“Remember, true culture is not about perks, proximity of team members, or the processes you have in place, it’s about inclusivity.”
– from How to Adapt Company Culture for Remote Work
According to Zoom’s recent white paper, How to Adapt Company Culture for Remote Work, it’s impossible to go “back to normal.” The dynamics of collaboration have forever changed. The now ubiquitous video conferencing platform suggests we must remember that being in the same building does not ensure employee connection. The key to preventing isolation is to develop a thriving company culture.
With this in mind, we’ve compiled a list of some of the best workplace activities we’ve seen that promote company culture and connection that can be easily deployed online.
- Share and celebrate wins often, even the small stuff! Try our D.O.S.E.
- Plan weekly development meetups, where smaller groups get together to work on learning something new together.
- Offer professional development opportunities.
- Assign a mentor to new employees for 30 minute chats once every week or two.
- Organize a monthly online games happy hour (e.g., create your own Jeopardy game, B.I.N.G.O., or try a game pack from Jack Box).
- Create online water cooler chats using a communication platform such as Microsoft Teams or Slack.
- Host virtual birthday parties to celebrate team members.
- Send out surprise care packages! Have everyone come on Zoom to open them together.
The bottom line? With the shift to remote/hybrid workplaces not everything has to pivot 180°. Leverage the tools at your fingertips to ensure your teams feel connected and valued, regardless of location. Define, activate, and monitor your company culture and be prepared to reflect, reassess, and adapt along the way!
To help kick-start your workplace culture endeavour, we’ve created a fillable PDF handout to encourage a team brainstorm ‘sesh. Try it out!
