While there are many benefits to working remotely, managers and supervisors have found that it’s also more challenging to maintain a healthy company culture. Even if you had a great team and everyone worked well together in the office, that sense of camaraderie may not carry over as employees work remotely. Here are a few ways you can reinforce your company culture while working from home.
Improve Communication
There are many tools for boosting communication, including apps that incorporate text messaging, file sharing, and video calls in one package. Even though you have the technology to communicate more clearly, it’s also essential to make sure your team uses those resources. Setting up regular video conferences with your team and encouraging more communication between individuals will help.
Encourage Personal Communication
When your team was working in the office, they often chatted about non-work related topics, which helped them get to know one another. Working from home resulted in the loss of those personal chats, leaving your employees feeling isolated and alone. You can combat the negative emotional impact that has on your employees by encouraging virtual social gatherings. You can invite everyone into a social chat at the end of the workday, or arrange a virtual team lunch.
Don’t Forget Birthdays and Holidays
Another practice that you probably used to promote a positive company culture was celebrating your employees’ birthdays or holidays. While you can’t drop by to give each employee a birthday cake on their birthday, you can make a point to mention the birthday in a group chat. This gives everyone a reason to celebrate and have a little fun together. A simple birthday mention can be enough to boost your employee’s spirits and help them reconnect with one another.
You can also keep a positive company culture by continuing the practices you had in place in the physical workplace. This can include recognizing accomplishments and congratulating team members on a job well done. Offering positive feedback like this will go a long way towards helping your employees maintain that feeling of being on an inclusive team. By the time they return to the office, you’ll find that these practices have helped maintain that positive culture that was integral to your team’s productivity.