Maintaining a Positive Work Culture While Working Remote
Many companies develop strategic plans to maintain a positive work culture, but what works in a traditional office environment may not work when your team is primarily working from home. In a remote environment, building a positive work culture requires intention, clear communication, setting clear expectations and a strong sense of community.
Being Intentional
Fostering a positive work culture in a remote setting requires the team to be more intentional, as there are less opportunities to connect with each other. Although we miss out on the water-cooler moments that come naturally, with a bit of planning you can create those moments of connection. For instance, you can try hosting virtual moments, such as coffee breaks, happy hours, or casual check-ins to discuss topics outside of work and build connections.
Social events are another great way to connect as well. For instance, at Logic, we have held virtual book clubs in the past. We also meet daily for a 5-minute virtual stretch or meditation session. Even in a virtual setting, it can be beneficial to organize in person events when possible. At Logic we have connected to volunteer together, attend networking events or a potluck lunch. Other ways to connect can be through trivia, paint nights, or meeting to go for a walk.
Clear Communication
Clear communication is extremely important in a remote environment, as there are more ways, you’re your message to be misunderstood. Using various tools to support live time communication is extremely useful. For instance, having a team chat so colleagues can provide quick updates or ask questions in live time. Having a virtual team meeting where everyone is on video, on a weekly basis is another great way to connect and help create the feeling of an in-office face-to-face interaction. Microsoft Teams, Slack or Discord are great resources to utilize.
Setting Clear Expectations
Having clear expectations in a virtual environment is equally important. Everyone on the team should know what is required of them, timelines to complete tasks, and an understanding of who to go to if they need support. Working from home, it’s also important for everyone to know an appropriate amount of time to respond back by preferred methods of communication and regular hours of work. Setting clear expectations reduces the risk of unneeded anxiety that can come from uncertainties.
To foster a positive culture, there should also be expectations to unplug after set working hours. As a way to unplug, Logic holds quarterly Invest In Yourself Days, where the team is given the day off to focus on activities that promote their physical and mental health.
Strong Sense of Community
To build a strong sense of community, in a virtual environment requires collaboration and trust. A great way to build this is by celebrating wins as a team. In a virtual setting it can be easy to forget about the bigger picture, sharing with the team small-wins and celebrating together goes along way. This can be done on weekly calls by recognizing great work or sending a message in a group chat.
Another great way to build a sense of community is to learn together. At Logic, we enjoy attending a webinar as a team and then debriefing afterwards about our learnings. LinkedIn and Coursera offer free resources on a variety of topics, many of which are free! Having a strong sense of community also allows us to learn from our mistakes, trust each other to share where we went wrong and collaborate on improvements.
Are you thinking about transforming your team to a remote or hybrid capacity? Reach out to our team at Logic to learn how we can help support with this transition and growth.
Written By: Alex Smith
Note: This article is written as an opinion piece from the perspective of a Recruitment Specialist