Initially, several employers were wary of work from home culture. A global pandemic of such magnitude brought a fear of the unknown. It took its toll on various businesses, resulting in hiring freezes, layoffs, and grave economic problems. It also spurred the big move to work from home, which impacted many vital workplace elements, such as onboarding, productivity, and engagement.
Businesses have made headway against some of the most daunting aspects of working from home. Tackling these challenges is not so easy, but negotiating them can result in a more substantial work from home culture.
A few businesses will retain a remote-work structure in the future. Whether employees are working from home temporarily or for the long term, it is crucial to create a positive remote culture that leads to happy employees. Leaders can set a tone for working and interacting, but they cannot force employees to respond accordingly. But culture does that.
Creating a fantastic work from home culture is hard. It is even more difficult if someone starts their business from scratch. With no foundation to build upon, it could feel like the new remote culture is on sinking sand.
Six Cornerstones For Great Work From Home Culture
If the business owner can study and understand how to build remote teams effectively and quickly, there will be a benefit. Below are the six cornerstones of building a great work from home culture.
Be Intentional & Dedicated
A great work from home culture starts with intentionality and dedication. Let your team know what you expect and what work from home means to you as a leader. Explain to them how they are expected to communicate and treat each other.
Even better, recruit people who naturally embody those traits. Once the ground rules are set, you can easily empower your team to excel as they build on that.
Then, think about the additional steps you can take to encourage a culture of positivity. For instance, choose one of your team members for a paid role responsible for upholding and nurturing an intentional culture.
When circumstances arise that threaten to change their moral compass, the leaders stand their ground and hold firm to their morals. They withstand the urge to do the wrong thing to avoid uncomfortable situations. They do the difficult right thing over the easy wrong.
Set An Example By Keeping Your Words
Your team will follow as they are led. Leaders who make demands of their team but do not adhere to those same demands or expectations kill motivation and positive attitudes. For instance, the values of the leader can influence the culture of the company, whether your team works in-office or remotely.
Hence, setting an example for your team is critical. Work-life balance & trusting the team are essential. The employees can work flexibly on their own schedule. Instant messaging tools can be used for quick communication at the beginning stages until a standard is set.
Make it clear that they are not being monitored online and do not need to answer those calls immediately. Kindness is one of the most significant values, and keep that in mind in all situations. Make it evident to the leadership team that they should do the same. It ensures making commitments and steps towards productivity.
Make Time For Fun
Fun is the unsung hero of solid working relationships. While some people might envision work from home workers as slacking off at home, unsupervised and in pajamas, the reality is different.
In most traditional work settings, people can physically separate work from personal life, but remote workers do not always have those dividing lines. They are at work when at home. And when they are highly driven, it can be hard for them to turn off.
Therefore, take time to inject fun into the mix. Create a celebratory environment, and establish traditions in the team. Celebrate crucial moments creatively. While you cannot force people to participate, you can provide a signal that your team has permission to have fun.
Let The Team Make A Difference
People want to contribute and make a difference. There is a contrast in telling your team to “think outside of the box” while demanding that they do their work in a robotic way. It makes people feel like what they do does not matter, as expectations are preprogrammed. Let them feel like they can do things outside of their regular norm. Get people out of the grind.
Great culture thrives in an open environment. An open environment exists only where people trust each other and believe that what they think and say will be valued and considered. To the extent a team member’s behavior or judgment contributes to a lack of success, correct the team member privately.
Investigate and analyze to find the root cause of an issue, and then publicly address opportunities to improve, provide training if needed, and introduce process improvements.
Know What A Healthy Culture Looks Like
A leader defines a healthy work from home culture, and employees want to engage in it. To assess the company’s remote culture, observe the team’s response.
Do they show appreciation to you and each other? Are you getting a glimpse of their personality? Does fun and positivity spill over into nonwork-related communication channels? Are you and they encouraging each other freely? These are signs the team is becoming united.
Great Work From Home Culture Self-replicates
Great work from home culture is a kind of unspoken call to get united. It comes from what people do, and also from the values of each person. It comes from everyone understanding how they fit into the picture. Also, it rubs off on the other people in the group.
If the work from home culture is open and bright, it will propagate itself despite any changes that generally occur in a growing team. While it takes intentional effort to keep it healthy, great work from home culture will result in dividends for companies and customers in a similar way.
