Preserving the company’s culture

Despite being allowed to return to the office, many employers and their staff continue to work from home – with the pandemic creating a huge shift in the way businesses operate.

Whether this means flexible or complete remote working, there is no denying that the office ‘vibe’ will have changed forever.

In turn this could leave some employers facing the challenge of maintaining a company culture while many people aren’t actually in the office.

Maintaining a company culture may prove challenging for some employers and/ or HR teams. It may not be possible to carry out the usual team-building activities and collaborative exercises they usually would, and connections between employees can start to weaken due to the distance.

However, there are a number of ways to preserve the company culture while staff are working outside of the office.

Transparency and communication are key – whether the news be good or bad; employees still want to feel part of the team, so engaging with them on all aspects of the business is key to inclusion, positivity and productivity.

Employers may need to think a little more creatively about how they communicate their company culture, aspects of which may have changed due to the pandemic.

Show confidence and trust in your employees. They have already proved they can work from home and studies show that employees who feel trusted are much more likely to have high levels of motivation and positivity, leading to stronger productivity rates.

Look at remote working as a positive and a way of enhancing the life of your staff.

Remote working allows employees to be more flexible with their working hours and gives them new ways to establish and maintain a good work/life balance. Allow them to make a few adjustments and alterations in order to work more happily.

Roll out the virtual red carpet when onboarding new starters. If you are unable to do a face-to-face meet and greet with the team initially, arrange a virtual introduction meeting and tour of the office to make them feel welcome.

Make sure your company information pack is up to date with resources to help them get to know the company, its history, values, strategy, key client analytics and product portfolio. Adjusting to remote working has been a challenge leaving many feeling pressured, scared, confused and lonely. Not everyone is finding the adjustment easy, so remain attentive.