In the past two years, the importance of open lines of communication and interpersonal connections to the success of any organization has been very clear. The growing popularity of hybrid work arrangements means that companies must consider how to keep their staff connected to the company at large while not in the office.

In addition to establishing a positive company culture, employee engagement has enhanced a company's bottom line and output.

Employees' willingness to put forth effort for the company's good depends on their ability to interact effectively with one another and the company.

Microsoft Yammer is the best platform for fostering these kinds of relationships. Yammer is an enterprise social network that facilitates internal sharing and collaboration.

This article will examine how Microsoft Yammer can be used in the workplace to engage employees better. 

Why should you use Microsoft Yammer? 

Yammer is an innovative social networking tool created specifically for internal company communication. A business called Geni developed Yammer to facilitate internal communication and collaboration. The product was so successful that it was spun off into its own company in September 2008 and now employs hundreds of people.

Before Microsoft finally bought Yammer in 2012, it had already attracted the attention of numerous interested parties. The new product was released as part of Microsoft's Office 365 suite in 2014; as of 2016, 85 percent of the world's Fortune 500 companies were using it.

Furthermore, you can compare Yammer to Facebook in the workplace. An all-inclusive version of Facebook, where everyone is connected, coworkers replace friends, advertisements are corporate reminders, and status updates are about events, questions, and problems that people are working together to solve. 

How can Yammer increase employee engagement? 

It can foster a culture of recognition 

There are always people to thank in any company for helping the company expand or providing outstanding customer service. This may go unnoticed if the workers perform their duties from home.

Yammer allows users to acknowledge the efforts of their coworkers publicly. By doing so, we can be sure that our employees receive the acknowledgment they deserve, not just from their immediate team but from the entire organization. To keep people invested in their work, businesses should promote a culture of appreciation and appreciation. 

Promote innovation by improving the communication 

A company needs to keep innovating if it wants to have lasting success. These breakthroughs are generated not by individuals working in isolation but by collaborative efforts. To help employees contribute to the company's success, management can set up a "Ideas" group on Yammer.

Likewise, since the group is open to the public, other workers and top executives can weigh in on the ideas and help shape them before they are implemented. This fosters a creative work environment by giving employees a voice and demonstrating that their input is valued and may lead to real change for the company. 

Easy knowledge sharing 

It is typical for divisions within any organization, no matter how large, to feel isolated and cut off from the rest of the organization. This reduces the time spent communicating and engaging and can result in a major loss of money.

Moreover, the rise of remote and hybrid work has worsened this problem. Workers are increasingly expected to do their tasks without access to a shared physical workspace or to maintain constant, face-to-face contact with their coworkers.

Microsoft Yammer addresses this problem by giving workers a central hub to get answers across the organization. Any worker with a Yammer account can ask a question and have it answered by their fellow workers. The group administrator can also designate a response as the "best answer," making it more visible to other users.

Department heads might update employees regularly to keep everyone in the company apprised of their progress. This eliminates barriers inside an organization and facilitates open lines of communication between workers in the same office or worldwide. 

Help to keep employees informed 

With Yammer, executives have a central hub from which they can broadcast company-wide updates and announcements to their teams. In addition, comments and questions can be posted under each announcement for further company-wide discussion.

Although similar notices could be emailed out, the accessibility of Yammer gives managers a chance to participate in these conversations and foster greater team cohesion. Staff morale and workplace knowledge will grow due to improved interaction and communication. 

It can be used to drive initiatives 

In addition to facilitating the dissemination of information and forming bonds among workers, Yammer can effect radical organizational changes. So, how is that possible, you inquire? By facilitating communication between parties to foster strategic discourse on shared goals and fruitful multi-way collaboration. An employee advocacy group could, for instance, promote volunteerism amongst its members.  

Increase adoption

With all of their ideas, insights, and insights from internal experts in one central area, employees can collaborate more effectively than ever before.

Likewise, it can also enable internal advocates to have their voices heard, facilitating the implementation and adoption of new technologies. Every organization member, from the CEO down to the frontline workers, will benefit from increased knowledge and capability.

Improve engagement with leaders

Having company executives use Yammer to communicate with employees is a great way to foster teamwork. Yammer facilitates communication across all levels of an organisation, from entry-level workers to top-level executives, and the sharing of information, from company projects to individual successes, among all levels.

Get employee feedback  

You can bet that your staff members have plenty to say, some of which could result in major changes and more efficient approaches to achieving business goals. Employees can start a dialogue about issues facing the firm, KPIs, and even the corporate culture on Yammer, making it easier to elicit useful feedback.

This is a wonderful approach for executives to learn about the perspectives and experiences of those who make up the company's workforce and how those employees have contributed to the company's success.

Use analytics to monitor performance

Leaders that recognize the need to maintain open lines of communication with their staff will find that an engagement plan built around Yammer is an effective tool.

However, encouraging participation among staff members isn't enough to justify platform utilization. To maximize the utility of this resource, you must collect and analyze relevant metrics to determine what is and is not functioning.

It promotes goodwill ambassadorship

People who work for a corporation are bound to be questioned about it at some point. By making them feel included and appreciated and by setting an example with your own words and facts, you may affect whether they talk positively or badly about the organization.

Moreover, as part of your Yammer strategy, be sure to broadcast any positive community-enhancing initiatives your company has taken. Does it contribute to a more just and peaceful world? Include that in your regular communications, and be sure to recognize the efforts of everyone who helps the firm succeed.

Live event hosting

In many companies today, the days of calling an all-staff meeting and having everyone show up in person to a large conference room are long gone. But there are occasions when it's crucial to ensure everyone in the company hears something from the top brass. Hosting real-time events is a feature that Yammer provides.

As well as seeing and hearing company executives make major announcements live, employees can interact with them in real time by raising their hands to ask questions and receiving immediate responses from those in charge. Executives who aren't comfortable fielding questions during the event can use Yammer to collect comments and inquiries later.

Furthermore, Yammer's event hosting features enable it to do everything from making last-minute live announcements to holding professionally-produced webinars with transcription and translation services for various languages.

Why should companies use Yammer in 2023?

The use of Yammer facilitates cross-locational communication and collaboration for businesses, especially those with several offices. You can now just submit your question in a Yammer Group instead of emailing to find out who to ask about X.

Managers of each division monitor their Yammer communities and address questions as they arise. As a result, questions are answered, and tasks are completed more quickly. At AvePoint, we've found that instituting Yammer groups where employees can ask and answer one other's questions has helped us become much more nimble.

Train your employees informally

Do you know 5 facts about lizards after watching National Geographic? No doubt you picked up some useful information without even realizing it! Comparable tools include Yammer. You take in updates, you share updates, and you know everything there is to know about a certain subset of the industry that you never set out to learn. The ability to learn in an automatic state is greatly enhanced.

Showcase achievements

Is there a new, game-changing feature that could boost sales and usage of the product? Post it on Yammer. Did the sales department just seal the year's biggest deal? 

Post it on Yammer.

It's a chance for groups to brag about the wonderful things they've done in their respective fields.

It encourages teams to respond to and build upon the successes of others, and it gives individuals the satisfaction of knowing they have been recognized for a job well done. Why wouldn't you enjoy that?

Keep your workers connected and entertained

When several people gather, laughter is inevitable. Even though it's a casual platform, Yammer is still appropriate for professional use, so feel free to share gifs, jokes, and other lighthearted content. 

It's a terrific way for workplaces to share information while also inviting feedback from other locations. 

The system can be configured to facilitate secure teamwork with external parties such as contractors, customers, and related businesses.

It helps to become transparent  

One of the best things about adopting open chat technologies like Yammer and Microsoft Teams is that they encourage open communication throughout a business. 

Administrators at all levels of an organization can use Yammer to standardize how employees report on and respond to departmental successes and updates. That way, everyone knows exactly what teams are up to, what initiatives are progressing, and what's coming up next.

Improves internal communication

The upper echelons of a company can use Yammer to communicate with their employees openly and honestly by sharing information, soliciting opinions, and making other types of announcements.

A streamlined interface emphasizing previews of files like images and papers facilitates employee responses, ideas, and inquiries. The top brass of an organization can utilize Yammer to convene company-wide town hall meetings.

Easy integration

 Microsoft's goal was to integrate Office 365's various features and functions into a cohesive social ecosystem; thus, the corporation began bundling several apps and services. As of recently, Yammer can be used in tandem with Office 365 Groups, which in turn can be used with Outlook, which can be used with a wide range of other Office 365 applications.

This has integrated the Office 365 suite to safeguard users from losing out on essential updates, but it has also caused confusion over which tool individuals should use and when.

New social features

With the release of Yammer Communities this year, there has been a dramatic increase in Yammer-related discourse. The original purpose of Yammer was to facilitate communication with the "outside loop" of your business (i.e., coworkers you don't regularly deal with). While this remains true, the platform's capabilities have expanded significantly in recent years.

Native Mode is part of the latest upgrade. It incorporates Yammer into your organization's Office 365 policy management framework. A fully functional Yammer web part is now available for use with SharePoint. 

Yammer can also be accessed from within Microsoft Teams.

Wrapping up 

Increasing employee engagement is beneficial for organizations of all sizes and in all sectors. Advantages include a happier workplace, more productive workers, higher profits, and happier customers. Now is the time to consider bringing Microsoft Yammer into your company so that you can reap these rewards.