25 company newsletter ideas: Examples & how-to guide

Although they’re “just” for your own employees and colleagues, company newsletters shouldn’t be taken for granted. When you learn how to do them right, they can be effective communication tools that’ll help to keep your team informed, engaged, and entertained.

Below you’ll find the pointers, examples, and company newsletter ideas that you can bring back to your team immediately. We’ll start with a bit of theory, but if you’d like to jump to ideas right away, you can use the table of contents below.

You can listen to the article (narrated by a real person):

25 company newsletter ideas

1. New team member announcement
2. Commendable feats and milestones
3. Personal anniversaries and other celebrations
4. Recommendations and must-sees
5. Team spotlight
6. Team party
7. Special day events
8. Competitions and contests
9. Surveys
10. New job postings
11. Training opportunities
12. Free resources
13. Doing good and giving back
14. Important industry updates and news
15. Product and service development updates
16. A (personal) message from the board or the CEO
17. Sharing company’s history
18. Changes in company leadership / people moving on
19. Legislative or fiscal changes affecting employees
20. Customer reviews and feedback from the frontline
21. Just for fun
22. Employee achievements outside work
23. Departmental updates
24. Health and wellness tips
25. Sustainability and CSR initiatives

1. New team member announcement

Is someone new joining the team? Take this chance to present their profile and let them say a few words about themselves.

A new member intro shouldn’t read like a resume. Instead, a personal angle usually works better. Think about hobbies, an interesting book they’ve recently read, favorite music, or how they like to spend their free time.

This will help make a connection with colleagues. It will encourage employees to reach out and talk to those who share similar interests and hobbies.

2. Commendable feats and milestones

Employees do extraordinary things all the time. Perhaps they’ve hit a milestone to be proud about. When a department or project team “achieves a commendable feat,” let everyone know through the internal newsletter so they can serve as an inspiration.

Build up a team spirit, keep employees engaged, and help encourage others to cheer on the team’s achievements.

3. Personal anniversaries and other celebrations 

You don’t have to offer cake or spa vouchers to celebrate your employees’ birthdays and other special company events.

If one of your employees had a baby, got married, or it’s their birthday, you can send them your congratulations and best wishes.

It’s great seeing how team members’ lives are changing over the years when they’ve received different kinds of those emails during their time in your company.

4. Recommendations and must-sees

Top recommendations on places, shows, or restaurants – these are all great topics that can help your team members get acquainted with their neighborhood, especially if they’ve just relocated to join your company.

And if your office is in a small town and everyone knows everything there is to see then you can always try a different route and offer top recommendations on books, movies, or interesting playlists.

This type of communication can help your team members plan their time outside of the company or start discussions on things they like to do in their spare time. And who knows, they may even choose to organize a team get-away to catch a few drinks or visit a concert after hours?

5. Team spotlight

Team spotlights are more common in the enterprise, but they’re not exclusive to big companies.

Introduce the team – whom it consists of, what they’re working on, and what others can reach out to them about.

People usually don’t know what other teams are working on and don’t necessarily spend their whole day browsing through the company wiki.

A team spotlight can help your whole organization (especially new employees) be informed feel like they’re part of something bigger.

6. Team party 

Company retreats, parties, and getaways are popular these days.

If your team’s relatively small, organizing them is pretty easy.

But if you have a few hundred employees, some of whom are working abroad, planning everything requires a lot of effort.

You can avoid some of that hassle through your employee newsletter by sharing all the details about what’s coming and what your team members have to do to join you on a trip.

And after the event is over, prepare a summary, send pictures and videos, and gather employee feedback so that your next company retreat will be even better.

7. Special day events

You can’t organize team getaways all the time. But why not bring the party to the team. By that, I mean organizing a special day at the office.

You can plan them around special dates, like International Coffee Day, Star Wars Day, or Read a Book Day. Or, you can create your own company events. For example, do a movie screening night, or a board game afternoon every couple of weeks.

Keep in mind that your company newsletter doesn’t just have to announce the upcoming events. Equally useful and fun would to be share stories and photos from past events you’ve run in the past so that folks will know what they’re signing up for.

8. Competitions and contests

Everybody has that one (a bit too) competitive colleague. Some competitive spirit is always good though. And you will see that employees also have the same drive in their personal life. Why not channel that and invite employees to represent your company during a race or other type of contest. Or even plan competitions inside of your company.

Finding ideas shouldn’t be too hard either. You could plan it around sports – cycling, running, swimming, etc. Or these could also be around some other hobbies. Cooking, baking, photography, or showing a good-doing.

You’d be surprised how involved people can get, especially it’s about something they really enjoy doing.

9. Surveys

Gathering feedback is fundamental in all areas of the business to be able to thrive. Feedback is an essential part of day-to-day team interactions and development plans. The addition of an email / online survey is that they are quick, structured and you can learn about your employees’ opinions.

Ask about anything: Company benefits, training opportunities, satisfaction with the workplace, or a recent company retreat. Or the more general “idea box”.

The thing you can do with online surveys, that you can’t in face to face, is to give an option for these to be anonymous. Just make sure people feel safe to share and aren’t judged by the outcomes.

Pro tip: Make sure you inform employees how the data you gather will be used and follow up after you’ve run the survey and decided on the next steps. If you skip this part, they may not want to participate in your future surveys. Here’s how GetResponse follows up with their team after running a well-being survey:

10. New job postings

Here’s another way to make your employee newsletters valuable and engaging – use them to share new job postings!

We tend to surround ourselves with people who are similar to us. So, if you’re happy about your employees’ attitude to work and their performance, the odds are their friends will have similar traits.

This is especially useful for recruitment processes in very competitive industries (e.g. IT Development) or where access to experts is limited.

And as you can see from the following example, this kind of employee newsletter doesn’t need to be overly complicated either:

Pro tip: Another way to encourage employees to refer new hires is to share the stories of past referrals in your employee newsletters. Here’s what this could look like:

11. Training opportunities

Another way to help your employees thrive is to keep them informed about new training opportunities.

This is a no-brainer if you’re already running workshops and trainings, that people can attend. But if you don’t have the budget to hire external trainers, you can try and start the initiative internally.

Example of a quiz / survey around employee training. Think about giving it as assessment (what is my level, do I need it?) and evaluation (What have I learned). 

Reach out to your employees and invite them to talk about their areas of expertise, hobbies, books they’ve read, or events they attended to.

You’ll be surprised how many people enjoy sharing their knowledge with others. And who knows, maybe this will motivate some employees to develop new skills and apply for one of your more specialized roles?

12. Free resources and tips

In your company newsletter, you can also highlight and share all the free resources that are available to your employees.

Whether these are books in the company library, online course subscriptions, or video recordings of some of the past trainings, all of these can be beneficial for your team.

This idea can be particularly useful if you’re regularly hiring new people and don’t always have time to create new content. If that’s your case, your best line of action would be to add the information about the resources available to your standard onboarding process.

Here’s how GetResponse announced that all their team members can improve their language skills with a new free tool.

And here’s how they share tips about staying healthy and productive at the same time:

13. Doing good and giving back

Many companies give back to the community. It is a part of their corporate responsibility. Doing good can take many forms:

• Volunteering
• Fundraising or donations to charity
• Sponsor sport, clubs, and local associations
• Give back a day to do some good.

Whatever the cause is, let your employees know about it and encourage them to join in.

I bet some of your team members would be happy to join and help out with the initiative. Sometimes it’s the absence of a “group” that’s stopping others from doing something good for the community.

This play can be super useful and can definitely increase employee engagement. Especially if your team members will be able to do something good during their normal working hours.

Need inspiration? The following example should get your creative juices flowing:

14. Important industry updates and company news 

Naturally, not all communication has to be about perks, benefits, or team parties.

You’re running a business, after all.

That’s why internal email communication can also be around the things that affect your business and the industry you are in.

If there are any legislative changes, there’s an interesting trend that can help your business grow, or there’s other important company news you want to communicate, keep your employees up to date by sending an email ahead of time.

15. Product and service development updates

Everyone in your team’s affected by your developments and it only makes sense to keep your employees informed about all the new cool stuff your teams have been working on.

Your Marketing Team needs to know what’s on the roadmap and what’s been launched in order to best market your product.

Your Customer Service Team can help your customers better if they know about the latest releases and services.

Your Sales Team will be able to sell better if they have the answers or use-cases for your new features.

And that list goes on. It makes sense to let people know what the developments with products and services are. It also signals respect that people don’t need to find out about changes from external news.

16. A (personal) message from the board or the CEO

An employee newsletter is a chance to share the company’s results, future plans, forecasts, and so on. Because If you want your employees to follow the vision, they need to know where the company’s heading.

If your organization is large you won’t be able to have a 1 on 1 with everybody or even chat with them in the hallway, you’ll need to get it across in another way. In your employee newsletter for example.

But sometimes the news your CEO will have to share, won’t be positive at all, and is time-sensitive. If there’s something that is affecting the company and its customers in a negative way, they better learn about it so they can get prepared and know what the correct narrative is (internal PR).

17. Sharing company’s history

New team members don’t only need to be trained in how to do their job effectively, where to look for information, or whom to reach out for help.

They also need to be informed about what your company stands for – where it originated, what values it supports, and what is its mission.

While a lot of that information is available on your careers page, it won’t hurt if it becomes part of your onboarding employee communications.

Even if that means you’ll need to share some funny photos of what the company’s first office looked like, it’ll help you boost employee engagement among new hires and make them feel truly part of the team.

18. Changes in company leadership / people moving on

Not all companies are comfortable talking about people are leaving. But in certain cases it makes total sense to do so, for example, when it is a retiree and send them off with a nice goodbye.

Or when it’s someone with a key function, beloved company evangelist/face of the company / that awesome intern. When people are changing positions or leaving the company, this is a good way to let the rest of the company know.

19. Legislative or fiscal changes affecting employees

In certain countries, legislation and fiscal policies change regularly. But at least yearly new tax laws might come into effect. Although this isn’t necessarily an exciting topic, it’s important to keep your employees updated on things that might affect them.

An extreme example is, for instance, the case of Brexit.

If your company’s based in the UK, and employees are British, they might be affected by the potential withdrawal of the UK from the EU. People can have real worries about what is happening.

Similarly, should a country that your team members often travel to have changed their policies with regard to travel permits, they want to know.

While it may not sound like important news to you, such information can save employees from unnecessary hassle if they were planning to go on a business trip to a chosen country. And in the pandemic era, I think most of us can somehow relate to this.

20. Customer reviews and feedback from the frontline

Some team members are on the frontline. They get to talk a lot to customers, hear their feedback, and know how people think about the company.

Others don’t have that same level of direct customer and market feedback. They don’t get to see how their work impacts customers every day. The good news is that you can change that. Share some of the customer stories, reviews, or feedback, gathered directly or from social media, etc.

It is a great motivation to see that customers appreciate the work that is done.

21. Just for fun

Fun may not sound like it has a place in a company newsletter, but maybe it makes more sense than anything else.

Adding jokes, puns, and trivia can brighten your employees’ day. If it’s done on a regular basis, say biweekly, team members might open your newsletter just to see that one segment.

And if you’re unsure whether this fits your company culture, test it for a month or two. Engage employees with a lighter tone and see what people think and say about it.

22. Employee achievements outside work

Amid the metrics, milestones, and memos that often dominate our company newsletters, there’s an untapped reservoir of stories waiting to be shared. These aren’t about quarterly targets or product launches but about the heartbeats behind them – our colleagues.

Why spotlight personal achievements in company newsletters?

1. Humanizing our brand: By showcasing personal triumphs, we remind everyone that our company is more than just business; it’s a collective of passionate individuals.
2. Strengthening bonds: Sharing personal stories can bridge gaps, turning mere colleagues into a close-knit community.
3. Boosting engagement: Personal tales can resonate deeply, making newsletters more relatable and eagerly anticipated.

Incorporating these narratives doesn’t just enrich our newsletters; it fosters a culture of recognition and camaraderie, celebrating the vibrant tapestry of talents and passions that make our company unique.

23. Departmental updates

In the vast expanse of our organization, each department is like a cog in a well-oiled machine, working diligently behind the scenes. While we might be familiar with our immediate teams, there’s often limited visibility into the achievements, challenges, and innovations of other departments.

Why include departmental updates in your company newsletters?

1. Fostering unity: By shedding light on the accomplishments and endeavors of various departments, we cultivate a sense of collective pride and unity.
2. Enhancing collaboration: Understanding the goals and challenges of other departments can spark collaborative ideas and synergies.
3. Educating and informing: Keeping everyone abreast of departmental milestones ensures a well-informed workforce, aware of the broader company landscape.

Incorporating these updates not only breaks down silos but also celebrates the multifaceted achievements that drive our company forward. By giving each department its moment in the spotlight, we champion the idea that every team, no matter how big or small, plays a pivotal role in our collective success.

24. Health and wellness tips

When working on tight deadlines, often stuck to a computer for more than 8 hours at a time, it’s easy to sideline our own well-being. Yet, a healthy mind and body are the very foundations upon which our professional successes are built. Introducing health and wellness tips into our newsletters can be a gentle reminder of this often overlooked fact.

Incorporating health and wellness tips into your internal communication can help in a number of ways:

1. Promoting well-being: Regular tips can motivate employees to adopt healthier habits, leading to improved physical and mental health.
2. Boosting productivity: A healthier workforce is often more energetic, focused, and productive, benefiting the company as a whole.
3. Demonstrating care: By sharing wellness advice, the company showcases its genuine concern for the well-being of its employees, fostering a culture of care and empathy.

By weaving in health and wellness insights, our newsletters don’t just share company news but also offer valuable guidance, underscoring the idea that our organization values its members’ well-being as much as their professional contributions.

25. Sustainability and CSR initiatives

In an era where employees (current and potential) and investors not only evaluate businesses by their financial performance but also by their impact on the world, sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives have become more than just buzzwords. They reflect a company’s commitment to a better future. Highlighting these efforts in our newsletters can resonate deeply with both employees and stakeholders for a number of reasons:

1. Reinforcing values: Sharing these initiatives underscores the company’s dedication to ethical practices and global betterment, reinforcing its core values.
2. Engaging employees: Many employees are passionate about making a positive impact. Highlighting CSR activities can boost morale and foster a sense of pride.
3. Building trust: Transparency about sustainability efforts and CSR can enhance trust among clients, partners, and the broader community.

By featuring our sustainability and CSR endeavors, our newsletters not only inform but also inspire, emphasizing that our organization is committed to making a difference, both in business and in the broader world.

Elements of effective employee newsletters

To write effective company newsletters, the following elements should be taken into account:

1. Target audience. Internal newsletters have a fixed target audience – employees. This sounds like one group, but often it isn’t. What do they want to hear about and are interested in? If you have a big company or very diverse interests represented, think about adding segmentation to the content. For instance, segment on the departmental level.
2. Content relevance. All email newsletters should be written to serve a purpose, including employee newsletters. So mix and match the content with the above-mentioned objectives. At the same time, readers shouldn’t feel that they wasted their time reading (and acting on) your email. Or the email marketing engagement will plummet a few newsletters in.
3. Format and presentation. Adopt a consistent format to make newsletters familiar and easy to read/digest for everyone. It’s handy to keep a similar layout, style, and overall presentation for internal newsletters. Use a fixed but flexible email template. Why not do some grid-style planning on it? Getting it right once will save a lot of time and effort.
4. Tone of voice and style. Your tone of Voice and style to use depend mostly on what the company or organization stands for and sounds like. It’s important to pick a style that suits the company. Hitting the right tone will also make your newsletters engaging and appealing.A company like Red Bull might want to pick a different tone than a Starbucks, and these differ quite dramatically from a law firm, non-profit, or governmental, for instance. It can be light-hearted or more stern and formal. We often speak about company culture, a company newsletter is a tangible “representative” of said culture.

Pointers for writing better company newsletters

The objectives and elements already give you an idea of what makes the most effective internal email newsletters. Keep them in mind while writing. Your goals will guide the writing of your internal email newsletters.

Naturally, don’t forget to follow the general rules of effective email marketing campaigns and email marketing best practices.

• Ensure that information is complete. Readers shouldn’t feel like they are only being teased. Where a B2C sales emails might want to tease out engagement, you want to give enough info. Internal newsletters aren’t school books either: try to be complete – but not overcomplete. The amount of information needed is probably smaller than you expect! Linking to – for instance – an intranet for more info is great. Or a reference “ask X at department Y for more information” can be a good way to encourage interdepartmental contact and dialog.

• Keep company newsletters simple. There is no international award for brevity. But there should be! Make your newsletters short. Short. Have short sentences and short paragraphs. The point in making things concise and simple is avoiding that people skip the info altogether. Bear in mind that everyone in the company is (or should be?) busy and won’t always have the luxury of time to read wordy and long-winded newsletters. Most importantly newsletters should demonstrate a sense of fluidity so reading them appears natural. Especially think about rewriting that CEO musing. (they do love their long intros and columns!). Rewrite it a few times to make it better.

• Make newsletters engaging and empowering. Employees should read the internal newsletters because they find them interesting or engaging. Not because the boss demands them to do so. There is nothing wrong in making the emails engaging enough to create a habit of reading them, but how?
  To make newsletters more engaging, use a conversational or casual tone. Unless it’s a company policy, it isn’t required to write in a formal tone. They are often not as strict as official company or organization correspondence so you have some leeway for making them interesting and engaging.

• Be creative or use humor. To make newsletters engaging, be creative or use a bit of humor. For example, when putting on a reporter-hat about a recently held company event, don’t just yodel out the facts in straight journalistic powerpoint-to-bullet-point form. Try adding in some humor-laced comments along with candid photos. (You know what I mean, when I say just don’t overdo it.)When a department or project team “achieves a commendable feat”, as they say. Let everyone know and they can serve as an inspiration.

• Use visuals images and photos if you can. Imagine a device that looks like an endless teleprompter of lengthy, non-stop blocks of grey text. Feeding line after line of boring text. The human is a visual animal. The reading experience with images is so much better. In fact, according to a recent study by GetResponse, emails with images have 146% higher click-through rates. Visuals are certainly recommended when writing about boring facts and corporate updates. Depending on your tone-of-voice, your own pictures (non-stock) featuring the in-house employees always do better.

• Keep it appropriate. Creativity and some humor make newsletters better but always keep it appropriate. When reporting about layoffs or poor company performance, for example, humor is out of the question. It might go without saying, but it’s not right to make fun at times of unfortunate events and to make fun of a specific employee or department for the sake of making the newsletter engaging.

• Keep improving. – A/B testing is a form of experiment to determine tweaks that can enhance the results of a project or campaign. There are a number of other email newsletter tests you can consider. In doing internal email newsletters, think mostly about the subject lines and the type of topics. Of course, the changes or tweaks that received the most favorable KPI’s / statistics will likely be used for succeeding newsletters. But next to the numbers, quality feedback is also important. You can just walk up to your colleagues and ask, or do it in form of an employee questionnaire.

Your internal employee newsletter

Hopefully, these 25 engaging employee newsletter ideas inspired you to want to make the most out of your internal communication.

Along with the pointers, objectives, and examples I’ve shared here, you’re ready to start engaging your employees like never before.

So, go ahead and start crafting those emails and let me know in the comments how you’ve planned out your employee newsletters – and most importantly – how your team responded to them!

And if you’ve got other inspiring employee newsletter ideas you’d like to share, don’t keep them to yourself! We’re here to learn from each other.

Looking for company newsletter templates?

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