Retaining The Company Culture While Working From Home

Retaining The Company Culture While Working From Home

Through this pandemic, we, the entrepreneurs, have sailed through many challenges in absorbing the concept of remote working (also known as working from home) beyond our in-office corporate structure. Business owners like us have a unanimous goal of retaining as well as maintaining the company culture at every scenario. Working from home does not have to change that belief in any way. We all worked from scratch to build a workplace structure where we can support the employees' efforts of driving the company to greater heights and fulfilling their happiness in the workspaces.

Cutting Out The Negativity & Disbelief

Trust, sense of job security, and most importantly, our belief in our employees are the three driving forces that let our associates perform beyond their limits while working remotely.

We often forget to recognize their efforts, applaud them, praise them in front of their fellow co-workers when they actually have performed beyond the normal expectations.

I am not saying that every entrepreneur is doing that, but in this tough time, this missing out on a well-performing employee can occur.

In this write-up, I am not here to distribute any kind of ‘gyaan’ per se, but this is a message to my peers in the industry who are going through this post-pandemic ruckus with remote working. Don't worry; your company culture is not at all lost through remote working. And to ensure that, here are some of the learning factors that enlightened me during this time.

4 Ways You Can Retain Your Company Culture Through Work From Home

Your human resource managing staff, team leads, and managers play a key role in reinforcing the company culture while working in the remote structure. With proper empowerment, appreciation and trust, the associates and employees can follow that.

In a recent study by Telus , it was seen that there are mainly three key components that strengthen the framework of virtual office; viz:

·        Flexibility of schedule

·        Virtual workshops that give them ample learning scopes

·        Weekly team meetings that include a one-on-one with the managers

Having mentioned these, I will be starting with the topic below

1.      Address Sensitive Issues Like Mental Health

The pandemic has created a dent in the self-confidence of many employees. Tragedy had also struck them so bad that losing a close one or even being unable to travel or meet their favorite people has triggered issues like anxiety, depression, and loneliness. Our employees are our primary wealth, and it is based on their determination of striving excellence that has kept our companies strong against the wildest winds.

A recent study by Mercer has pointed out that nearly 37% of remote working employees have been going through mental distress during a period of social aloofness.

I believe, if the company extends a supportive hand of patience along with a caring ear, employees will never feel alone in their professional structure – both in the office or at home.

2.      Ensuring A Work-Life Balance Without Any Guilt For Them

A sound work-life balance can not only invigorate an employee but even us with the zeal of focusing on our work. Acknowledge the challenges they face during remote working, like giving some time at home for household chores or attending to their child's needs. Aspects like flexible leave policies or even offering social activities virtually like partying on zoom call can help them take the excessive load off their minds in this tough time.

These all are common scenarios that we all face in our personal frontiers, and accepting them with a smile will make both of us – the bosses and the employees guilt-free.

3.      Embracing The Transparency With Detailed Employee Communication

The key to any organizational success lies in its transparency of employee communication. As mentioned earlier, your employees have to trust you, especially in times of crisis, and this pandemic has been a testing time for everyone's job security.

In a survey, it was found that nearly 47% of the employees wanted to listen from their company owners, leaders and managers about how this crisis has been affecting their organization and how they can keep it afloat at this hard time.

This staggering figure is enough to prove that we have to be more straightforward and more transparent about the trajectory of our company in its journey towards success because it is they too, who have been striving hard to keep it growing.

4.      Generate A Behaviour That Establishes Company Culture You Want

And this is possible only through clear communication. Remote working as a structure is confusing at times and can quickly germinate a communication gap between every employee. It is the duty of us, the managers, leaders and business owners, to form a cohesive unit where everyone is on the same page at work.

Here are a few things which you can implement

·        Assisting employees to manage distractions

·        Fostering accountability and responsibility towards work and team

·        Clearly communicating the goals

·        Responding to employee requests on time and actively

·        Paying attention to each employee’s growth

Signing Off…

I manage a fabulous team of employees who have been on their toes to keep our organization sail through successfully in this tough time. Sure, I too faced many losses of employees all this while, but the ones who stayed gave their best. In a nutshell, we all had an enriching learning experience in this phase. Yes, we have already started coming to the office again, but if the drastic situation repeats its mistake, we will not.