Engaging employees is hard: too many channels, too much information, and too much noise. With private podcasts entering the workplace, they often get confused with being the new shiny tool following innovations like internal newsletters, blogs, or videos—the same content but now with audio. Internal creators feel overwhelmed and struggle to keep up with it. Is this you? Keep reading.
What if internal podcasts do not compete with other comms channels you use? What if you don't have to repurpose content and turn it into a podcast? Think of audio storytelling as its own category. Free yourself, and start fresh because the benefit of internal podcasts is to create human connections over distance.
Looking for ways to enrich employee communication and company culture with a podcast? Here you go:
Knowledge transfer
Use the power of listening internally to train your workforce. The benefit? You can give employees the flexibility to upskill at their own pace and time because podcasts are an on-demand medium. Learning & development with audio courses can start in one team or department and slowly scale across the whole company. Besides learning from internal peers, mixing in episodes with relevant external thought leaders fosters creativity and excitement within the company.
Community building
Give employees a voice and let your teams talk about their accomplishments, learnings, personal journeys, or even everything but work. Internal podcasts create human connections, add depth, spice up conversations, and build empathy across the organization. It’s a source of inspiration and a way to learn from each other. Peer-to-peer communications go a long way. Making employees feel part of the brand and the community sparks a sense of feeling important and enables unlikely connections at work.
Remote onboarding
Onboarding is the honeymoon of every employee experience. Let new hires hit the floor running and create a series of evergreen onboarding content. Channeling the company‘s vision, mission, and purpose into an audio message, introducing leadership members personally, or offering specific domain knowledge upfront, can make a new employee feel supported, seen, and heard. Serialization can help gradually build up the knowledge needed. Ideally, your onboarding podcast stimulates a sense of belonging and excitement from (or even before) day one.
Culture building
Bring your company a little closer, and connect employees at work. Not only, but especially for remote companies, an internal podcast provides a touchpoint. It’s an opportunity to hear the voices of teammates you otherwise wouldn’t — and listen to company stories, lessons learned, and small or big wins directly from the people who experienced it; this is the true power of audio. Weave in episodes highlighting values, celebrating talent, sharing success stories, and explaining vision and purpose to make your company a great workplace.
Leadership lessons
Especially in big companies, executives feel far away. Give employees one-on-one time with the CEO or other members of leadership where they shed light on perspectives, goals, and personal views — maybe even struggles or challenges they face every day. An internal leadership podcast is an opportunity to make leaders more accessible and empathic and let them build personal brands internally. Employees who understand where the company is heading are more loyal, engaged, and willing to advocate for the company.
News feeding
Every team and all companies have news to share internally. Bring everyone on the same page with a private, recorded episode instead of all hands or town halls. Make the announcement relevant, digestible, personal, and fun to reach more people. It will feel more inclusive because listeners can consume the episodes asynchronously and screen-free! This aspect increases the chance for employees to hear the news, balances information asymmetries, and fosters the feeling of informedness.
Feeling inspired? Check out these articles about four common use cases and how to get started with your internal podcast , or book one of our podcast champs for an online workshop .