How to promote a positive workplace culture with a distributed team

A company’s work culture has an impact on every part of the business. From the core values to attitudes, work culture encompasses all of those important beliefs and helps companies set expectations for their teams. 

According to BuiltIn, “Work culture encompasses the values, beliefs, and attitudes that guide an organization. It sets expectations for how employees should behave and interact with one another as they perform their day-to-day responsibilities and contribute to the company’s overall mission.” – 

There are several ways that work culture can deeply impact employee experience, from your team’s morale and engagement to their own job satisfaction. 

If work culture is not cultivated, it can come to life naturally, which is not necessarily always a positive thing. Negative attitudes can be perpetuated if work culture is not a priority for team leaders, especially for distributed teams who might be more difficult to connect with. 

That’s why it’s imperative that companies take the time and energy to create a positive work culture for their employees. For in-person settings, work culture can be easily addressed, but with a remote team, the process can present various challenges. It’s not as simple as hosting after-work social events or learning lunches, or any of the approaches that might have been effective for companies with a physical office. 

With that in mind, here are 7 helpful considerations for companies who are looking to promote a positive remote workplace culture. 

Workplace culture with a distributed team

1. Prioritize communication and transparency: Companies need to dedicate time and energy toward establishing clear lines of communication with their teams, both formally and informally. Through various platforms, as well as specific meeting policies (like cameras-on, for example), companies can establish a work culture that emphasizes effective communication.

2. Set clear expectations: It’s imperative that goals, deadlines, and expectations for your remote teams are clearly delineated. From detailed instructions and guidelines to deadlines for deliverables, this clarity will help your team stay focused and motivated. You’ll also want to activate guideposts for accountability. 

3. Encourage work-life balance: It can be too easy for remote teams to have blurred boundaries between personal and professional life. Set specific work hours, encourage your teams to take actual lunch breaks, and remind them that they’ve got PTO for a reason. Simple things like utilizing the schedule feature for emails and communications sent after or before business hours can go a long way.

4. Recognize and appreciate achievements: No matter how small, celebrating individual and team accomplishments on a regular basis can contribute to a positive work environment. Even a simple call-out at your weekly team meetings, or a small gift card for a coffee can go a long way.

5. Foster social connections: Without a physical office, work socialization might have completely disappeared. However, connecting socially with colleagues is an important aspect of a positive work culture. From virtual team-building activities to meet-ups or social events at a coworking space, socializing can help build trust and rapport. 

6. Support personal and professional development: In addition to remote learning opportunities like webinars, courses, and conferences, offer personal development options as well. As loneliness and isolation have increased amongst remote workers, giving opportunities to your team to develop soft fascination hobbies can show your commitment to their long-term success.

7. Lead by example: Like everything else you want your team to adopt, a positive workplace culture can be cultivated through positive example. Show your team what you and the company value in the way that you conduct yourself, both personally and professionally. 

Even though your team might be remote, you can create opportunities for them to connect in person, whether it’s through bi-yearly all-hands work weeks, regular in-person sessions for team members who live nearby, or even the opportunity to connect with other professionals. All this can be achieved through on-demand coworking spaces that your distributed team can access whenever they need them, which is something we at Flexspace do on a daily basis. If you need a way to support connection, communication, and collaboration with your remote or hybrid teams, we can help. 

Schedule a demo with a Flexspace team member