Meta's Workplace death: What It means for Your Organization

Maybe the name change was an omen for things to come but not many people know that “In Hebrew, Meta means Dead and despite months of rumours, this week Meta has officially announced the shutdown of the beloved Workplace by Sept 2025, with a further 1 year read only access. This tool was used by hundreds of organizations primarily in North America, Australia, and pockets of Asia and Europe to support collaboration and social engagement within organizations.

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So why was Workplace so loved???

?To understand why Workplace by Meta was so popular, we need to go back to October 2016. Facebook launched Workplace with features like groups, instant messaging, and a news feed, mirroring the consumer version of Facebook but tailored for professional use. It also offered integrations with other business tools and services.

In 2017, Facebook ?added more features like Workplace Chat (a messaging service for teams) and Workplace Live (live video streaming for events and announcements), putting it in direct competition with collaboration tools like Slack, Teams, and Zoom.

?1. Ease of Use

Workplace leveraged the familiar Facebook interface, making it easy for users to adopt and use without extensive training. This user-friendliness facilitated quick adoption across organizations.

2. Comprehensive Tool Suite

Workplace offered a range of tools such as groups for team collaboration, instant messaging, video calls, live video streaming, and integration with other business applications. This made it a one-stop solution for day-to-day communication and collaboration.

3. Remote Work Acceleration

The shift to remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020-2021 accelerated the adoption of digital collaboration tools. Workplace by Meta provided organizations with the necessary tools to maintain communication and productivity in a remote work environment.

4. Community Building

Workplace helped foster a sense of community within organizations, enabling employees to share updates, celebrate achievements, and engage with colleagues across different locations. This was particularly important with the rise of a disconnected workforce in recent years.

?What Now????? Looking Beyond Workplace.

While Workplace by Meta offers numerous advantages, there are several downsides organizations need to consider to ensure critical information is not lost in the noise. Here are some challenges to consider when moving to another social intranet or collaboration tool:

????Information Overload

With multiple channels for communication, there is a risk of employees becoming overwhelmed by the sheer volume of information. Important messages may get lost amid less critical updates and social posts, reducing the effectiveness of strategic communications.

?Look for a platform that allows structured communication practices, such as prioritizing important messages through channels categorizing information based on urgency and relevance.

????Fragmentation of Communication and Systems

The use of various systems, groups, and chats can lead to fragmented communication, where related information is scattered across different threads and channels. This can cause confusion, duplicate efforts, and difficulty in locating relevant information when needed. A recent McKinsey survey revealed that desk employees use approximately 11 different applications and spend over two hours per week looking for the right information.

?2024 is the year of consolidation. Review your options to reduce communication channels and enable a Front Door Gateway for all corporate communications, including integrations to key document management libraries like Microsoft SharePoint. This will allow employees to access information using channels relevant to them with consistent messaging and equality of opportunity.

????Limited Reach and Engagement

Not all employees may actively use or engage with Workplace, leading to unequal distribution of information. Critical updates might not reach all intended recipients, especially those who are less active on the platform or who have opted out of certain channels.

?Review your workforce demographics to understand how they best consume information. This can be based on geographic locations, job types (full-time, part-time, casual, contractor), departments, desk-based or deskless roles, and cultural/language demographics. By understanding these needs, you can select a platform that supports a multi-channel approach to reach and align your entire workforce.

????Difficulty in Measuring Impact

Social tools like Workplace measure communication effectiveness by reactions, likes, and comments, but this provides only a limited view of engagement. It is difficult to have a holistic view of all channels when this approach is siloed to social, email, app, and intranet.

? Look for platforms that allow integrated analytics across all channels (social, app, intranet, email, SMS) to provide a company-wide, multi-channel view of communication effectiveness.

????Potential for Informal Tone

Given the social network roots of Workplace, there is a risk that communications may adopt a more informal tone, which might not always be appropriate for all types of corporate messages. This can undermine the professionalism of strategic communications and lead to misunderstandings or a lack of seriousness around important topics.

Solution: Look for platforms that balance social "fun" with clear channels for Global, Regional, and Local News prioritized to ensure employees receive information relevant to their roles, regions, and departments.

?2025 is far away?, I have plenty of time…

For many Strategic Communications leaders, the opportunity to evaluate a new solution doesn't come up frequently. Here's a guideline on the timeline for this process, recognizing that many factors can influence the schedule but however you look at it, time is not on your side and the time to start evaluating is NOW.

Timelines to consider for over 1,000 employees:-

??4-6 Months : Evaluating Business Needs and Use Cases and Vendor Shortlisting

??3-4 months : RFP / Vendor Reviews and Due Diligence

??1-2 Months: ?Legal, Security, and Procurement Reviews (Vendor Selected)

??4-5 months: Onboarding, user testing and launch

??September 2025: Deprecation Date for Workplace by Meta

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What to consider as your evaluating your business needs?

While change is challenging, it allows you to re-evaluate your business needs. Here are the top considerations as you navigate this path:

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1. Employee Base & Time Allocation: Evaluate the mix of your employee base (frontline vs. desk) and their available time for using social networking tools.

2. Workforce Demographics: Understand workforce demographics and their information consumption habits.

3. Organizational Alignment & Engagement: Assess current organizational alignment and engagement levels to understand current gaps.

4. Microsoft Ecosystem Integration: Determine if your organization operates within a Microsoft ecosystem and how to connect it to your communications platform to consolidate for front door experience.

5. Departmental & Regional Management: Consider if business units need to manage their own communications by department and region or Business unit?

6. System Access via Portal: Identify other systems that need to be accessed through the portal and the level of access required for seamless front door experience.

7. Survey Capabilities: Assess the need for survey capabilities across different audience segments and understand alignment needs across your business with various stakeholders.

8. Cultural & Geographical Requirements: Review language requirements, cultural considerations, and geographical diversity.

9. Current Communications Tools: Inventory your current communications tools (e.g., Slack, Teams, SharePoint, WhatsApp, Line, WeChat, Connect) and what can be consolidated?

10. Future Communications Priorities: Define your communications priorities for the next three years to ensure the platform you select will scale with your needs.

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My final advice would be to use this opportunity to move from social engagement to Strategic Communication, incorporating the warmth of social interactions but with the power to unite, inform, engage, and align all employees at every stage of their lifecycle with your organization.

If you would like to review more resources to support you in your evaluation here are some good points of reference:-

Gartner Leader Quadrant 2024 for Intranet Packaged Solutions

The Clearbox buyers guide to ‘The Best Intranet & Employee Experience Platforms on the Market’

Check out why we are the largest focused Internal Communications platform in the world today, used by over 2,500 Enterprise organizations and growing!

For more information on how my team can support you on this journey, visit www.staffbase.com or request a personalised demo.