Is it feasible to establish and promote corporate culture in a remote-only business?
Yes, controlling your employees’ attitudes and actions has nothing to do with where they work. You can manage corporate culture successfully with remote employees as you can with on-site employees!
Fostering a business culture in a remote workplace, on the other hand, is a different task than doing it in the office. Scheduling an unplanned video conference meeting, for example, requires more work than just strolling out to the floor and informing everyone that a meeting in the boardroom is scheduled for 5 minutes.
However, addressing the need for adjustments or changes in worker behavior in person is no less difficult than in a Zoom conversation. Because you’re not being eyeballed nearby, it could be simpler to communicate the bad news that change is required through video.
Only 16% of businesses are completely remote, which means that most organizational culture difficulties stem from hybrid or in-office work arrangements.
Furthermore, just 20% of workers are actively engaged in their job, according to Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace survey for 2021.
As a result, although remote employment may contribute to a lack of organizational cohesiveness, it is unlikely to be the only cause. There are a lot of toxic workplaces out there, so embrace remote work as a way to get everyone in your company on the same page!
The Benefits of Working From Home
The Harvard Business Review looked at research in which volunteers at a Chinese contact center were given nine months to work from home. According to the research, their remote employees were happier, more productive, and less likely to leave than their in-office counterparts.
The Agile Work research by Global Workplace Analytics found that remote work:
- Employers save money by reducing irregular absences.
- Reduces irrelevant meetings and
- increases employee satisfaction
- Increases cooperation and
- collaboration by greatly expanding abilities and talent
- While these advantages are appealing,
businesses must foster team collaboration to realize them. Continue reading if your culture might need some work.
Improving the Culture of a Remote Startup
Recognize what needs to be improved at work to maximize cohesiveness and worker happiness. Starting a company and keeping it going demands clear and explicit guidance.
1. Put your company’s values into action.
Employers aren’t always aware that their corporate culture isn’t up to par.
The warning indicators may go unnoticed until productivity plummets. Owners and top managers eager to recruit long-term employees may exaggerate their company’s culture and cohesiveness.
When this occurs, management has lost touch with employee feelings. Your company’s goal and vision may be examined, revised, and conveyed to employees at any moment.
Take responsibility for your company’s culture and explain why your principles, including diversity and inclusion, are important.
2. Cooperation
Encourage bottom-up cooperation, in which all employees have a voice in what values make the company unique and relevant to them. While having a list of values is essential, it’s particularly vital for remote workers to identify what they receive from the company beyond their income.
Due to the lack of face-to-face interaction, distributed teams depend more on textual communication.
Your company’s culture document should be clear, simple, and express changes. It should outline your goals, detail how you’ll evaluate and analyze your team, and specify how you’ll track performance. Refer to this document often and evaluate it.
3. Orienting Remote Workers
A lack of daily familiarity is a barrier for distant teams. Small chat and light banter are absent. Personalize the employee introductions as part of your onboarding process. The welcome email might incorporate light comedy and information about personal preferences, such as likes and dislikes.
Additionally, conduct social video team meetings with the company covering the cost of beverages and refreshments for each employee. If your team cannot gather in person, online activities may be used to generate a similar atmosphere. It might be enjoyable to welcome a new team member.
Knowing that communication in distant teams is constrained will highlight the need for these encounters. These quick introductions will make new team members feel more at ease, but they will also assist in developing familiarity and company-wide team bonding.
4. Encourage comments
Employees are hesitant to speak out because they believe their viewpoint will not be heard or that it may backfire. They are more inclined to offer feedback if their bosses promote it. Employers can’t only laud the outgoing extroverts or push introverts to participate.
Startup owners may encourage all workers to participate by assigning note-taking duties to the more opinionated speakers, motivating them to listen. Quieter staff will become more open and honest if meetings are conducted in a more informal, relaxed manner.
5. Establish Expectations
Email is intended for professional communication, while Zoom and Slack are often used for informal interactions. You don’t have to arrange it this way to separate communication channels, but you’ll need a place for both.
Your workers will speak about their days and engage in some light gossip in a typical office context. Your team members will be able to construct their own social culture that fosters collaboration if you provide guidelines that define what tools are appropriate for working and communicating.
6. Calculate Engagement
Startup founders cannot foster a collaborative atmosphere while maintaining control of the steering wheel. Every quarter, you must take the time to assess and measure Engagement. You’ll have an easier job addressing the team’s general emotions if you use anonymous polls.
In your survey, avoid focusing on work-related themes. Inquiring about overall pleasure and mood might promote openness and reduce feelings of isolation. Additionally, since you care about your workers, they will feel more connected to you and your company.
Summary
Startups already have a lot going for them regarding employee engagement, making building a strong company culture a less daunting task for entrepreneurs.
Startups must also overcome problems associated with distance, such as communication and consistency. Without a statement explaining their business principles and follow-through, it may be difficult for startup founders to keep their staff motivated.
Startup entrepreneurs that can live out their company ideals can attract more top talent and build trust within their organization. Employees will be more willing to speak up about their problems, become friends with their coworkers, and take criticism after trust has been created.
Distribute anonymous questionnaire questionnaires that inquire about individual satisfaction and motivation to ensure that your staff engagement plan is functioning. Your company may change its strategy or continue to develop excellence in the workplace using this information.