Employee contest addresses multiple opportunities for Micron

With its 40^th anniversary imminent, Micron’s communications team landed on the idea of a contest to engage employees in the milestone. They realized the contest could do more, though. The company’s new intranet would be a mere seven months old when the contest launched, and the team saw an opportunity to link the two events. Micron’s success has earned it first place in the “Interactive Content” category of Ragan’s 2018 Intranet Awards

The team was able to review intranet analytics to identify areas where the intranet was being underused, and then built contest questions and activities designed to drive employees to give those features a try. For the 40 days leading up to the 40^th anniversary, these kinds of activities (for instance, visit the Office 360 apps and use one) were mixed in as bonus challenges along with daily challenges, such as identifying which leader was responsible for a well-known quote, or other company or intranet history or knowledge.

The team created a site on the intranet dedicated to the game that spelled out the rules, listed the prizes that motivated participation, and featured a leader board that was updated in real time. A banner on the home page introduced the day’s challenge and linked to the contest page. Email updates congratulated individual and departmental achievements.

The game was available globally—which meant it had to be accessible in five different languages—and had to work on smartphones to accommodate the 50 percent of employees who weren’t wired. Registrations to participate in the contest reached 11,655, 60 percent of whom continued to play throughout the contest period.

Engagement with underused parts of the intranet also soared, demonstrating that the team achieved its goals. Additionally, the game was a hit with non-wired employees, especially the difficult-to-engage Asian audience.

Congratulations to Micron’s communications team—Bill Klein, Kenis Dunne and Dan Wilcox.