9 Company Newsletter Ideas to Engage Employees

What is an employee newsletter?

An employee newsletter, or internal newsletter, is an email or electronic publication that keeps everyone within the organization in the loop about what’s going on with the company and them. These types of newsletters are sacred in the way that only internal parties receive them, and no one should share them outside of the organization.

Some of the newsletter topics may include upcoming work events or corporate functions outside of the office, notifications about visitors coming to the business, reminders about important procedures and regulations, publicly congratulating employees for promotions or life events, or upcoming birthdays.

Company newsletters used to be dry and generic. Now, employers are getting more creative at delivering important information to keep morale high, the employees engage, and the company invested. An internal newsletter is just as important as they’ve always been, even before evolving into more fascinating content.

Why are employee newsletters still so important?

Company newsletters are not just about getting business information and important company news to the group most efficiently. A lot of the reasons behind these newsletters are employee focused.

Build a sense of community at work

When you have a good system for sending out newsletters, you know that you are moving toward building a sense of community at work. When everything is goal-driven, employees can get stuck in a routine and lose that sense of closeness with co-workers and welcoming new hires.

They may also not know what’s going on within the workplace on all levels. When they take a moment to look over the employee newsletter, it helps them to hone in on what’s going on, feel closer to their fellow members of the company, and feel more purposeful for reaching those goals.

Reach workers in all spaces and locations at once

Not all employees are tethered to a desk for their entire workday. Some work in the field, in the office, or wherever they choose.

Flexible, remote, and work-from-home opportunities are on the rise more than ever, but that doesn’t mean you can’t keep your entire tribe connected. Your employee newsletter will help you get your message across to all of your workers at one time, no matter how near or far away they are.

Increase employee engagement and motivation

The right employee newsletter ideas will consider your company culture, individual employee interests, and trending topics.

When you craft and send this type of newsletter to employees, you will boost their engagement and motivate them in many ways. Expect to receive beneficial employee feedback, new ideas from employees, and a desire to work together for the whole of the organization.

Keep employees informed about company news and updates

Employees don’t want to be the last ones to know about what’s going on within the company, whether good, bad or in between. You also don’t always need to pull everyone away from their responsibilities and gather them for an in-person meeting.

The best way to keep employees updated about what’s going on is to create a newsletter and send it consistently. That way, no one misses out on important company news or updates on company information, policies, changes in leadership, etc.

Even if you have a meeting or some sort of verbal communication about company news topics, you will feel better knowing that everyone received the updates in writing as well.

Reduces communication overload

One thing that experts have proof of is that digital resources have reshaped our already short attention spans. You don’t want to hold a meeting or even show a video that runs too long. You’ll run the risk of having a restless bunch who don’t even remember half of what you’ve shared.

A better idea is to have an employee newsletter that they can open at a convenient time of the day and revisit as they need to. They can look at headlines, skim the newsletter, and get to the information that may be most critical for them at that time.

Improves employee morale and loyalty

When you find a good employee, try to hold on to them. Something as simple as a newsletter can contribute to that optimism about their future with the company, their belief in how they fit into accomplishments, and their mentality about teamwork.

All of those factors help improve their loyalty to the organization, management, and co-workers.

What should be included in an employee newsletter?

The wording and knowing how to write an email newsletter is everything and can make a world of difference with open and engagement rates.

To write a good company newsletter, make sure that you’re keeping your subject lines for the email interesting. Instead of only writing “company newsletter” in the subject line each time, consider coming up with a theme or a summarizing topic that relates to that period’s unique content.

Also, make sure that you use descriptive words that attract the employees’ attention versus using common phrases or the same wording each time. You don’t have to be so over the top with wording that it doesn’t seem authentic, but make sure it fits the culture that you’ve created within the organization.

Make sure that you let your audience know why they are receiving the correspondence from you or lead off with a summary of what they can expect within the newsletter. You can also give them a hint of what’s to come to get them excited for the next newsletter.

One of the missions and benefits of sending employee newsletters is to help them feel connected, so make sure the email content is fostering that goal. Share fun facts about employees, higher-level leadership included. It helps break the ice and show that people are more alike than different.

Make sure that there is a good balance between giving and taking when it comes to the content of your newsletter. Employees don’t want to feel like you’re sending another correspondence to make demands. They want to feel rewarded for the contributions they make. Therefore, come up with sections to give accolades to employees in different ways.

Lastly, make the newsletter interesting by including non-conventional sections such as trivia topics, giveaways, games, current events, social media, or details about hobbies that would interest employees such as sports, travel, food, or shopping. Mailchimp's email marketing templates make it easy to include all of these topics in an organized layout.

Employee newsletter ideas that will drive employee engagement

If you put time and work into the planning and creation portion of your company newsletter, you will see the results of increased employee engagement that you’re looking for. Here are nine employee newsletter ideas to start with.

Make your first newsletter an introduction and welcome

The first newsletter should be an opportunity for everyone to get acquainted with new and old employees. This will help you immediately start building that bond and community that will improve the organization.

After the first newsletter, continue to include a section that introduces and welcomes new employees and gives fun facts about employees and management. You can also include congratulatory messages for those who have recently experienced life events.

Share company background information

One way to build more of the morale and loyalty you want is to give background information about the company.

Talk about how it started, why it started, who they help, how things are going, and other fun facts that happened along the way. You don't have to share this all in one newsletter. One fact at a time is enough to keep it short and sweet and accomplish your goal.

Share news or current events in your industry

Your employees may not have time to keep up with everything going on with this type of business, but it may still be important or useful to them. Share some details about where the industry is going. This could help them to improve the roles they have and the goals they want to accomplish within the organization.

Don’t throw out what’s working for you

You can still keep using the traditional newsletter strategies that are beneficial and vital such as company updates and news, information about new product releases, company events, and important upcoming dates.

Get your employees involved by asking for employee feedback

Ask your audience questions in the form of polls, questionnaires, or surveys. Be sure to use a call to action telling them to reply back.

Keep those fun facts coming

The fun facts can be about the company, leadership, employees, or trending topics that are relatable to the business or company culture.

Give away some free stuff

Come up with a contest, trivia question, or drawing to include a giveaway for each period you send a newsletter. That will help create excitement around receiving and opening the employee newsletter.

Don’t forget to say thank you

Take time to thank the employees for all that they do. If there is something outstanding that a specific department, group, or individual did, give them a spotlight in the newsletter.

Share more helpful content

If you have a company blog or website with important information, don’t forget to add a link to remind employees that it is there for them.

How to set up a newsletter in Mailchimp

Setting up a newsletter in Mailchimp is quick and easy. All you have to do is follow these simple steps:

1. Log into your account or sign up if you haven’t yet.
2. From the dashboard scroll down until you see the words “create campaign”.
3. Once you see the menu, look under email to choose either Regular, Plain Text, or Template. Mailchimp’s Email newsletter customizable templates will help you get more of the traditional, colorful newsletter that companies used to distribute in print.
4. Name your campaign to help you keep up with the date and subject of your newsletter, and then click “Begin”.
5. Add the recipients to the “To” section by selecting the group of email recipients you want to receive the employee newsletter.
6. Add from to choose who the email is coming from.
7. Add a catchy subject line in the subject section.
8. Click design email to access the user-friendly drag-and-drop email designer. There you can add your content, social media buttons, pictures, colorful background, buttons, links, and more! Once you’re done, you can use this layout for creating a sample newsletter with Mailchimp
9. Last, prepare to share or schedule your campaign for the newsletter to send at a later date and time.

Wise and successful leaders have always said that your employees are your most cherishable assets. It will benefit you greatly to keep them abreast of what is going on in the organization, keep them entertained while educating them on the industry, and be creative in letting them know just how valuable they are. These tips will help you send out an amazing company newsletter to increase employee engagement.