Employers and employees sing the same tune: work culture is one of the most important factors in job happiness.
Employers and employees sing the same tune: work culture is one of the most important factors in job happiness. So, with the workplace now online, how can businesses go about creating remote culture?
Culture means something different to everyone, and this difference inadvertently affects what is considered culture in a workplace. Generally speaking, though, it’s the nuts and bolts that get the team (engine) to churn.
This could be personality or attitude based, erring more to the side of team lunches or monthly outings. But, could also be performance-based, leaning more towards how people work together: how you communicate, team hierarchy, performance measurement and reward.
So, now pub lunches have been put on pause indefinitely, how can you build that same teammate rapport? Here are our three top tips:
Since you won’t be seeing your colleagues in-person day-to-day, it’s important to communicate. Actually, over-communicate. This will give every single employee an opportunity for their voice to be heard. People will feel valued and you’ll have greater dialogue, meaning more opportunities to get on the same page about work goals, work attitudes, and maybe even life outside of work. This is a big driver for employee engagement.
Did we mention there’s no more Friday pub lunch? In the absence of schnitzel and beers, create new traditions that will foster closeness. Start with the BAU things – perhaps a morning WIP or afternoon catch-up with your manager about any blockers you faced during the day.
There’s a lot of research on the positive impact of team-building exercises on staff morale and team culture as a whole. Why not take these activities online? Use Slack to replicate office chitchat, share photos from your day or your favourite furry friends or use a service that offers more traditional team activities in an online format. You could even live stream your remote office, just to replicate the ambient noise you’re so used to.
According to Gigaom, 87% of remote workers feel more connected to their colleagues through video conferencing. Even more of a reason to still get up and dressed for the day, despite working from home.
You may have to adjust how often you video conference some teammates, depending on their preferences and personality type. We tackle his here, ‘DiSC styles and working from home: How to manage your team‘.
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