international employees will find it much more convenient, too.
Bottomline
An internal podcast for employees could be a fantastic way of energizing your team. From better collaboration to improved company culture, the list of benefits goes on.
Make no mistake, creating a podcast is a lot of effort. You’ll need to invest in new equipment and editing software, build a strong plan, and involve your employees every step of the way. But with your podcast up and running, it shouldn’t take long before you start seeing the benefits.
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