3 Ways To Engage Remote Workers In Your Company Culture

The remote working model has entered employers’ lives rather suddenly, giving staff less time to comfortably think out the fine prints. 

Zoom calls, virtual team building events, BPM software and other collaboration tools are just a small amount of the efforts companies have had to scramble to make the remote workplace resemble the physical one as much as possible.

Most employees had to experience this change for the first time in 2020 and realise what it truly entailed. Before, many businesses let staff work from home for several days per month, many frowned upon it and ruled it out as unproductive.

However, here we are in 2021 when remote is the new normal and it seems like we’ve all come to terms with it, well, to a certain extent. Lack of engagement, burnout and bad work/life balance are some of the drawbacks that many struggle with.

In this article, we’ll look at several ways employers, HR managers, executives and all staff working in mode ‘remote’ can boost their engagement with their teams and company culture.

Introduce Business Process Management Early On

Your team may have been used to a certain way their day in the office went and how the work was distributed. However, when all that is transformed virtually, you need to make sure there are means available to keep the same practices going.

Especially if your company is small, your staff have probably been used to talking to each other across the office or popping on each other’s desks when they had a question or needed to discuss something.

To ease your workers through the remote work processes and keep them engaged with the team and your company culture values, you need to make sure they stay connected. Make remote communication resemble the chats in the office.

In order to stay inline with each project and everyone’s task, a collaboration tool like the small business process software may be just what you need. It combines all the projects your team is working on on its easy-to-navigate dashboard. Everyone can communicate with their colleagues involved in the same task and in the context of the task to maximize productivity and minimize blocks.

BPM tools have its own notifications system so that your employees never miss a deadline and channel their efforts towards the completion of the project together. A job well done guarantees better company culture engagement as it takes teamwork to protect your shared values and strive for the same goals.

Redefine Your Company Culture For A Remote Setting

A company culture (or corporate/ workplace/ organisational culture) is an accumulation of your mission, all shared values, emotional commitment between employees and the workplace and decision processes throughout the company’s existence. A lot of job applicants get a feel for it via the company website where it is described black and white.

However, company culture is much more than a pretentious mission statement and a few positive customer reviews and happy employees on a video. It is all about togetherness and perceiving common goals your way.

The major problem with the transition to a WFH model is isolation - which could be a killer for your company culture remaining fixed and untouched. Think about how the present situation could positively affect the core pillars of your company. Invest a lot of effort in making sure all employees feel in the loop with the processes that take place in the organisation. This will help smooth out the change and avoid anyone feeling left behind.

A few ways to tailor your corporate culture to a remote, virtual setting are: make room for stuff that can’t be communicated via the formal work channel, like chats specifically for kudos, random things, success stories and even a pet channel. Be certain to allow some fun in the work process as working remotely can be depressing and lonely without genuine humour.

When it comes to onboarding newbies, incorporate company values  from day one and make them feel welcomed by the rest of the team. Staff handbooks and weekly catch ups are a nice way to get this going but it’s even better to make the steps more interactive and challenging - quizzes, contests, company retreats, knowledge sharing sessions and other perks for successful completion are just a scratch on the surface if you really want to go creative!

Employee Satisfaction Surveys

It is usually a good HR practice to carry out employee satisfaction surveys on a regular basis, just so no issues remain unresolved in one-to-ones and staff review conversations. There is always the worry and stress that employees have for owning up to seniors about a problem that has been bothering them for a while. Quite understandably, everyone fears remaining misunderstood, rejected, laughed at or even worse, forced to resign for not having their concerns heard.

In a virtual office, it is crucial to let everybody speak their mind. If you have an in-house HR specialist, make sure this is on top of their responsibilities. A casual check-up can do wonders with one’s productivity and acceptance in the team.

Moreover, an unhappy employee is more likely to bring other colleague’s motivation, too, wich directly corresponds to poorer performance and customer satisfaction. Be sure to catch on these signals early on and resolve them.

Thus, an anonymous employee satisfaction survey may be just what you need - ask questions about company culture association, communication with colleagues and management, happiness at work and overall content in the place of your company in the community/ industry/ region. This will give you a good feel for the motivation, inspiration and passion your team has in your company's worth and values.

Final Thoughts

In a nutshell, keeping workers engaged in your company culture has never been more challenging than now. The transition to remote work has swept the business world off its feet as it was unexpected and quite different to the ways all had been used to.

The key is to fake it till you make it - smooth the transition out, make it feel normal. Managers, HR professionals and everyone in an organisation, really, should put in that extra effort to stay connected, keep working hard with the same motivation and power and voice their concerns early on.

Mariela