What is Company Culture?

The company culture encompasses a blend of attributes, including the organization’s values, working practices, and the way it treats its employees.

Company culture includes everything from showing up to work to interacting with others, being innovative, and taking risks. It also includes how the organization views you and whether it empowers you or not. All these aspects become part of the culture and define it.

So what is remote culture?

A remote work culture adds connection and a sense of belonging among the remote workers. Those companies that follow the remote-first work culture first overcome the geographic and time zone differences and then build on values of inclusivity, autonomy, and transparency amongst each individual member, no matter where they are working from.

The Challenge of the Remote Working Environment

According to the Buffer’s 2023 State of Remote Work report, 48% workers said they usually worked outside of the traditional working hours. 22% said they were unable to unbind themselves from the work.

So while there are a number of advantages for the people working remotely, people in remote and hybrid positions often get overwhelmed, overworked, and feel disconnected.

Since they are not working with other team members, they also feel isolated and lonely, as there’s nobody to talk to about the work during working hours.

This disconnection with humans and constant work pressure contributes to their burnout stage and ultimately affects their performance.

So it’s like a domino effect, ultimately hitting the success of the company.

How to Improve Company Culture Remotely: Seven Top Strategies

So, how to improve company culture remotely? Here are the top seven strategies that can help.

Define Core Values

The company values are the foundation of the organization.

They must be reflective of the vision and core business values. Since they play a major role in decision-making and workplace behaviors, they must be communicated clearly down the line and also become part of the company's policies.

To keep things transparent, here are some points to keep in mind when making the core values part of your strategic plan:

Make sure the core values are reflected in the daily operations and decisions of the organization
All new employees, including the remote team, should be guided to understand and embrace the company’s values during the onboarding process.
The values must encompass diversity, inclusion, transparency, and mutual respect.
2. Lead by Example

The leaders should show their commitment to the company by becoming an example for others to follow. When the team has visible role models at the top, they will follow in their footsteps, and it will also create a strong culture that is built on mutual respect and trust.

They must:

Share actual stories of how the company is making an impact.
Regularly revisit and reinforce values through meetings, newsletters, and recognition programs.
Align performance reviews and rewards with company values so employees are recognized not just for results but for how they’ve achieved them.
3. Communicate

As per statistics, employees are 4.6 times more likely to perform in a place where they are heard.

The leaders must first make arrangements to receive the team's feedback. There must be open communication in the organization. Once all the feedback is in place, they must act on the feedback.

The leaders must create multiple channels for communication, like chat platforms, virtual town halls, etc., to make it easy for employees to share their thoughts.
Actively listen and acknowledge feedback so employees feel valued and know their voices are making an impact.
Close the loop by acting on feedback and updating the team about changes or improvements made.
4. Rewards and Recognition

Whenever we deliver praise or use the special reward and recognition system to honour and recognize the employees, it helps build stronger collaborative relations.

When connecting with the remote team, recognition can be as simple as a shout-out and can go a long way.

Create a channel like “Kudos” where you appreciate the big and small achievements.
Celebrate birthdays, work anniversaries, and other important life or work milestones to keep employees engaged and connected to each other.
5. Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging (DEIB)

DEIB should be a core strategy where all the employees, no matter which background they’re coming from, are welcomed and feel part of the organization.

Even if you’re working with a remote team, your own work environment should be safe. The employees must be protected from harassment and should be able to express their ideas freely, without discrimination.

Here we come to the concept of psychological safety, where employees feel welcome and comfortable in sharing their ideas, asking questions, or raising concerns. They should feel safe and know that they will not be ridiculed or punished for their questions, and it is the job of the leadership to ensure that they feel the same.

Here are some simple ways to improve diversity, inclusion, and safety in the work environment

Make icebreakers a regular practice at the beginning of every meeting so the team gets to know each other.
Use online channels like Slack or Microsoft Teams, where individuals can interact and share their interests with the team.
Also, apart from the regular training, provide opportunities to train the team on team building and cultural inclusivity
6. Better Work-Life Balance

If you want to know how to improve company culture remotely, you should know that burnout is a global phenomenon affecting remote workers since the pandemic outbreak.

So, whether you have a hybrid team or a remote team, flexible working hours should become a key policy that will help improve the company culture.

Here are some other things you can look into to improve the work-life balance

Set clear boundaries for communication, like agreeing on the working hours with the employees, and refraining from communicating beyond those hours or in the wee hours.
Offer vacation days and provide support to the employees for activities that fuel mental health.
Check in with the team. Make sure they are supported every step of the way and not overworked or overloaded.
7. Use The Right Tools

Company culture for the remote team comes with remote working tools. We use platforms like Slack and Teams, and both these platforms can actually become powerful tools to achieve the goals and objectives for the company.

Some other tools you can use are:

Loom and Miro support asynchronous communication and collaboration
Notion, Asana, and Trello can centralize projects and make it easy to switch back and forth between tasks.
Bonusly and Kudos to build team morale and celebrate achievements.

Conclusion

Building a culture in the remote world takes a lot more effort than creating one in a physical environment. It’s not just communication that has to be clear, but you need to ensure the employees are supported and aligned with the purpose at all ends.

How to improve company culture remotely?

As a leader, you need to step up and make the improvement part of your strategy and company policy. Build a foundation of trust, flexibility, safety, and belonging, and you will see that people will be more than happy to work for you.