Meet Joost, de Jong & Laan's intranet

Introducing: Joost

“Joost is a place where we meet, learn from each other and work together,” says Danya Bessembinder, communication advisor at de Jong & Laan. “It's a social and transparent environment for you and your colleagues.”

Joost plays an important role in de Jong & Laan's cultural program. They want to be an organization that you are proud of, where you work together, value each other and communicate openly. And where you also just dare to share that something went well, or not.

Joost even got a face to make it personal. “His name is because: Joost knows!” says Danya with a smile. “In our organization, people like to share knowledge, so that name is a perfect fit.”

How is Joost structured?

At the top, you'll see “Know and Rule”, here you'll find a knowledge base with all the practical information. This includes information about setting your email signature or the number of vacation days. Do you want to know how the organization is structured? Or more information about our policy and working methods? Then take a look at “This is how we work”.

“Our employee portal starts automatically. As soon as you start up your laptop, Joost immediately greets you with the latest news, handy applications and a timeline full of updates.”

The best way to compare the timeline is to a LinkedIn feed. Colleagues post freely in groups that they follow. This is the place to ask questions, share knowledge and celebrate successes. In groups, you will find current professional information, but there is also room for connection; music groups, sports groups, film groups, etc.

The most popular group called “Tell it Joost”.”. This is where social messages are mainly shared. New colleague? Let me introduce you to Joost. Team outing in Zwolle? Pictures in Joost. This has resulted in many positive reactions and ensures a connection between the 1,000+ employees and more than 20 locations.

Combining internal channels

Initially, there were concerns about portal fatigue: add another channel and at some point you won't know where to put what. By setting clear communication goals and thinking carefully during implementation about how to empower each channel, it is always clear to employees which tool you use for which purpose.

Outlook

• Communication purpose: Formal communication for receiving and transmitting information and documents.

• Use: Informing (confidential), personal communication, announcements, documentation, appointments.

Teams

• Communication goal: Direct, fast and interactive communication for collaboration.

• Use: chat, meetings, document collaboration, project groups, and personal communication.

Social Intranet (Joost)

• Communication goal: Easy contact with colleagues and sharing knowledge & organization information are key.

• Use: Organizational news, share timeline posts about shared interests in the field and hobby, ask each other questions and seek collaboration.

For the use of various channels, de Jong & Laan has 3 internal communication pillars:

(1) Transparency & accessibility
Preview: organizing an event.
Steps: Project setup in a team -> sharing ideas and requesting event input via Joost -> concretize event plan with individuals via Teams and Outlook -> event communication via Joost

(2) A sense of community & cultural preservation
Preview: organize an outing to connect to a specific location
Steps: Poll about an outing in the location group -> Calendar item is created in the calendar module on Joost with practical details -> Registrations automatically receive an agenda item in Outlook -> Share an impression on the timeline in Joost

(3) Collaborate:
Example: “I'm looking for a colleague to solve a customer question”
Steps: Call to Joost asking via customer > Found an acquaintance holder? Then continue individual contact via Teams -> Share successes and learnings on the timeline in Joost to stimulate knowledge sharing

Onboarding new employees

From day one, Joost has been your digital companion. New employees receive a welcome box with a QR code to the manual. (And of course, you can always find those manuals under “Know & Control” on Joost.)

During the onboarding days, Joost is also extensively covered. “We have training courses at the locations. “This way, people not only learn how it works, but also why it's important.”

In addition, there are key roles: colleagues who actively post, share tips and lend others a hand. Because yes, posting to Joost for the first time can be quite exciting, but with a little bit of encouragement, it quickly comes naturally.

Data-driven development: From searching to finding

Feedback showed that employees sometimes took longer to find the right search results. To help employees go from question to answer faster, de Jong & Laan uses Social Analytics Pro (PowerBI) to analyze search results. In doing so, they are continuing to develop the platform in a data-driven way.

“We look at the search terms people use and try to set up the suggested search results”.

What can you learn from Joost?

1. Make it personal: give your intranet a face or character. ‍
2. Make sure you have a soft landing: good onboarding is key for adoption. ‍
3. Use smart structure: help colleagues decide which channel to use for what.
4. ‍Encourage sharing: appoint ambassadors, give tips and encourage storytelling. ‍
5. Data-driven development: listen to user feedback, look at data analytics, and make your employee portal a little better every day.

Congress Online Connection

Danya told Online Connection, organized by communications agency, at the Congress The Whale, how Embrace Social Intranet has been helping them to facilitate one central employee portal for all people since 2017. In one hour, she took the audience into their successes and lessons learned over the past few years. Want to meet Embrace and its customers? Then sign up for The National Intranet Symposium on November 4, 2025 or request a personal demo to meet with one of our experts.