4 ways to improve internal employee engagement on Confluence

You could have spent months creating the perfect Confluence instance, but if your internal teams don’t actively use it, you’ll have to answer the question we’d all like to avoid: was it worth the effort?

Whether it boils down to a lack of awareness, training, or poorly structured pages, not taking full advantage of Confluence wastes resources. Improper documentation is a widespread challenge; for instance, 96% of organizations don’t properly document their processes and knowledge, stressing the importance of addressing this issue.

If you’re struggling with getting your teams to engage with Confluence, we invite you to read on! Below, we’ll cover why nailing internal employee engagement matters and provide you with four tips and strategies to improve engagement within your organization.

Why is internal Confluence engagement important?

Let’s get things straight – internal engagement is more than creating pages and expecting your teams to use them. It’s about fostering a culture of sharing and open communication between employees and creating a workplace that incentivizes active participation where ideas flow freely.

The benefits of improving internal employee engagement on Confluence are numerous as it can:

• Foster collaboration: Confluence naturally encourages open collaboration, helping break down silos and promote environments where sharing knowledge and feedback is the norm. This enables employees to work together more effectively towards shared goals.
• Boost employee morale: Engagement with Confluence instances can make employees feel more connected to their organization, fostering a stronger sense of belonging and, consequently, boosting morale.
• Accelerate decision-making: Better informed teams are more efficient teams. With access to the latest information, making key decisions becomes a quicker and more accurate process.
• Increase overall productivity: Teams that are engaged and know how to find what they need to spend less time searching and querying. This leads to quicker project turnarounds and increased productivity.

How to improve employee engagement on Confluence

Internal employee engagement with your Confluence spaces is more than just a nice-to-have; it is essential. Now, let’s dive into several employee engagement strategies that can be executed to improve your internal Confluence engagement:

1| Perfect your onboarding processes

Effective engagement with Confluence spaces begins with proper onboarding, particularly for new hires. Remember, good Confluence onboarding is more than teaching users how to create a page or navigate between spaces. It’s about immersing them in the understanding that Confluence is more than a wiki – it’s a collaborative tool integral to the entire organization and its workflows.

Beyond demonstrating how to use Confluence for internal processes like managing projects or sharing knowledge, it’s essential to encourage new hires to actively explore and familiarize themselves with the platform to make them feel part of the collaborative environment. Moreover, considering that only 12% of employees find their onboarding process adequate, nailing down your onboarding could help differentiate your organization from the pack, potentially attracting future talent! You could even consider using Trello as part of the onboarding process to help engage new joiners.

2| Educate employees about your Confluence spaces

While perfecting your onboarding process is vital, the education of your teams shouldn’t stop there. Whether through a casual lunch and learn, a formal company-wide workshop, or even a dedicated FAQ resource page, it’s crucial to educate your existing employees on everything Confluence-related continually. This includes sharing relevant updates about Confluence features and simply reminding them of best practices from time to time.

Furthermore, a report by LinkedIn Learning discovered that 94% of surveyed employees claimed they would be more likely to stay longer at a company that invested in their learning and development. This underscores why focusing on such initiatives matters –  they can significantly contribute to employee satisfaction and retention in your organization!

3| Ensure your pages are accessible

You could implement the most in-depth Confluence education program in your organization, but it would be a wasted opportunity if your spaces aren’t on par with it. At the end of the day, if you’re not using Confluence to its full potential, everything just falls short. 

Spaces and pages need to be organized in a way that makes sense to help users find what they need. Consistent formatting, adherence to a style guide, ensuring pages are up-to-date, and providing content in various formats — from videos to infographics to charts — all help cater to employees with different learning styles. On top of this, you should take full advantage of Confluence’s vast array of templates and macros to structure your spaces, and don’t forget to use labels consistently to keep things organized and navigable!

4| Use external apps like Viewtracker

Imagine this: You’ve spent hours organizing your spaces and pages and poured even more time into designing the perfect guide for your employees. But still, there’s one final, nagging unanswered question: How can you determine if your efforts were worth it? Enter Viewtracker – Analytics for Confluence.

While native Confluence is invaluable as a documentation tool, it falls short when in-depth analytics is involved. Even though its premium and standard plans offer insights, like page views, they only scratch the surface compared to what external tools like Viewtracker can provide. From tracking user behavior to measuring content performance and even identifying outdated or underutilized content, apps like Viewtracker make it easier to ensure your teams engage with your spaces and identify areas for improvement in existing and future content.

Keep your workforce engaged

Well-maintained and accessible Confluence spaces make workforces that much more efficient. But remember, Confluence is just a tool. It’s entirely up to you to ensure you take full advantage of it to reap its benefits. 

That said, don’t forget that you’re not alone in your journey to harness the power of Confluence! Why not read more about what we can offer or check out Viewtracker on the Atlassian Marketplace to see how it could benefit you?