Corporate culture is a lot like the pinch of salt really good chefs know to add to a gorgeous chocolate confection – even though it’s not the main focus of the dish, those few grains of salt pull everything together and draws the beauty of the cacao flavours into perfect focus. It’s the silent hero ingredient that fades into the background to allow the dish to be it’s best mouthwatering self.
In the same way, a strong, resilient corporate culture creates a space in which employees’ most awesome attributes can come to the fore for the good of everyone involved.
But in the meantime, let’s take a look at how you can use tech to translate your corporate culture for employees who are working from home.
According to recent findings by multinational risk management, insurance brokerage and advisory company Willis Towers Watson, South African businesses predict that in three years’ time a third of their staff (33%) will still be working from home. This is based on the feedback of 60+ employers in South Africa with a total of 200 000+ employees that participated in the firm’s flexible work survey at the end of 2020.
According to Melanie Trollip, SA director of talent and reward at Willis Towers Watson, COVID-19 turbo-charged an existing trend towards flexible working, and now employers need to catch up.
“Businesses see that, in a world beyond COVID-19, flexible working arrangements can boost productivity, attract talent, and support diversity. The challenge for businesses now is to rethink how work is designed and rewarded so they can improve performance, and control costs and risks,” she says.
Read more: 5 companies with a great company culture (and how they did it)
Melanie says it’s important for employers to take a step back and examine the future state of their organisation and decide how they can support their new agile workforce.
“Companies who haven’t done so should review their HR policies for a more flexible world. It is also important to evaluate work architecture and think about skills to better reflect how work is organised. The long-term goals for a successful business are to support workforce agility and digital transformation.”
Check out our YouTube channel for awesome videos on everything from the science of employee recognition to creating an internal communications strategy for enhanced engagement.
Here are five practical steps you can take at your place of work to use tech to your advantage in keeping your corporate culture alive in the new WFH space:
1. Get ongoing input from your team with quick surveys
When your team members are not all within ‘quick meeting in the canteen’ distance, it can be tough to keep tabs on the prevailing sentiment among your workforce. As such, small irritations and minor issues can snowball into major gripes if no-one is keeping tabs on how things are going. Easier said than done in the dispersed work reality we know.
Happily, the humble survey is here to save the day! We’re not talking three-page, hour-long surveys – we’re talking quick, mobile-enabled pulse surveys that your employees can complete on the go to provide you with vital data on how they are doing.
It’s such a simple, yet effective way to identify potential issues early on so you can address it before it has a lasting impact on important things like employee engagement and eNPS.
Read more: 15 Company culture survey questions and top tips
2. Use recognition to link employee actions with organisational values
The key to getting a greater return from people is to engage and motivate them more effectively. bountiXP focuses employee productivity by linking workplace actions with organisational goals and values. We call this dual-purpose recognition.
Each message of recognition created on the platform requires the employee to link it with a relevant strategic business goal or organisational value. These messages of recognition and appreciation for a job well done appear on the platform’s newsfeed, drawing people’s attention to the actions and behaviours that support the organisation’s strategy.
Combining the power of goal-based and values-based recognition, bountiXP aligns strategy and culture for business success.
Read more: 32 awesome employee appreciation messages to boost company culture
3. Share brief video updates from senior management
When your team is working from home, the last thing you want to do is overload them with Zoom meeting upon Zoom meeting. This is why brief video updates from senior management can be a great way to go. Instead of having to stop their work flow to patch into a meeting, employees can then watch the video when they have a moment, and still stay abreast of any info they need.
4. Offer digital coaching and support
Dispersed teams often required a different kind of support than those who are working together in house. For instance, WFH employees aren’t simply able to walk over to a co-worker’s desk to ask them for clarification on processes, IT issues etc. This is why it helps to create digital platforms with resource videos and/or live, bookable sessions with support staff, peer mentors, etc.
5. Make free wellness resources available
Work-life balance is a vital component of a strong company culture. By providing distance workers with access to free wellness resources you pave the way for healthy, happy engagement in the long run. This could include mental resilience coaching sessions, lifestyle questionnaires, healthy meal planning templates, and more.
There you have it – 5 ways in which you can use technology to translate your corporate culture into something real for your employees who are working from home. What a time to be alive!
Check back soon for more inspiring insider insights.
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