Whether you have a team of remote workers or a mix of remote and in-office employees, it's important to have a company culture that everyone can buy into. Connected employees will collaborate and innovate better. So when people are working remotely some or all of the time, how does a business help foster a positive work culture and build connections between colleagues?
Here are five ways to build one company culture with a hybrid or remote team:
1. Define your company values
Your company values should be the foundation of your culture. They should guide everything from the way you treat customers to the way you communicate with each other.
In a remote working environment, where team members may be scattered around various locations, company values can play an even more important role in maintaining a cohesive and productive team. By clearly articulating its values, a company can ensure that everyone is on the same page and working towards the same goals. What’s more, values can help to create a positive work culture, even in a remote setting.
When team members feel aligned with their company’s values, they are more likely to be engaged and motivated in their work. As such, investing in company values is essential for any business that wants to thrive in the remote working world.
2. Encourage social interaction.
Just because your team is spread out doesn't mean they can't interact with each other on a personal level. Time spent in the office should be planned in advance so hybrid workers get face to face time with colleagues. There is nothing to gain from coming into the office to tick a box or show face, there is plenty to be gained from interacting and collaborating with your colleagues. If remote workers don’t have the option to travel into your office then ensure your team can connect with each other and give them the ability to meet up locally at a co-working space or similar.
When in-person meetings take place ensure those not in the office are instantly updated with meeting headlines and given an opportunity to respond and put forward their ideas and opinions. No-one wants to be kept in the dark and nothing will dis-engage good people quicker than being kept out of the loop.
And with savings made from less office space, company wide meet ups with some non work related activities will help bring people together and build long lasting relationships.
3. Promote trust through transparency.
Transparency is key to building trust within a team. Whether it's sharing financial information or being open about decisions, being transparent will help everyone feel like they're part of the same team and working towards the same goal.
When it comes to availability, a red or green dot isn't going help build trust. But if your team can see in real time which colleagues are in meetings AND when they'll be back, they won’t get frustrated when they try to reach out to someone and they don’t reply right away.
As well as availability, being able to see in real time what colleagues are achieving throughout the day encourages peer to peer recognition and increases the understanding and respect for a colleagues work.
4. Celebrate Achievements
When working remotely there are less opportunities for a high five or passing well done. This means goal setting and celebrating achievements needs to be planned to ensure recognition is timely, fair and consistent. Set clear performance metrics and enable remote and hybrid workers to see in real time their progress and achievements.
Celebrating wins should be automated to the extent that managers don’t need to go pulling reports and analysing data to see if someone is improving or needs support. Technology now can do this for managers to simply give them the job of handing out a “well done” or checking in on who might need support.
5. Invest in tools that support collaboration.
48% of UK hybrid workers feel disconnected from their organisation and colleagues due to remote working, according to a Future of Work study by Capgemini. For newer employees in particular they can’t signal when they need some help and have their manager rolling their chair over to give them some quick help. And if their manager isn’t available when they're stuck it can be pretty daunting to search for other managers' names in a directory and start calling or messaging them.
Tools like Remote SOS from BuzzHubs gives remote workers instant live chat help with a supervisor who is available with the knowledge to help get them unstuck. The BuzzHubs layout also makes contacting other colleagues and managers softer and easier, bringing down the barriers between remote workers and senior managers.
