It is vital for companies to focus on maintaining their company culture as they continue to work remotely. We at RSD are (almost!) fully virtual, but maintaining a culture is important to us as a business. It is crucial for any business to establish and maintain company culture, as a matter of fact. Remote working, however, presents some unique challenges. Strong company culture can be developed and preserved by remote team leaders in several simple ways. Find out how to maintain a great company culture while working remotely today.

What Does Company Culture Mean?

Team-building activities, company celebrations, and company events are not the only factors to consider when defining company culture. Remote work cultures can be maintained by establishing a virtual workplace in which employees feel connected and protected. The entire team needs to work hard together and be productive, and the opinions of the employees should be heard. It is imperative that they keep in touch with their manager and colleagues regularly if they are to achieve this. Your employees will feel part of something bigger than themselves if they are connected to the company’s vision and goals. Employee engagement depends on it.

The Best Ways To Maintain Company Culture When Working Remotely

1. Identify and reinforce the culture you wish to develop.

Whether you pay attention to the workplace culture or not, it will develop. In fact, you probably already have one. Engage your team in discussions about your culture.

In order to enhance your existing culture while enabling employees to work from home, find ways to reinforce it. The first step to boosting remote employee success is defining the company culture. You should ask each team to establish team norms that will enable them to work collaboratively outside of the office and share these norms with other teams.

Keep a daily reminder of what kind of culture you want to cultivate and make sure it’s reinforced. When you worked at the office, were you able to get together with your coworkers once a week for lunch? Virtual lunches are a great way to keep in touch. Was your team meeting regularly to stay on top of things? Keep it up with virtual meetings! Continue to share progress, set goals, and celebrate during remote work periods.

2. Describe your company’s values.

Your company’s culture is heavily influenced by your values. These values are at the core of your organization and should be on the minds of every employee. 

Company values convey to remote employees how your organization operates and how to create a positive work environment. Integrate the company’s values into the hiring process and then into the employee’s daily activities.

3. Give your employees the trust they deserve.

Employees who are trusted and respected are more likely to deliver. If you over-monitor remote workers, it can hinder their motivation and productivity. Instead, find alternatives for your teams to share schedules. Use tools like Slack to communicate effectively without attending multiple Zoom meetings. This knowledge reinforces trust between employees and managers when they are aware of the day-to-day work activities of their teams through workflow and communication tools.

4. Ensure your behavior reinforces the culture you desire.

It takes leadership skills to coordinate projects and bring the team together. Virtual offices make it difficult to observe nonverbal cues that onsite employees provide, like slouching in a chair or looking tired. Show good communication and leadership skills to all of your employees. This helps to reinforce the culture you want. 

5. Foster a culture of transparency in every interaction with employees.

It is crucial to keep your culture vibrant while your employees are working remotely by maintaining a transparent line of communication. Trust is one of the most important qualities that you can give your employees. Transparency is key. It’s important for employees to hear what the CEO, leadership, and others are doing to keep the company and their position protected from current events.

6. Promote flexible working hours and work-life balance for employees.

Consider the work-life balance of your employees as part of an organizational culture of care in a remote workforce setting. Provide child care support for working parents, offer flexible leave policies, and offer virtual social activities to improve work-life balance. Recognizing employees regularly shows them how much you appreciate their hard work.

It’s up to you to acknowledge the challenges they face in their remote setting by scheduling meetings and interaction time around the core hours and respecting their time in the mornings and evenings. If your employees are parents, they may have to get their kids to school before they can begin their day. 

7. Be aware of mental health issues that your employees may encounter.

Your remote workers need more than work-life balance support. You must promote their mental health as well. Mental health issues can affect remote workers, including loneliness, grief, a lack of coworker interaction, and concerns about their economic security.

Employers can combat these mental health issues by enhancing their culture of care, empathy, understanding, and gratitude. Employers should check in frequently with their employees on how they’re doing and allow them to take mental health days for rest and relaxation if they feel they need it.

8. Communicate better.

In remote cultures, communication is a major obstacle. When everyone works from different locations, things are easily overlooked. Even simple fixes take longer to implement. 

Establish chat norms, response timelines, and email etiquette when communicating. Communicating in a consistent and organized way will limit interruptions, prevent people from being flooded with messages, and improve communication. 

9. Build camaraderie and avoid isolation .

The environment in which employees work is a part of traditional company culture. Most often, this refers to the office space. It may include open floor plans, lunchrooms, or gyms.

Many remote employees work from home, from their kitchen tables, or even from their beds. It’s hard to develop cohesion because employees have nowhere to meet and talk. 

You can’t replace face-to-face meetings with your colleagues, even if they’re on a screen. It’s easier to spot issues and connect with employees when you can understand their body language and voice inflection.

You can build employee friendships by implementing some of the following ideas: 

• Start Slack and Microsoft Teams channels to help employees bond based on common interests, such as movies and pets. 
• You can hold virtual cooking classes, game nights, or video-chat happy hours. 
• Take advantage of lunchtime to try yoga, meditation, or pilates together. 
• Establishing trust, building connections, and celebrating individual accomplishments can be accomplished best by having managers meet with employees individually via video.
• When you are face-to-face with your colleagues, promote teamwork and reinforce values. 

10. Develop initiatives that are company-wide.

To promote your culture, organize company-wide initiatives or even departmental retreats and training seminars. 

Throughout the year, hold these events to keep the spirit of your values alive and bring people together from different departments. 

• Update everyone on important events and deadlines at all-hands meetings. Set up a Slack channel for employees to use during the meeting so they can ask questions. 
• Hold company retreats every year. Get everyone together in person. Don’t worry about work, focus on team bonding and company values. 
• You can start weekly company-wide contests, host trivia nights, or even play bingo! 
• Every week, if possible, go out for breakfast or lunch together. Face-to-face interactions are crucial to promoting your company culture.

A Final Thought

As we head into 2022, we predict to see more remote workspaces and more concentrated digital marketing efforts. Are your marketing efforts not up to par? Call us today at (636) 736-6371 so we can help you.