With hybrid and fully remote work models becoming the new norm, company culture has taken a huge hit. A healthy and positive culture is crucial for any successful business though. The problem is, companies are having a hard time adapting to the changes.

Maintaining a company culture should be one of your key goals as an employer. You worked hard to establish a workplace culture that best supports your employees’ efforts. You want to provide them an environment where they may stay productive and find fulfillment in their jobs.

Why you need to maintain company culture

Culture is more than sponsoring excursions or holding team-building activities although these will help, even virtually. It may be defined as a multi-faceted system of norms, beliefs, values, and objects, or as the way things are being done. It shapes the day-to-day experiences of your employees.

A strong work culture fosters communication and helps workers stay connected in order to build trust. At the same time, it makes your team feel seen, even when they aren’t working onsite. When remote company culture is prioritized, your people experience a sense of belonging.

What to do to build remote culture

When you want to establish yourself as an ideal employer, you must prioritize creating a strong culture that is built with your hybrid or remote employees in mind.

Work on your on-boarding

As a hiring manager, ensure that your new hires have the right resources to become successful in their roles.

• Begin with small things: Set a clear plan so the worker knows what their job looks like 1 to 3 months from their start date. Give them small projects or tasks for now and introduce them to the people they will be working with directly.
• Have a 2-week plan: Full-time employees take longer to brief compared to part-time employees. Reduce their anxiety and stress by setting all meetings in advance. See that they are oriented in the right processes and projects.
• Teach them in groups: Minimize redundancies and effort during the on-boarding while establishing a sense of community among your newbies. Appoint seasoned employees as mentors, hosts, or buddies to welcome the newcomers. They may also provide you with technical support during the briefing.

Clarify your work policy

Remote or flexible work models may mean different things to different people. It might be that people are expected to be online a specific number of hours per day. Be sure to include these expectations in the job description so it’s clear what candidates are signing up for.

Keep your people engaged

Foster a positive culture by finding creative ways to keep your team engaged. For instance, host breakfast sessions with people from the same field, e.g. product development, so they may discuss common challenges and the best way to resolve them.

Communicate your goals clearly

Make it easier to make a high-performing culture by making everyone understand the mission and goals of your company. Decide on a concise way to describe and communicate these to your team. Doing so reminds them what they should be accomplishing together.

Arrange for meaningful work

Some people feel they need to respond to messages immediately to show they’re actively engaged. However, there has to be time for meaningful work that they may focus on without interruption. This may be through time blocks on their calendar or full workdays with zero meetings.

Define collaboration processes

Talk to your team to determine their expectations and needs as well as check if they’re reasonable. Acknowledge that people have their own ways of learning and working too. Give them a venue for talking about non-work related topics so they may get to know each other better.

Get their feedback

If you’re still new to handling a remote team, it’s understandable that you won’t get everything right. Ask your remote employees to pay attention to your current process and ask them what you may do better. Continuously improve your process for future hires even if your workers are fully trained.

Build a mentorship program

To build a sense of belonging and trust in your remote team, you need to help your people learn and grow through their peers. Set metrics for measuring progress, host workshops for giving feedback, and discuss individual goals in performance reviews.

Establish trust, safety, and respect

You want an environment where people feel confident that their peers won’t punish, reject, or embarrass them for speaking up. This makes them more willing to push back when there’s something they don’t agree with or to share fresh and creative ideas for the business.

• Structural: Teach your team to give constructive criticism that doesn’t make things personal but is about making it easier for everyone to work better together. Ensure that sessions are done via video call to avoid misunderstandings.
• Behavioral: It’s important for people in leadership positions to be fallible, curious, and humble. They must show that’s fine to make mistakes as long as people learn from them and work to improve.

Where to find reliable remote employees

To maintain remote company culture, you need to build an environment where your team members feel protected and connected. You want to see your team staying productive and working together. This is easier to achieve with workers who are experienced in working remotely.

We at Remote Workmate specialize in connecting employers with skilled professionals who are familiar with working virtually. While we have an existing talent pool, we perform additional recruitment if our current candidates don’t meet your standards or requirements.