Lots of companies are going to remote or hybrid work strategies, making it a challenge to stay engaged with some or all of their employees. Working in the same location, it is much easier for a company to build some type of office culture. In this month’s newsletter, we’ll give you a few tips on how to build a company culture when you lean on remote teams.
Build Transparent Communications
It doesn’t matter where people work from, they like to be involved with work-related conversation. With remote teams, it is important to engage. You can accomplish this with consistent communication, whether that be a weekly email, a staff-wide instant message or a video conference—preferably, a combination of these and more. The more that people know about the business, the more engaged they will be.
Encourage Employees to Build a Rapport
The use of employee resource groups is a good tool to keep your employees engaged with each other. The employee resource group is typically managed by a staff member who volunteers to create and run events for team members with like-minded interests. Employee resource groups are great ways for your team to connect and get to know each other, especially with others from different departments, as it can often be the case that remote or hybrid employees rarely communicate with other parts of the organization unless on official business.
Host Informal Virtual Meet-Ups
Meet-ups and fun events don’t have to be exclusively for your office’s in-house employees. In fact, you could be isolating your remote and hybrid employees by not providing them opportunities to engage with the rest of your business. Planning for regular informal meet-ups where people can mingle, come and go as they please, and just enjoy the company of others within your organization is crucial to fostering a sense of belonging and inclusiveness for your remote and hybrid employees. There are all kinds of possibilities for these types of meetings or events, including virtual game nights, social hours, the sky is effectively the limit.
Implement the Technology to Make It Happen
Of course, your remote and hybrid team will need to have the appropriate technology solutions in place for them to contribute to these types of events and activities. While we assume that they have these tools already at their disposal if they are working remotely or in a hybrid setting, you should take the time to ensure that they have quality tools at their disposal, including good-quality microphones and webcams so their involvement during these types of meetings and events can be crystal-clear and pleasant for everyone involved. If implemented properly, the right technology can make your employees feel like they’re in the office with everyone else.
What are some ways your company has overcome the barriers to interpersonal communication presented by remote and hybrid workspaces? Be sure to reach out to us for more assistance in implementing some of the tools to make it easier by calling (215) 853-2266!
