Sustaining the company culture is a difficulty that business leaders all around the world face. Keeping the "business culture" alive, maintaining a sense of solidarity, and ensuring that employees feel as little separation as possible outside of the office walls are all critical goals. But, in this new, scary era, is this even possible?
The current situation has brought up a slew of cultural issues that come with working remotely. Though many employees work remotely at least once every week, many more remain in a state of isolation with no prior experience. Employers are well aware that maintaining the workplace culture exceeds the physical bounds of the office is critical to long-term success in working remotely.
Why is workplace culture still influential even when working from home?
Remote workers may experience alienation and isolation if they do not have the face-to-face connection that makes working in an office so enjoyable. While performing their job duties, they skip out on two critical cultural aspects that onsite workers engage in regularly: organizational experience and social connection.
The remote work culture promotes the development of long-term connections.
Even if your organization returns to entirely onsite operations, consider strengthening your remote workplace culture a win. A strong culture of remote work is a strong culture. Improving team bonds for remote work would help onsite work by solidifying relationships, increasing trust, and improving communication.
Remote work culture helps to combat isolation.
According to a survey, the second most challenging aspect of working remotely is loneliness. A solid remote workplace culture connects employees around a common goal. This creates sentiments of togetherness and translates to observed behaviors, such as spontaneous check-ins that help combat isolation.
Remote work culture will support your company's success.
Remote work, in part or entirely, could become the new standard. Companies that establish cultures that can survive the rigors of working remotely will avoid the teething problems of altering work patterns, allowing them to retain productivity even as trends move.
Ideas to Keep Remote Work Culture
By applying these working from home strategies, you can set your business up for success and keep morale up even when you cannot be present physically.
Generate a Defined Remote Work Policy
Set your team up for success by ensuring that everyone is on the same page regarding objectives and procedures. Inform employees about the hours you want them to be available and accessible, as well as how frequently they should brief you on their performance. It's also an excellent way to create weekly checklists for each group so that everyone stays on track.
Encourage Time Off
Spending time off when you're already stuck at home feels weird to many remote employees. However, detaching and moving away from your work regularly is crucial for remaining productive and happy.
Invest in Essential Tools
Ensure that each employee has the necessary tools, like a second monitor, video conferencing software, or remote server access. If your team will need to gain access to data, consult with your IT department about how to put up a VPN. Rather than sending emails, set up Microsoft Teams, Slack, or Google Hangouts so employees can quickly contact each other with queries all through the day.
Set Up Virtual Fun Activities
Organize online happy hours, quiz nights, and other group events to keep your team bonded outside business hours. You may ensure your team's ability to connect from afar by creating activities in which members can opt to join if preferred. Consider delivering a personalized coffee mug to each employee and organizing exciting contests in which they can win prizes to boost company spirit.
Assist in Setting Up Home Office Workstations
Because many individuals do not have a designated home office, they may have to get imaginative by working from the dining room table or the couch. You might want to consider offering compensation to employees so they can invest in home office needs like a standing desk to make their day-to-day routine and workflow smoother.
Standing desks are not just fancy desks making rounds just for their modern functionality but are beneficial to overall health. Your remote employees will thank you for supporting this need as they will dramatically notice changes as they switch to using standing desks. I can attest to this; no kidding, I have been suffering from a nagging soreness on my lower back for quite a while now, especially knowing for a fact that I have always worked desk jobs. Things took a turn for the worse when I started working from home, especially now that, as a writer, I sit and work any time and as soon as it hits me. That could mean round the clock and also forcing yourself to write because of deadlines. When I started to give standing while working a try through storage boxes stacked up, I was completely sold. My lower back pain significantly lessened with the help of some stretches: no chiropractors, no meds, no massages. Off to the FlexiSpot website, I was to get my own standing desk.
Do Not Overcommunicate
As beneficial as communication can be to your corporate culture, maintaining natural boundaries and avoiding overcommunication is equally crucial. You can instantly tell if someone is deeply involved in their work. Setting your status in communication channels informs your colleagues if you are available to speak right now or not. Keep your colleagues up to date when you're scheduled to work, out for lunchtime, willing to assist, or on vacation. Some tools even allow you to add emojis to your status update. You can even create bespoke emojis that match your business's style or even follow certain inside jokes. Give it a shot!
As you can see, even if your team is geographically separated right now, and given the pressure and stress we're all experiencing, a solid business culture may still help your employees feel connected—both to each other and to the perception that their effort is valuable.
