11 Apr Keeping Your Company Culture Strong in the Age of Remote Working

The workforce has shifted

Over the last few years, the workplace has undergone some major changes. Companies have been dropping the antiquated nine-to-five, thanks to the rise of new technologies that allow employees to “log on” and work from pretty much anywhere. This has led to the development of smarter ways of working, with homes, cafes, and shared working spaces turning into offices worldwide.

However, even though the manner in which employees are working has been continuously evolving, company culture can’t seem to keep up, remaining at the bottom of the priority list for many organizations.

To retain and engage employees, it’s pivotal for employers to invest in company culture especially now in an age of remote working. From providing technology-enabled experiences to improve communication to organizing team social once a week, investing in your company culture is essential to keep a motivated and productive workforce.

How can you further your company culture? Here are some simple tips to foster trust, closeness, and improve efficiency:

Foster trust

The first and most important component of company culture is trusting your employees to do their work even though they’re not physically at the office. When people do not feel trusted by leadership or their peers, company culture weakens and productivity drops. It’s not just about putting together the right team for your firm, it’s about acting on what you preach in the brochures.

Company culture generally trickles from the top down, so it’s up to managers to trust their reports and manage their staff in a mindful way. This is to ensure that corporate culture isn’t lost with the rise of more flexible and agile working. Too often when bosses feel like they have less control over their teams, they heighten communication through emails and instant messaging and communication can often become distorted and misinterpreted. This sort of miscommunication can damage corporate culture as understanding is lost and employees feel scrutinized.

Organize team socials

In the age of remote working, bringing the team together for a fun social event (even if it’s virtual!) won’t go unnoticed. Once a week, or even once a month, organize a team event — such as a lunch, happy hour, or social to get the whole team online and celebrate their individual and collective successes.

Many people live alone or have very few chances for social interaction these days, so it’s an opportunity to build relationships, connect, and ultimately help maintain corporate culture. When employees feel connected, they’re more motivated and content.

Other benefits you could include to spice things up are to drop some team treats here and there! Small unexpected perks like shopping vouchers or mini bonuses for hitting business targets can go a long way. These sorts of perks will allow your team to feel valued and their hard work appreciated.

Communication, communication, communication

I couldn’t stress the importance of communication enough. With the development of new technologies and more agile teams, there has been a natural decline in human interaction. Together with increasing workloads, it’s no surprise that workplace loneliness has become more apparent in the last few years.

Remote working encourages a feeling of isolation and loss of confidence on the job. For this, it’s important to foster a culture of positive communication, among leadership and colleagues, to ease the stress of remote working conditions. A couple tips to maintain a steady communication is to frequently check up on teammates and reports through instant messaging and favor using video over audio calls to increase levels of interaction.

Maintaining corporate culture isn’t just about providing perks to employees (even though those are always appreciated!), it’s also about creating a safe, positive environment where people feel energized and valued.

Conclusion

At the end of the day, company culture is about valuing your employees. Maintaining this culture of appreciation is important now more than ever with the advent of remote working. The rise of tech-enabled experiences has given way to incredible advances in the way we work, but has also led to a greater feeling of isolation. This makes company culture more meaningful than ever, connecting employees and adding value and purpose to their work.

Investing in company culture doesn’t have to be expensive, it consists of small but thoughtful changes that will enable a happy and productive working environment for everyone, no matter where they’re connected from.