“We’ve learned that the glue that keeps the workplace together is culture -what we perceive, experience, and participate in- physical workspace or not…..Companies with a powerful and intentional virtual culture will have an incredible advantage going forward.” (Meghan M. Biro, Founder and CEO of TalentCulture)

The post-pandemic era has brought a significant shift to remote work environment. In this age where remote employees are increasing swiftly and companies are promoting remote work opportunities worldwide, the most important concern is how to build a good culture for remote employees in order to ensure their retention. It may sound simple but it requires proper efforts by the employers to build and sustain a favorable work environment for its remote workers. This is because unlike physical work environment where there is a face-to-face interaction on daily basis, the remote environment needs thoughtful intention and vision of the company to create a positive culture with help of technology.

A recent study conducted by the  MIT Sloan Management Review suggests that a hostile and  toxic work culture results in 10.4 times more employees leaving, which clearly states that work culture is the key aspect to attract, engage and retain valuable talent .Moreover,  according to The Pew Research Center almost 22 million people purely work from home. So, it is very crucial to figure out how to develop positive work culture for remote workers in order to sustain their retention.

Five Ways To Build A Good Remote Working Culture

A remote team is bunch of those talented individuals from all over the world who have been selected through a systematic recruitment process; therefore it is pertinent to develop a pleasant work environment for them to avoid losing such skilled employees.

Let’s discuss five ways that can help companies to build a favorable remote work environment for employees:

1- Establish Effective Communication:

An effective communication with the remote employees is a key feature to ensure a positive relation with them. Many times companies fail to maintain effective communication in the remote environment, which leaves the employees in isolation. In addition to this, a survey concludes that almost 47% remote workers have prioritized the need of effective communication for a healthy work culture.

Effective communication is not some ordinary one-way discourse because it must be a two-way interaction, more frequent, easily understandable and consistent. The power of communication lies in the ability to fully make the employees understand the company dynamics and ensure a transparent platform for employee’s questions, feedback and ideas. A productive culture must encourage its team to share their problems, needs and concerns through proper channel of communication. And all possible means should be used by the company to develop a healthy team rapport. Similarly, it is also important to make sure that the remote team members are not hesitant to talk to each other because a good working culture encourages healthy collaboration and communication between the team mates.  Hence, it is very important to eliminate all the communication barriers and gaps between the company and employees in order to retain the remote workforce.

Moreover, the company must establish proper updated tools for regular video meetings, secured chat, project discussion platform etc to keep the remote team on board all the time.

2- Appreciate and Recognize their Efforts

One of the triggering factor that makes the remote employees unhappy which eventually leads them to quit the job is lack of appreciation. For instance, according to the latest statistics about 79% employees quit their roles only because they feel that their efforts are not being recognized by the organization. The employee who is present virtually should not feel unnoticed and invisible.

Perhaps, to cater this problem the company should formulate a culture in which the upper management should consistently appreciate the employees virtually by involving them in decision making, giving rewards on the performance and offering opportunities for career growth. Plus a weekly appreciation online session will be a great treat for the workforce!

3- Try to be clear on Expectations

In a remote work culture, the employees feel happy and more proactive when they completely know the company’s expectations and goals. So, it is essential to clearly state the KPIS and all the measuring parameters to the employees in the remote environment so that they can perform with ease, motivation and a sense of self-accomplishment.  This stance will definitely retain the valuable remote workforce.

4- Embrace diversity and inclusion

It is a matter of fact that companies hire employees from different regions, races, gender and nationalities specifically in a remote work environment.  Therefore, it is quite significant for the organization to strategically navigate a culture open to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). A cross-cultural collaboration devoid of any racial, gender or cultural biases should be created in the virtual work space. Obviously every individual likes its voice to be heard and valued. Nonetheless, DEI has been declared a pivotal denominator in employee retention as it caters the psychological needs of employees making them happier and healthier.

5- Add Fun and Activities to the work space

Along with the work-life flexibility, a remote work culture should also add fun and activities for its team mates. This anew remote work space requires some new styles of management, policies and leadership. As Jenny Terry, Buffer’s director of business operations says that “with a little creativity and ingenuity, you can make it happen.” Instead of making a dull and suffocating work environment, the company can create space for the remote workers to casually communicate with each other.

There are several ways to add fun for employees such as engaging them with activities such as virtual interactive class, trivia night, team building fun activities or talent show. Thus, in order to retain employees and keep them productive it is substantial to prioritize fun along with work in remote culture.