Remote work is the new reality of the modern workspace, but I think that people forget virtual workspaces existed before their necessity due to the pandemic, so I asked seven remote work veteran managers for their tips on creating a successful remote company culture. Whether you are new to working remote, or are just looking for ways to strengthen the camaraderie with your remote team, read on for advice on how you can instill a strong company culture at work... from home.
Effective Communication Is Key
Creating and sustaining a good company culture with remote workers involves effective communication. This includes weekly newsletters that update employees on challenges and successes, and may even feature pictures of employees. It also includes creating sub-groups of employees who communicate with each other daily whether it's for projects or other aspects related to the company. Being able to chat with other employees is an important part of building a company culture.
Remote companies that promote their mission or causes through regular emails from the CEO or other leadership also seem to be good at maintaining their culture. Leadership officials are some of the best ones to speak to what's important to them, so they should send out messages often about company culture and direction.
Baruch Labunski, Rank Secure
Healthy workplace culture can be created by enforcing regular virtual activities that are casual and fun. This creates a bond among employees that goes beyond work and is crucial for healthy and friendly work culture.
Igal Rubinshtein, Home Essentials Direct
Set Clear Expectations for Individual Behaviors & Accountability
How do you define a team’s culture when they work remotely? Culture is really not defined as a list of values, missions and behaviors. Instead, your culture is defined by how your team feels when they shut down their laptops each day: Do they feel accomplished or filled with self-doubt? Do they know what’s expected of them or are they overworking trying to ‘do it all’? Do they have the energy to enjoy their evening or are they constantly checking their phones until bedtime?
If your team feels good about themselves, their work and their life, it will skyrocket their engagement and productivity at work. The responsibility for this lies within the hands of every employee—from individual contributors to leaders and founders, everyone has their part to play. Once everyone is clear on how they can contribute to the behaviors they implement in their day-to-day working life, then they can create a true culture of authenticity, accountability, and health.
Shauna Moran, Operate Remote
Create a Loyalty Team to Promote Fun Community Events
Our remote company culture really improved after we implemented a Loyalty Team. Employees volunteer to be on the Loyalty Team, which meets twice a month. Loyalty Team membership rotates frequently, so nobody gets burned out with additional responsibilities. The rotating membership also helps keep ideas fresh and prevents our virtual events from being repetitive. Our recent remote events have included a pet appreciation day, a cooking class, a book club, and a wellness challenge.
Brian Abernethy, Service Direct
Spend 15 Minutes Meeting With Your Team Each Day
With our remote team, we have daily meetings. “But can't this meeting be an email?” No. Apart from keeping the operational grip on things, there is something else going on. This is the time you would spend with your team every day if you were in-person. In the past, this was "office time" with colleagues. Now though? Now there is no office, which means no office time, no office friendships, no relationships, no sense of belonging, and ultimately leads to lower productivity and lower retention.
So you must put the extra effort in for your mental health and your team members’. Short, daily conversations are a great way to achieve this. Not the only way, but a very good way. It’s not about spending three days together for a team-building event once a year. It’s about spending 15 quality minutes together, each day.
Iliya Valchanov, 3veta
Gamification Helps Build a Fun Work Environment
Gamification can create a better culture while working remotely by providing employees with a sense of competition and community. It can also help to improve communication and collaboration among employees. Not sure where to start? Well, ask yourself what types of gamification features would you like to see in your remote work environment?
Progression tracking, a score or points, leaderboards are the most popular ways to keep the game interesting. Tracking progress and awarding points for tasks completed is a great way to keep employees engaged and motivated. You could also create leaderboards to show who is completing the most tasks or goals. Adding fun elements like badges, rewards, and challenges can also help to make working remotely more enjoyable. We have seen NFT's (Non-Fungible Tokens) start to emerge as a fun way to reward employees for their work. This is just one example of how gamification can be used to create a better culture while working remotely.
Shawn Ryan, Techtopia
Establish Share Sessions to Highlight Personal Updates
In order to foster a strong team of remote workers, we ensure employees constantly communicate to sustain a common company culture. The company's vision, progress, challenges, and other aspects are always known to everyone. A good example of this in action is to set up a specific time during each day where team members can share their experiences, announcements, and general updates. This makes the company culture sustainable.
Multiple communication channels are utilized in a mix to enhance suitability and alternatives for all. Remote human connections should also be maintained. What I like about a mixed-up communication approach, is that it improves transparency and increases support for others despite the uncertainties.
yongming Song, Imgkits
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