Remote Working has increased the importance of a good Knowledge base for the Organisation. A knowledge base is a company’s repository where all internal information is stored and organised for employee's access. From onboarding employees and communicating effectively, to resolving issues quicker and helping people do more of the important work that matters, every business needs an effective system for cataloguing, sharing and updating information.
Objective
The entire point of having a knowledgebase system for employees is to create more transparency, set the expectation in terms of norms of the organisation / work rules, make it convenient for the employees to refer to the information when needed, increase team work and collaboration, Speed to document retrieval, etc...
From the Human Resource perspective the knowledgebase system should contain:
Compliance Related Documents:
Code of Conduct
Non-Compete and Non-Solicitation
Working Hours and Time Off
Health and safety standards and policy
Policies ( Tip: Make sure to have the form links and contact details of SPOC as well for e.g. insurance section should have links to claim form and the SPOC contact details)
Asset Management policy (Includes IT assets, Company Provided assets, etc..)
Anti Harassment and non Discrimination Policy
Talent Policies
Leave and attendance policy
Termination / Exit Policy
Employee Classification, Over Time Policy
Bonus / Incentive pay policy
Travel Policy
Business Expense Policy
Employee Loans / Cash Advance Policy
Employee Benefits (like insurance, breakout areas, meal Coupons, reimbursements, etc..)
Recruitment policy, Employee Referral policy and process, Current open positions as part of internal job Posting
Org Structure: Covering designation, role and email IDs of colleagues.
Performance documents:
Performance Management Process
Performance Review Process
Performance Improvement Plan
Performance Appraisal Letter
Performance Warning Letter
Goal Setting / KRA format
Exit Policy
Employee Handbook
Use the Employee Login / Specific Payroll Portal to share compensation, employment letters, Tax related documents with the employee.
This is an overview of some commonly used policies and documents by HR. However, if there are any other programs such as Employee Wellness Program, Career Development Program, Coaching program, Mentoring Program, Buddy Program, Diversity and Inclusion Program, etc.. ; they can be added to the knowledgebase as well.
A good intranet site will be handy to setup a knowledge base. However, If the employee strength is low that is below 100 then Google Site / Drop Box can also solve the purpose.
Intranet can be as mundane as needed / as interesting as possible. Some tips to make it more interesting
Name your intranet site,
Upload information on Organisation , recent achievements, publication,
Upload employee success stories, recognition / award winners,
Put up Company News Letter,
Let all employees contribute by writing an article,
If there are groups such as Wellness Program Group / Fun Committee / Sports Group - include the members of the group to Intranet page to give more visibility to your groups.
Lastly have some space for the photos and videos.
Some of the goals keep in mind while setting up an intranet:-
Content should be clean crisp and easily findable. Document should be easily findable. Hence organising of the content is important and creating right tags to the content also helps. One of the goals to set up a intranet is to make information available to the employees easier and faster.
Platform should be handy. One should be able to open the same from desktop and mobile both and office and home network.
Notifications should be sent on time through multiple modes like mobile, Email, Desktop. Employee should not miss out on any important information.
Task management, team collaboration, etc.. can also be the objective.
In Conclusion: Aim to develop a good knowledgebase for your employees to succeed. HR is enabler for Employee's Success.