How To Build A Company Culture Remotely

Last Updated: 

March 5, 2024

Over the past decade, it has become clear that "company culture" is more than a hot business buzz phrase. Developing and nurturing a distinct and strong workplace culture has become vital to a modern company's success. The best company cultures today focus on the business's purpose, vision, mission and values, using these elements to inspire employees to join forces and stay true to the brand and its commitment to serving its customers' needs.

Alternatively, without a powerful remote work culture, companies might experience poor communication, low employee morale, decreased productivity and high turnover rates.

It's clearly worth it to invest in developing a unique and upbeat company culture for remote, hybrid and on-site employees.

You might wonder how to build a company culture remotely. There are certainly some unique challenges to creating the cohesive culture that you and your employees want and need, but there are some great ways you can do it while allowing everyone to reap the benefits.

We have some ideas to help you develop a functional and friendly company culture that ultimately drives employee satisfaction and retention, along with your business's ongoing productivity and profits.

Key Takeaways on Building a Company Culture Remotely

  • Modern Significance of Company Culture: Company culture is integral to a modern business's success, focusing on purpose, vision, mission, and values to inspire employees and enhance brand commitment.
  • Remote Challenges Without a Strong Culture: In the absence of a robust remote work culture, companies face issues like poor communication, low morale, decreased productivity, and high turnover rates.
  • Investment in Remote Culture Pays Off: Investing in a unique and positive company culture for remote, hybrid, and on-site employees is crucial for overall employee satisfaction, retention, and sustained productivity and profits.
  • Define and Document Your Culture: Collaborate with leadership and marketing to define and document your company culture, covering mission, values, communication protocols, and the definition of a good cultural fit.
  • Dynamic Remote Culture Manual: Ensure your remote company culture remains dynamic by monitoring industry trends and internal observations, making necessary adjustments to foster inclusion.
  • Promote Active Remote Engagement: Find the right balance for remote engagement through tools like video conferencing, clear expectations, accountability partners, celebrations, work-life balance, and in-person events.
  • Continuous Feedback Loop: Regularly ask for remote employee feedback on communication, collaboration, inclusion, and productivity to gather quantitative and qualitative data for ongoing improvement.
Want to Close Bigger Deals?

1. Define and develop your company culture

Work with your company leadership and marketing professionals to define your unique company culture that aligns with your brand.

A few things your company culture should focus on include your:

  • Mission, values, goals and brand story
  • Communication protocols
  • Definition of a good cultural fit

Once complete, your remote company culture manual should be documented and easily shareable through an openly accessible document such as an infographic or a slide deck. This way, you can easily refer to the manual any time you hire a new remote employee on your own or with the support of a staffing agency.

Keep in mind that your remote company culture shouldn't remain static. Monitor industry trends and the trends you note within your company to make adjustments that ensure your remote employees feel included as a distinct part of your team.

2. Promote active remote employee engagement

You will need to find the right balance for your remote workers to foster company culture. While it might seem challenging to find ways to promote active employee engagement remotely, businesses do it successfully each day.

Here are some of our favourite remote worker engagement strategies you might try:

  • Use tools such as a video conferencing platform like Microsoft Teams or Zoom for regular sessions.
  • Establish clear expectations.
  • Assign accountability partners, whether on-site or among fellow remote workers.
  • Celebrate employee and company victories.
  • Encourage work-life balance.
  • Create opportunities for in-person events.

3. Ask for remote employee feedback

You've probably noted a theme as far as communication, but it is the most pivotal component of a remote culture's success. Asking for remote employee feedback by sending effective employee surveys will provide you with crucial quantitative and qualitative data to continue improving your remote company culture. You might ask questions about how employees feel about the following:

  • The quality of communication and collaboration
  • How included they feel
  • Whether they feel productive enough

Summing Up

The remote workplace has become a crucial part of the modern business landscape and offers you and your employees fantastic opportunities to enjoy the best of all worlds together. We hope these tips help you in your mission to build a company culture remotely, brimming with satisfaction and benefits for everyone.

Swoon is one of the fastest-growing talent and consulting firms in the U.S., Canada, Australia, and Mexico with an expanding client roster of Fortune 1000 companies, Best-of Awards, and legions of talent in our network. We are a WBENC-certified company founded by industry leaders with 100+ years of combined experience in temporary and direct-hire placements. We are your expert partner in hiring swoon-worthy talent.

People Also Like to Read...