How to Maintain a Healthy Company Culture While Working From Home

Now that you’ve been working from home for quite some time, you’ve likely settled into new norms. Your routine is established. You know how to best communicate with your team. You know the rhythms of your day. You know what works for you and what doesn’t work for you. But in the midst of this steady progress, one major question remains for many professionals – How do you maintain a healthy company culture while working from home? 

Reinforce your mission and vision

Pandemic or not, it’s essential for everyone in your organization to remain aligned. However, achieving alignment is far more challenging with a remote workforce. During a time when your employees are physically dispersed, the mission and vision of your company needs to be repeated frequently. While the climate has changed drastically, what you do and why you do it remains constant. Be intentional to bring everyone together (even if it’s virtually), remind team members of why you do what you do and ensure everyone is bought in.

Meet together consistently 

More than ever before, we’ve experienced the importance of consistently meeting as a team. Seeing each other face to face, interacting as a group and physically being together creates an entirely different camaraderie and level of productivity that doesn’t exist behind a screen. Think outside of the box when it comes to meetings. Meet offsite in a socially distant and safe environment. (PS – We know just place! 😉) Or go to a park where everyone can gather outside and spread out comfortably. Once you figure out what works best for you and your team, make it a part of your weekly or monthly rhythms. Do whatever it takes to get your department or team together – and do it often. It changes everything! 

Think about your people first

In the midst of our current economy, it’s easy to become laser focused on the business and forget about the people who are actually making it all happen. In times of stress, it’s important to permeate your workplace culture with a people-first mentality. This approach requires that employees are seen as individuals, not simply contributors. When this type of mentality is adopted, team members care about each other’s workload, personal life and mental health. Changing the way your team members view each other will be the start to developing depth and mutual trust within your organization. 

Look for opportunities to surprise and delight your employees

Now comes the fun part! To encourage a healthy company culture, go out of your way to speak praise and gratitude over your employees. After a hard week, send a gift card to buy dinner for the entire family. Surprise every employee with a pizza delivered to their front door. Tell everyone on Friday morning that the work day is ending at 1pm – because why not? Take time to think about your people, consider what they need and do something about it. When you surprise and delight your employees, you communicate that they are valued and appreciated. Once this trend starts, it begins to spread quickly. Soon enough, everyone in your company will be finding ways to surprise each other. Get creative and have a little fun with it! No one knows your people better than you.

Things could be slow for you or you could be busier than ever, but we know one thing that remains true for any business: company culture matters and investing in it will always be worth it.