Hiring Antz

How to keep company culture alive amidst the changing work environment to ensure results and business success.

2020 has been a roller-coaster of emotions, and a series of uncontrollable events and uncertain times, one of which is in the work environment. Amid the COVID19 pandemic and the forced social distancing, many organisations and employees have adapted to working remotely, however, how is this affecting company culture and how do employers plan on solidifying their culture to stay afloat? 

In an article featured in the Harvard Business School Working Knowledge, Boris Groysberg and Rabin Abrahams asked 600 CEOs what was keeping them up at night during the pandemic, to which most of them responded with keeping their staff motivated during these times.

So, what can you do about it?

“Company culture drives behaviour, and behaviour drives results in business.” Nick Friedman in an article for Forbes. 

In fact, CultureIQ reveals that 94% of executives and 88% of employees believe a distinct workplace culture is important to business success.

Culture impacts every corner of your business and based on these statistics, you can see the importance it plays in motivating your staff, improving retention levels and increasing productivity and employee engagement.

Here are five strategies to help you keep your company culture going in a remote working environment.

1. Know your company culture & adapt

Before the pandemic hit, think about what made your company what it is. Think about the culture, people, processes and environment that your staff particularly enjoyed and keep that going.

Focus on exactly why your employees remained loyal to you and where you can, keep those aspects in place; where you may need to adapt, find ways to mimic a similar culture in these remote settings.

1. Stay in communication

In these uncertain times, it’s easy to panic about your work situation. It’s therefore essential for you, as an employer, to keep your employees updated regularly on what’s going on in the company and how its handling the pandemic. 

It’s also vital to have more meaningful conversations with your employees regularly. Leaders in your organisation need to become more deliberate and thoughtful of staying connected to their teams.

1. Set a vision for the future

Creating a vision for the future puts your employees at ease knowing that you’re not throwing in the towel and there’s a future for the organisation and for them.

As an organisation, you probably already have a vision in place. If this still works with the new working environment, then keep it and reiterate it to your employees regularly. If it doesn’t, adapt your vision and pitch an updated, clear vision to your employees indicating where you see the company going and how you plan on getting there. This will secure peace of mind that their jobs are secure.

1. Connect remotely outside of work

It’s vital to connect with your employees and teams outside of work. In normal working circumstances, we enjoy a casual drink, certain celebrations and team building events to bring us closer together.

Continuing with these initiatives is a really good way to keep company culture strong and so finding ways to connect virtually, celebrate together virtually and build stronger teams virtually, outside the realm of work, is essential.

1. Show some empathy

Working remotely has left many in a spin. Being empathetic, understanding and flexible toward employees will help keep company culture going.

What’s more, not all employees will have the same working environments at home, and so understanding our employees’ situations and being patient and empathetic, will go a long way to showing you not only care, but you value them as an employee and are considerate of adapting to their situations to keep them onboard.   

With unprecedented times still ahead of us, it looks like remote working conditions are going to remain in force for some time to come. Adopting these strategies can assist in improving company culture and motivate results.