By using this site, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Accept
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
  • Health
    • Mental Health
    Health
    Healthcare organizations are operating on slimmer profit margins than ever. One report in August showed that they are even lower than the beginning of the…
    Show More
    Top News
    headphones can create health problems
    The Harmful Health Effects of Using Headphones
    September 24, 2021
    Headache causes
    4 Causes Of Headache You Probably Didn’t Know About
    December 28, 2021
    follow these steps to recover from your injury
    What Steps Should You Take to Recover More Quickly from an Injury?
    April 12, 2022
    Latest News
    7 Most Common Healthcare Accreditation Programs: Which Should You Use?
    August 20, 2025
    Hospital Pest Control and the Fight Against Superbugs
    August 20, 2025
    Hygiene Beyond The Clinic: Attention To Overlooked Non-Clinical Spaces
    August 13, 2025
    5 Steps to a Promising Career as a Healthcare Administrator
    August 3, 2025
  • Policy and Law
    • Global Healthcare
    • Medical Ethics
    Policy and Law
    Get the latest updates about Insurance policies and Laws in the Healthcare industry for different geographical locations.
    Show More
    Top News
    private
    Private Exchanges: Getting Ready for Individual Health Insurance to Be the Standard
    January 9, 2014
    valueable healthcare programs
    5 Most Valuable Healthcare Programs in 2023
    March 8, 2023
    Johnson & Johnson to Release Clinical Trial Data in Agreement with Yale Medical School
    February 4, 2014
    Latest News
    How Social Security Disability Shapes Access to Care and Everyday Health
    August 22, 2025
    How a DUI Lawyer Can Help When Your Future Health Feels Uncertain
    August 22, 2025
    How One Fall Can Lead to a Long Road of Medical Complications
    August 22, 2025
    How IT and Marketing Teams Can Collaborate to Protect Patient Trust
    July 17, 2025
  • Medical Innovations
  • News
  • Wellness
  • Tech
Search
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Reading: Social-Business Intranet Empowers and Engages Geisinger Health Employees
Share
Notification Show More
Font ResizerAa
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
Font ResizerAa
Search
Follow US
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Health Works Collective > eHealth > Social Media > Social-Business Intranet Empowers and Engages Geisinger Health Employees
BusinesseHealthSocial Media

Social-Business Intranet Empowers and Engages Geisinger Health Employees

Lonnie Hirsch
Lonnie Hirsch
Share
6 Min Read
Marcy Marshall
SHARE
Marcy Marshall

Marcy Marshall
Geisinger Health

What do you do about internal communications when health system employees—thousands of them—feel their voice is not being heard?

Contents
  • Social-Business Intranet Empowers and Engages Geisinger Health Employees
  • SHSMD14 Podcast Healthcare Success Marcy Marshall Geisinger Health
Marcy Marshall

Marcy Marshall
Geisinger Health

What do you do about internal communications when health system employees—thousands of them—feel their voice is not being heard?

Marcy Marshall, Director of Employee Communications at Geisinger Health, talks with Lonnie Hirsch about changing a culture, and building—from the ground up—an effective and successful social-business intranet.

In today’s podcast, Lonnie and Marcy discuss her forthcoming SHSMD presentation, and how Geisinger has been working to unite and engage a population of 22,000 employees. The conversation touches on:

More Read

Analytical Marketing Helps Breakthrough Medicine Reach Patients
What is a Healthcare Innovation Really Worth?
Healthcare Data Breaches Up 32%
Hospital Facebook LIKES Reflect Patient Satisfaction and Lower Mortality Rates
Expanding Insurance May Not Mean Long Lines and Trouble Seeing the Doctor
  • Challenges, lessons learned, successes…and future steps that are now evolving;
  • Engaging employees and enhancing employee personal and professional wellbeing;
  • Eliminating a print newsletter and opting to share news via an interactive social intranet platform; and
  • Demonstrating value, and day-to-day usefulness, to managers and employees.

listen now podcast interview

Social-Business Intranet Empowers and Engages Geisinger Health Employees

SHSMD14 Podcast Healthcare Success Marcy Marshall Geisinger Health

Here are some of the highlights of our conversation with Marcy Marshall:

Lonnie Hirsch: In 2011 you took the first steps toward changing the perception that Geisinger employees were a “seen-but-not-heard” population. What prompted you to develop this initiative?

Marcy Marshall: First, the rapid growth of our organization. Additionally, survey comments directly from our employees gave us insightful feedback. Also the President and CEO of Geisinger initiated a new vision statement containing a new pillar, the Geisinger Family, which was a complete focus on employee wellbeing, professionally and personally.

LH: How did you develop your social-business intranet designed to unite and engage your employees? Who was involved in the development of the intranet?

MM: As we embarked on this multi-year initiative, the organization recognized the need to unite our rapidly growing population while enhancing employee satisfaction. We brought together people representing employee communications, social media and IT to build our social intranet from the ground up. Our sole focus for the initial launch was engagement.

We also had meetings with key stakeholders including human resources, legal, and most importantly, executive leadership, because their buy-in was going to be key to success.

LH: What types of communications are utilized through your intranet?

MM: The initial 1.0 launch of our social intranet was aimed at enhancing employee satisfaction by providing a place where employees would feel heard and have pride in ownership. The focus was two-way dialog, recognitions, and the development of social and business groups.

The second rollout took our lessons learned from the initial process and we re-conceived our intranet to focus more on business collaboration. So the 2.0 version re-launch was a new way to deliver news. We eliminated our weekly print newsletter and opted instead to share news throughout the day via our social intranet platform. Now employees can react to the stories, ask questions, add insights and so forth.

LH: Do employees contribute to the intranet communications?

MM: Yes, they definitely have mechanisms for directly contributing, and what’s dynamic about this is that experts throughout the organization can answer employee’s questions directly. We’re essentially connecting employees no matter where they are located.

But beyond news, we have business units developing collaborative workspaces…an entire multi-level wellness space with direct access to our wellness team…some business units have setup customer service functions…and we also have clinical teams.

LH: What are some examples of topics and communications that come from different departments?

MM: From a high-level perspective, by demonstrating the power of our news delivery and social functionality, departments throughout the organization are coming to our employee communications team for strategic guidance on reaching the public. So having this two-way dialog allows employees a way to ask questions and get answers rather than a one-way push of information.

We also work with the marketing team to boost awareness of key services, boosting attendance at service line events, and ultimately boosting the number of appointments for that service line.

LH: What’s on the horizon for the evolution of this program?

MM: Our version 3.0 re-launch, which will take multiple years to accomplish, aims to dramatically enhance how we communicate and collaborate, but also to enhance the way we conduct business at Geisinger. The key word is integration…where currently our platforms are not integrated. But by going into enterprise Microsoft Sharepoint, the integration will be huge. It will integrate with all the tools that we use, as well as with our email and many other features.

For our listeners who will be at the SHSMD 2014 conference, be sure to attend Marcy Marshall’s presentation on Monday, October 13th, at 2:15PM. Marcy’s topic will be: We Gave Our Employees a Voice: The Transformation of Employee Communications.

Also for conference attendees, meet up with Lonnie Hirsch at the Healthcare Success Booth #904 in the exhibit hall.

This article and podcast are part of Healthcare Success Strategies’ continuing education series featuring speakers at the upcoming Society for Healthcare Strategy and Market Development, SHSMD CONNECTIONS 2014 meeting in San Diego, October 12-15.

Share This Article
Facebook Copy Link Print
Share

Stay Connected

1.5kFollowersLike
4.5kFollowersFollow
2.8kFollowersPin
136kSubscribersSubscribe

Latest News

engineer fitting prosthetic arm
How Social Security Disability Shapes Access to Care and Everyday Health
Health care
August 20, 2025
a woman explaining the document
How a DUI Lawyer Can Help When Your Future Health Feels Uncertain
Public Health
August 20, 2025
physiotherapist at work
How One Fall Can Lead to a Long Road of Medical Complications
Health care
August 20, 2025
Common Healthcare Accreditation Programs
7 Most Common Healthcare Accreditation Programs: Which Should You Use?
Health News
August 20, 2025

You Might also Like

complementary care
Hospital AdministrationWellness

Complementary Care Adds a Touch of Fun

May 28, 2013
Medical Device Marketing, Medical Technology Marketing, Online Marketing
BusinessFinanceMedical DevicesTechnology

Marketing Medical Devices to Consumers, Not Patients

February 21, 2014
Mitigate Risk
BusinessFinanceHealth ReformHospital Administration

Forming Alliances to Mitigate Risk: Payer Provider Perspective

December 15, 2014

How to Engage Patients Through Data, Technology and Communication

February 6, 2013
Subscribe
Subscribe to our newsletter to get our newest articles instantly!
Follow US
© 2008-2025 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Username or Email Address
Password

Lost your password?