The COVID-19 pandemic has presented significant challenges in the world of remote work. Employees have to work in their respective locations, away from their usual office spaces. This presented a huge problem in terms of work collaboration and project management. Team communication becomes fragmented and technical challenges become worse and frequent. To address these concerns, companies resorted to different solutions such as hiring an IT company to support their IT-related operations.
Communication and collaboration difficulties are long-standing issues in the corporate world, particularly for companies with multiple offices. Creating a unified company culture becomes a business endeavor in itself by creating a set of ideas, values, and rules to manage a diverse number of teams. The problem is that leaders are having a hard time creating an integrated culture with so many departments to handle. A growing company may sound great, but competition pushes teams to create barriers or form workplace silos where they prevent sharing information with the people they work with. This creates a huge problem in company culture by reducing the organization’s teamwork and efficiency.
A strong company culture brings together its teams and departments. But how can you do this if your office locations are far apart? In this article, we will discuss ways on how to connect employees to different locations and build a unified company culture.
Start with onboarding
When we visualize an ideal workplace, it centers on a company culture where people enjoy coming to work and not simply a place to earn. That’s why creating a unified company culture should always start during the recruitment process while providing regular discussions with new hires.
Personality is an essential part of hiring, besides experience and education. Taking personality assessment seriously provides companies a deeper look at which candidates are a good fit in the organization, including their goals and culture. In other words, you begin by finding people who are a good match with the company culture.
A comprehensive hiring process that emphasizes organizational culture has a positive impact on prospective employees. It enhances the company’s reputation and candidate perspective by showing its commitment to finding the best talent.
Open all communication lines
Organizations with a unified culture all share a single trait: they’re great communicators to customers and within the workplace. These companies value employees’ ideas and recognize everyone’s unique accomplishments. In the case of remote work, company gatherings may seem impossible since employees work separately from different locations. To close the gap, digital communication becomes critical in supporting company culture.
Multiple offices can bring feelings of isolation from employees, even if they are working within the same city. It can get even worse with irregular communication and check-ins. This is why maintaining online communication is important to make people feel they matter in the company.
One of the most recommended tools for workplace communication between multiple offices is instant messaging platforms and work-related collaboration tools. They allow employees to stay connected and document everything while relieving the pressure from managing overstuffed email inboxes. These channels also do a great job of reinforcing personal interactions and natural, free-flowing interactions by allowing users to facilitate water cooler conversations and share memes or funny videos.
You can also start a blog or newsletter to keep everyone in the loop about company happenings in different locations. You can feature upcoming events, employee accomplishments, or any content that highlights the company’s culture. This approach provides employees with more comprehensive access to other parts of the company.
You can also experiment with other tools to help departments collaborate effectively. Choose a communication platform that suits your company’s work dynamic, interface preference, and team size.
Organize offsite events
Communication seems awkward when you are managing multiple offices, especially if the teams have no personal relationships. Encourage more interactions by organizing offsite events.
Gone are the days of company gatherings in conference rooms or any four-walled site. Focus on outdoor venues combined with fun elements such as team-building activities. Company-wide events offer a lot of opportunities for brainstorming and conversation. They help in breaking down barriers and power dynamics that happen in relatively flat organizations.
Having a unified company culture can be the key to a company’s success. You become an effective communicator with your employees, recognize everyone’s accomplishments, and value each of their ideas and performances. Taking advantage of technology to make simple changes to your company culture can make a big difference in bridging the gap between multiple office locations while bringing the best to each of them.
