How to keep a remote workforce engaged

The working world has seen a lot of change over the past few years. From Covid sending us all home to the great resignation and now the dawn of quiet quitting. Keeping a remote workforce engaged is essential to not only a great company culture but also to retaining talent.

One of the things the pandemic did show us is that we can work remotely. The technology is there – from Zoom calls to Slack or Teams and Google Docs. We had the tools we needed to communicate and work no matter where we were. They also give us the flexibility to have a better work-life balance.

Even though we can connect and talk to our colleagues across the country (or world) some employees still long for regular catch-ups face to face. People still want to feel like they belong – those ‘watercooler’ moments are important. So how do you get teams to connect when we aren’t all together? It comes down to how we communicate, the ceremonies we hold and being understanding and flexible of each of our working situations. And because of that, we had to work on maintaining and updating our company cultures from a remote-first perspective.

The rituals of how we communicate

Wanting flexibility and a work-life balance is nothing new. Even before we were all sent home during the pandemic, there were some remote practices in place or flexible working policies.

Now that we are allowed to live our lives outside again, the challenge we face as people teams is to not only maintain that flexibility but also juggle a hybrid world and make sure everyone is still included and communicating.

As our ways of working have changed, there is a challenge to maintain the essence of our culture – from in-person, to remote and now on to hybrid working. We still rely on technology and tools to onboard new colleagues and stay visible and available to everyone no matter if they are in the office or at home. We have to ensure that no matter where someone is, they feel supported, heard, and able to achieve their goals and ambitions.

To do this, there needs to be a strong culture among people across the company. No matter how big or small an organisation is, investing the time to create this culture is essential. Culture needs to be collaborative, open and supportive with low ego and low politics.

At Mettle, we’ve always had a certain level of flexibility and remote working to help our team in establishing a healthy work-life balance but also to promote the importance of personal well-being. A lot of our team have families, run side hustles or have other commitments – we want to be supportive of that.

It’s very important for us to rely on leaders to be close to their teams and give them autonomy on how they work. Our mission-led approach helps to create multidisciplinary teams where people are constantly getting to know each other.

In this move to a hybrid working world, our teams still make sure to get together virtually to talk. And it isn’t always work-related. Having a virtual coffee with a teammate or catching up about the latest Netflix show you’ve watched is as important as talking about projects and work done.

We have to remember the human element to work – we might not be able to always catch up in the kitchen for a quick chat, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t chat at all. There are a lot of self-organising communities created on Slack where people share stories or thoughts around common interests, to help foster better working relationships amongst colleagues.

The importance of ceremonies

Communication is one aspect of a hybrid team, and maintaining ceremonies is another. As much as those in-person get-togethers, watercooler moments and team outings are an important part of any company culture, there is a way to maintain that virtually.

Moving from a fully remote working environment to a hybrid one, these ceremonies have become more critical than ever, as it helps us to remember that we’re not alone. We have team members and wonderful colleagues who still strive for a common goal even if we don’t share the same space.

From a company-wide perspective, having ceremonies where everyone gets together to celebrate wins, showcase new work or discuss concerns fosters this culture of collaboration and openness. This is important in a hybrid working world. Keeping employees in the know and taking on feedback helps them to feel heard and know that their opinion is valid.

We ensure that we have easily-accessible dashboards for all of our goals that are used at these ceremonies. This is because it’s important to keep remote workers updated on projects, goals, and company news. Since a lot of information at companies gets circulated through chats across the office or going out for a coffee, those employees working remotely can feel disconnected and left out.

Creating a good work environment in a hybrid world takes two things: being able to listen to employees and understand their needs, and putting in the time to create a positive culture. Communication and collaboration go a long way in this new working world and with the willingness to make the changes, any company can succeed.