Navigating Company Culture in a *STILL* Hybrid World

Here’s a stat that might make your “surprise face” come out…

While only 16% of companies allow FULLY remote work, over 62% of employees report working remotely at least occasionally.

Here’s why this is surprising…

Before COVID-19, these percentages were significantly lower. And if we’re being honest, its safe to say that many (if not most) of us anticipated a full “return to the office” after things settled down…or at least at some point.

But then this happened…

Employees realized that they actually ENJOYED working remotely, and many companies realized that they were okay with that. Further, seeing both a boost in employee productivity and a decrease in company overhead (decreased or eliminated office space, etc) made the “WFH life” more attractive than ever.

So here we are. Three years later and there’s really just one word to best describe the location people are working from these days: HYBRID.

Here at Elevate, we have the opportunity to work with a vast variety of companies - allowing us to have an inside look at how businesses are really operating these days. And without a doubt, the majority of our partners offer some sort of hybrid work environment. This looks a little different, but the most common things we see are…

1 or 2 days in the office per week/month
Some local employees in office, others fully remote living across the country (or world)
A mix of both

Does your company’s current structure/requirements fall into any of these categories?

If you’re leading a hybrid team with a lot of high achievers, productivity might be the last of your concerns. Remember - most employees report feeling more motivated/productive when they work remotely.

In our experience, the trickiest thing about managing a hybrid workforce is creating an maintaining a strong company culture.

In case you missed it, we recently published a blog all about the importance of having a strong company culture, and how it directly impacts the success of your business - read it here!

Today, we’d like to share 3 tips for navigating company culture in a still hybrid world:

Keep it personal. Just because you might be meeting on Zoom every week instead of at the office, you can still keep things personal. Intentionally allocate time at the beginning of meetings to connect as a team. Another great way to do this (especially for larger teams) is to have a designated communication line for personal updates, etc. Consider creating a slack channel where team members can share photos of their recent hiking adventures, baby’s first birthday, and more. Bottom line? Your people want to know that you care, and they want to feel connected as a team.

Invest in your people. Chances are, you’re saving money by not having to provide office space and exuberant amounts of copy paper for your entire workforce. Consider how you can budget for investing in your people - maybe it’s a “coffee on me” every few months, or perhaps it’s a more significant gift on their work anniversary. This also doesn’t have to be financial - for example, what if you planned for 30-minute 1:1 meetings with your core team each month or quarter to be intentional and really check in on them? Investing in your people looks different for each company/team…do what works best for you. Bottom line? Just show them that you see and appreciate them.

Plan for in-person. At the end of the day, nothing compares to gathering in person. So plan for it! Again, this looks different for every company, but if you’re all located in one city, plan a happy hour or in-office lunch to connect as a team. If you’re scattered throughout different cities, assign a team member as “captain” for that city and charge them with scheduling a time for their local teammates to meet up for coffee. If you’re really ready to make a splash, plan a company retreat at an awesome destination (PS- we’d love to help if you do this)! Bottom line? Even if it’s once per year - meeting in person has impact!

There’s a pretty solid chance that a fully in-person workforce is a thing of the past, and not something we’ll see again in the years to come. The world has changed, and technology offers more opportunities than ever before. So however you feel about this reality, here’s our advice: EMBRACE IT!

You can still have an incredible company culture, even if your employees are scattered across the world.

Need help brainstorming ways to connect as a team or someone to facilitate structured team building with your hybrid workforce? Elevate Founder & CEO Billy Boughey has guided hundreds of team members through practical, impactful workshops, all created to enhance engagement and boost culture. Click here to book a call and learn more!

Navigating Company Culture in a STILL Hybrid World

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