Remote Work Culture: How to Implement a Remote Work Culture

A remote work culture is simply a company culture translated from a traditional office space to home offices for remote employees. As remote work becomes more common, many startups and established companies are doing their best to maintain their unique culture and values as people operate in their own silos rather than in a single location.

Remote work culture initiatives might include offering home office stipends, providing hybrid work arrangements, offering virtual team-building opportunities, and more.

Remote work is likely to become more commonplace as time goes on, so adjusting to this reality can prove useful. Here are just three key reasons to consider building a remote work culture at your own organization:

• To approach work more organically: Remote work enables team members to avoid burnout by going about their daily tasks in their own space and in their own way. Some companies offer a hybrid work policy that allows employees to spend time face-to-face in the office and work at home as well. Others opt for a completely remote experience. With enough ingenuity, it’s as possible to implement your organization’s values in these scenarios as in a traditional environment.
• To foster a continued sense of community: Camaraderie lays the groundwork for a strong culture as an organization, so it’s essential remote workers feel as much a part of the equation as in-office staff. When you implement and maintain a remote work culture, you boost your chances of employee retention by increasing the level of engagement each team member feels despite working in a different location.
• To free up your hiring capabilities: By allowing new hires to choose the best work environment for themselves, you cast a much wider net when searching for recruits with impressive credentials. From remote onboarding to performing day-to-day tasks, remote work can still bring together talent from multiple different time zones and locations. Each person can find a sense of belonging in your remote work culture no matter where they’re from originally.

Even if employees work in different locations, they can still find a sense of community at their virtual workplace. Keep these seven tips in mind as you implement your company culture throughout a disparate remote work environment:

1. 1. Communicate clearly and consistently. Use multiple different channels to foster employee engagement and communication. In any work environment, traditional or remote, team culture revolves around the ability to get to know your fellow coworkers and build a sense of camaraderie and community. To accomplish this, everyone needs the ability to communicate with one another as freely as possible.
2. 2. Empower employees with technology. Virtual collaboration tools have made it easier to connect employees across wide geographical spaces as if they were in the same room. Use up-to-date instant messaging and video call software to lay the groundwork for twenty-first-century teamwork.
3. 3. Encourage self-care. Check in with your employees to see how you can help them achieve a better work-life balance in their home office. Consider providing a mental health stipend or another form of support. Remote work culture enables your entire team to feel recharged to come to work every day, even if that means sitting at a desk in their living room instead of a cubicle.
4. 4. Focus on maintaining company values. Your core values as a company can stay the same no matter where your remote team members work. Workplace culture is more about these sorts of goals and standards than any specific office space. Define the sort of company you want to be for your employees and how you want to help them succeed and build relationships with other team members. Look for opportunities to further enshrine those values through virtual activities and get-togethers.
5. 5. Offer opportunities to connect. Both old and new employees stand to benefit from remote team-building activities. These can be formal team-bonding exercises, routine team meetings, or simply optional periods to hop on a video call for an employee happy hour or watercooler talk. This helps the entire organization maintain cohesion and lays the foundation for meaningful relationships among employees.
6. 6. Operate off trust. Build trust with your direct reports as soon as they join your remote workforce. If people feel micromanaged as remote workers, they’re less likely to want to stay at your company. Instead, set basic standards and deadlines, then allow employees to develop their own processes for meeting these goals in their own way from their home offices. Offer guidance and constructive feedback if they fall short of the mark.
7. 7. Redefine expectations. A remote company will operate in a different way than an entirely in-office company, so revise expectations accordingly. Define the linchpins of your organization’s culture and then seek ways to turn these values into daily practices in a unique way for remote employees.

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