How to create a successful remote company culture

Creating a successful remote company culture should now be a priority for most businesses since company culture is a key factor to success. Once again, the way we work has been changed due to the national lockdown that came into action at the beginning of January. This meant the return of working from home. For some, you may have not yet returned to the normality of the office environment. It may be a long time until we do return to the norm and it may even become the new normal for many, with remote working set to stay for some companies. Regardless, with short notice and almost overnight, company culture changed, and having a strong and positive company culture is more important now than ever. The question is how will businesses create and maintain successful remote company culture?

Company culture is all about the attitudes and behaviours of a company and its employees. You do not want this to diminish just because your staff are having to work remotely. Company culture involves a number of elements, such as work environment, a shared company mission, leadership style, values, ethics, expectations, and goals. It is imperative to keep a strong remote company culture because with that comes employees who understand the expected goals, outcomes, and behaviours and will act accordingly. It will also determine engagement, motivation, and how colleagues collaborate and communicate virtually and thrive. Ultimately, a successful company culture results in a successful company.

What should your company culture look like?

Your company culture should be unique and reflect the values and beliefs that make up your company’s identity. It should follow the corporate vision and priorities. There are some common traits, which most companies will have.

Common Successful Company Culture Traits

• Trust/Integrity
• Transparent communication
• Diversity
• Fairness and respect
• Agility
• Customer centricity

Components of a successful culture

Trust-based leadership

• Good employer and employee relationships are critical to company culture.
• To build these relationships employers need to trust that their employees will do their job and deliver results.
• You should provide employees with space, resources and, the opportunity to be creative and deliver results.
• This will empower employees when they are working from home and help boost motivation
• Employee engagement will thrive if you move away from micromanagement.

Leadership transparency

• Employers should put in the effort to earn the trust of their employees
• Build trust by remaining visible and transparent in decision making within the company.
• Ensure you speak to staff and give them the opportunity to ask questions. It helps to create a culture of openness and inclusion.
• Establish a ‘ask me anything’ forum when working from home. It allows employees to ask questions regarding the company and its performance.
• This will help employees to understand how their work aligns with the company’s goals and results.

Creating and Maintaining Culture

Company Values present in Daily Operations

Clearly define your company’s identity, core values, and cultural priorities. These should be communicated to staff at all opportunities even when working from home. Conversations around these can take place in recruitment interviews, new employee welcomes, team and regional meetings, and company meetings. Regular conversations reminding staff of the collective values and asking them to share experiences relating to these values will help to embed them into the company culture.

Invest in the Correct Tools to Facilitate Collaboration

Make it easy for everyone to work together when they are working physically apart. Remote working has resulted in the loss of informal work discussions where unplanned conversations would take place. This minimises the opportunity for unexpected sharing of ideas. You should encourage a virtual version of this informal conversation through the setting up and use of WhatsApp chats.

Wellbeing Initiatives

During this unsettling period, there should be a concentration on employee wellbeing within any company. This is not only important to ensure that your employee’s wellbeing is taken care of but to create a compassionate working culture. Wellbeing initiatives should be set up to help staff to unwind and switch off – helping to encourage mindfulness. This is especially important as employees may be finding this period difficult. If you implement this within your company, your employees will respect the company and the values that they stand for. Employees are more likely to be invested in the company’s culture if they believe employers are invested in their wellbeing.

Creating a successful remote company culture will only reap benefits. Employees who fit in with the company culture are likely to be happier and more productive in work. Plus it provides an opportunity to build better relationships with your staff, which is always important when working remotely.

oneHR is highly beneficial to companies that are currently working remotely. You can complete all HR admin tasks easily, no matter where you are using oneHR. Plus, the unlimited document storage solution allows you to easily share documents with your entire workforce, or specific teams.

If you have any further questions or queries about the content above or would like to request a demo for oneHR, please don’t hesitate to contact the oneHR team today.

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