Workshop

"Hey, Happy Monday!" has pretty much been my go-to response to greetings on a Monday since joining Workshop . And I'm sure 80% of the company says it too 😅 So naturally, we have a newsletter called "Happy Monday Club". Every Monday, it goes out to 35K+ communicators, marketers, employee experience folks and more who want the latest (in an easy, digestible way!) on all things positive company culture and how we can all bring a little more happy Monday goodness to our places of work. Because who wants to start the week with doom and gloom?! Sign up to get next Monday's in your inbox... promise it's one you won't regret! Here's a peek of this week's! https://lnkd.in/g2TvQ4W9

Internal communication ideas I'm lovin' lately (pt. 6!): - cutting an internal process from 7 days to 7 minutes (any process, pick one!) and writing the story of how you did it -- good way to show a practical AI use case - add "cast and crew credits" at the end of every project / when you launch new things, to give shoutouts to everyone involved - a "meet the team" series for the departments or teams that nobody really understands (finance! legal! IT! comms! haha. all the unsung heroes) - use quotes & testimonials for internal changes / policies / programs, etc. (things like "here's why I joined this ERG" or "I've used this wellness benefit and seen this level of success") - a scrappy little "summer reading" email -- basically a roundup of what leaders in the company are digging into, listening, watching - AI-generated emails + scheduling for the comms you've been putting off for months and don't want to think about again...like policy updates, parking lot reminders, "stop microwaving fish in the breakroom" notes, submit your timesheets, etc. etc. (PS: these are EXTRA easy to spin up in Workshop now! https://lnkd.in/efkBNfrA ) - a glossary of company acronyms for new hires (speaking from experience on this one) - source stories / content ideas from your Teams/Slack channels -- act like a journalist and ask for recommendations directly! - a "behind-the-scenes" campaign / documentary for your next big initiative, truly tell the story of how it came to be (get photos, scrappy videos, silly quotes, etc.!) ✨✨✨✨✨

✨ We’re hiring a 𝗦𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗼𝗿 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁 𝗗𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗲𝗿 at Workshop . A few things about our team • We still do design crits twice a week. • A culture that is leaned into designers shipping code. • We work closely with Product to define problems early. • We talk to customers often. • We care deeply about craft, systems, and the small details that make software feel great to use. AI is a big part of how we work and what we build. But we don’t see it as a shortcut around thoughtful design — we see it as a reason to be even 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 intentional about it. We’re looking for someone with some real life experience who can zoom out and sweat the details. Someone with strong opinions, curiosity, taste, and a portfolio full of real work they can speak thoughtfully about. 💌 If any of this sounds like your kind of place, reach out. Would love to chat. 👉 Apply here: https://lnkd.in/gvdC-zy6

Here's our whole entire tech stack for communicating with employees: Email: We use Workshop for all internal email (naturally). There are a couple of other options out there, but above all make sure you’re using a tool built for internal email. Outlook or external marketing tools are a nightmare for this work. Workshop is very intuitive + has great analytics! ;) Instant messaging: Slack all the way. Please don’t make me use Teams. 🤣 Intranet: We use Guru and Pages (a feature of Workshop). I love them. It feels a bit startup-y, though, more traditional orgs still default to SharePoint. Pages are amazing for creating branded, solo landing pages. Project management: I’m loyal to Asana . Haven’t once felt the urge to shop around. (I love the otters and yetis that jump across the screen haha) SMS: Workshop 's add-on. I’ve tried SimpleTexting before and didn’t love it. We skip a dedicated mobile app, for now, because sending people to yet another destination has always felt like too much. I might feel different if we had frontline employees, though! Other tools I reach for: • Slido for live polls in all-hands meetings • Typeform for bigger, branded internal surveys • Pitch for decks (not enough people use it!) • Canva for design work when marketing is already at capacity (or when I just need something quick) — we also use Canva to broadcast to our digital screens in the office and that’s how I get around using a digital signage tool :) • Captivate for our internal podcast • Sequel.io for our digital events 👏 Share your faves below!

I sadly know a lot of folks that were impacted by this last round of layoffs at LinkedIn . We’re still hiring for quite a few different roles here at Workshop and I’m happy to share more if anything looks interesting! Feel free to reach out to me, Sarah Gentrup or Steven Mah if you have any questions 💙 https://lnkd.in/gkqCD58Z

Hot take: you don't need a big budget to build culture. Yesterday we took 30 minutes out of the workday, went outside, and played some classic field day games — egg toss, hula hoops, the whole thing. Uncrustables, Capri Sun, and popsicles included. It felt like being 9 years old again and it was genuinely the best. The best team moments I've witnessed at Workshop have rarely been the elaborate ones. They've been the spontaneous, low-stakes, slightly-chaotic ones where people just get to be people for a minute. If you've been waiting for the budget or the perfect plan to "do something for culture" — this is your sign to just go outside for half an hour.

A customer told us recently that creating the company newsletter feels a little bit like being handed everyone else's homework assignment. Leadership has a last-minute update. HR has three announcements. IT needs something reset immediately. Recruiting wants a spotlight. Marketing has "just a few edits." And somehow, one internal comms person turns all of that into a polished, on-brand email by Friday morning. (No pressure!!!) Most communicators are doing this without a copywriter or designer. They're the strategist, writer, editor, designer, and project manager — all at once. So we asked ourselves: what if internal comms teams had an actual creative partner built into their workflow? Today we launched the biggest product update in Workshop's history: AI-generated emails ✨ Now you can prompt Cici (our internal comms AI agent) or upload a document, and get back a fully designed email draft in seconds. Copy, layout, hierarchy, spacing, images...done. Real comms work is collaborative and a little chaotic. Stakeholders jump in. Sections get rearranged. Someone always has "one quick tweak" five minutes before send. 𝗪𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝗱𝗻’𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝗔𝗜 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗻 𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗹 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗰𝗸 𝗶𝗻 𝗮 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗿𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗽𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘄𝗮𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝗲𝗱𝗶𝘁𝘀. So we built AI directly into a modern email editor with: ✨ True multiplayer collaboration and co-editing ✨ AI writing assistance built into the workflow ✨ Drag-and-drop editing so you can visually refine instead of endlessly re-prompting ✨ Version history and restoration ✨ And soon, a built-in brand kit so every email starts beautifully on-brand The result feels less like “AI writing your email” and more like having a creative partner built directly into the workflow. Really proud of our team today ☀️ 🖤

A lot of you I’ve connected with probably share a similar story: a career change. ✨ Like many of you, the change was news to internal comms. 📺 For me, it meant stepping away from something that had been a big part of my identity. TV news teaches you how to think fast, communicate clearly, adapt under pressure, and connect with people. But like many people in TV news, I eventually found myself asking what I wanted long-term life and work to look like. What’s been interesting is realizing that career pivots aren’t always complete reinventions. Sometimes it’s just taking the skills you already have and applying them in a new environment. That’s what my transition into sales for an internal communications platform ( Workshop ) has felt like. More natural than I expected. At the core, both careers (weather and internal comms ⚡️) are still about building trust, simplifying complex information, and helping people feel informed and connected. The audience just changed. (Oh, and the sleep improved)! 😴 If you’ve made a big career move - I’d love to hear your story and how it worked out for you!☀️

Early bird tickets for BrightSide, Workshop's employee comms & culture conference, end this week! BrightSide is designed to create a space where the communicators, the folks striving daily to create more positive, engaged, and well-connected teams, are the focus. This event truly is an energetic and downright uplifting day! Between the keynote speakers, breakout sessions, brunch (with mimosas), and delightful surprises along the way, there is something for everyone. You can see the full agenda, speakers, and grab your tickets (at the lowest price this year) at brightsideconference.com ! Seeee you on September 23 (+ September 22 for Workshop customers) & don't forget to always look on the bright side. 🧡