The COVID pandemic changed the working world in many ways, one of them being remote work. It showed us that employees can perform their duties (in some instances) from anywhere! So how do you keep your awesome work culture when you may not be in the office every day, week, or month? Read below for some proven ways to help your culture thrive in the virtual world we live in today!
- Create fun virtual events. You may not be in person, but you can still meet every so often over zoom. Can you say Virtual Happy Hour?! Some other ideas are a virtual game, virtual lunch and learn, or (if it’s holiday season) a virtual costume contest!
- Encourage department team building activities. Give managers a budget to work with each month/ quarter/ year so they can create virtual team building activities to keep their teams connected.
- Mandatory camera usage. You read that right- make employees turn their cameras on during virtual meetings. This allows you to get to know people on another level. It also helps new hires put a face to a name when they don’t see everyone in the office like the good ole days.
- Try to do in person meetings monthly if possible. Keeping that in person connection is still important. If you ask your team to come in once a month, make it purposeful. If they are coming in just to sit in on zoom meetings, they probably won’t see this as beneficial however if you have a brainstorming session, they will see the purpose behind coming in person.
- Create a workplace Facebook page. Within this page, you can create boards with different themes so your employees can join the board that interests them. This is a more personal touch and allows you to get to know your team on another level and see what their passions are. Some ideas for different boards are- DIY (those creative people that Do It Themselves!), Fur Babies (animal postings), Cooking Fanatics (those who love to cook), Fitness, etc.
- Train your direct managers. Training managers on how to shift their mindset to a virtual work environment is crucial and has the most impact on your employees. Make sure they are up to speed on how you would like your team ran virtually and how to stay connected!
