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Remote work transforms how, when, and where we work, and technological advancements are making their footprints on team collaboration to performance management and schedules.

Benefits of working remotely

Despite the early hesitation of more traditional-minded executives to invest in remote work as a viable workforce alternative, most people today think that remote work has compelling benefits.

The significant benefit of working remotely includes:

• Better productivity
• Reduced employee turnover
• Recruiting from a larger pool
• Lower overhead costs
• Positive employer brand

Employees seek and value the freedom and flexibility that remote work provides. In fact, 54 percent of employees say they would switch jobs if they had greater flexibility, resulting in a 12 percent reduction in turnover once a remote work agreement is offered.

Happier employees are more productive, engaged, and enthusiastic about working for the company.

Bottom line: Remote employment benefits both your business and your employees.

Now let’s look into some best practices for improving remote work culture in your organization:

1. Communicate, communicate, and communicate

During remote working hours, it’s nearly impossible to over-communicate. As you can’t reach out to each other’s desk, meet your teammate in person, or have water-cooler conversations. Thus, it means that you must go for different ways to communicate effectively and clearly.

So, create an idea of how your teams will communicate and the best channels suitable for different types of work and topics.

These might include:

• Email
• Video conferencing
• One-on-one meetings
• Team meetings
• Project management software

Frequent communication will keep everyone on the same page and assist the team form stronger bonds and trusting relationships.

2. Share your organization’s values

A prominent part of your company culture is your values. They are the guiding pillars of your business, and they must be at the forefront of your employees’ minds. Your corporate values provide remote employees with a clear picture of how your firm functions and how you foster a healthy work environment.

Here are some of the creative ways to help uphold your corporate values with the remote teams.

• Incorporate values from the beginning: Share the company values with the employee when hiring.
• Weekly round-up: Create a weekly session for employees to share how they have integrated the corporate values in the workflow.
• Peer-to-peer recognition: Create a company value by nominating coworkers who exude company values and award weekly kudos to those employees.

3. Promote activities that build connection

Working from home doesn’t mean you can’t feel connected to your coworkers. To build remote team connections, make time for activities other than a business communication.

This can be as simple as using a few minutes at the start of your weekly team meetings to chat about your weekends or scheduling virtual team breaks to get to know one another. Small exercises like these go a great way toward making a hybrid, inviting, inclusive, and optimistic hybrid team.

4. Recognize achievement

Employees wish to have them noticed and get recognized for the work they do. During work-from-home days, it can be easy to let employee contributions go unnoticed. So don’t let this happen.

Organizations should make employee recognition part of your company culture. It is necessary to give employee appreciation, no matter if the achievements were big or small. Keeping employees know that their work is being valued creates a more engaged and productive working atmosphere.

It is to be noted that positive work culture is not built overnight. Create a strong company culture that will benefit the organization in the long run.

5. Give priority to face-to-face meetings

Seeing your colleagues cannot be replaced with anything, even if it’s via a screen. You may pick up on subtle indications like voice inflection and body language by seeing and hearing people, which can help you recognize concerns and connect with employees. It builds trust and makes people feel like they’re a member of the group.

• Weekly 1:1

Team leaders must schedule time to meet team members individually. It establishes trust, builds connections, and helps to celebrate individual accomplishments.

• Bimonthly meetings

Apart from weekly meetings, team leaders must take time to schedule bi-monthly meetings with the team members. It helps keep everyone on the same page and helps to know in what stage of the project everyone stands.

• Mandatory video meetings

Promote teamwork and reinforce values when you see your colleagues face to face. Try out giving a theme for every meeting such as negotiation, presentation skills, etc.

A bright, remote future

As per the global situation now, remote work-life is here to stay. As the employees expect and demand flexibility and more remote options, business leaders must adopt new strategies for managing remote teams.

Managing remote employees can be as rewarding and productive as working for an in-house team using the right technology and employee engagement solutions.

Thus, creating a strong remote culture helps to keep your employees empowered and trusted to perform their best.

Bringing up a strong remote work culture fosters transparency and creates an environment of trust so that your employees and organization can keep moving forward.