Anja Honnefelder. Chief People Officer & General Counsel at trivago.
getty
In many areas of the world, the return to normal is full speed ahead. But with other locales still handling lockdowns and lower vaccination rates, the “new normal” is emerging at a slower pace. What we all have in common as we look ahead to the future is that business as we know it has entered a transitional time.
As buildings reopen and employees trickle back into the office, it is inevitable that some employees will look to work from home for the foreseeable future, making the most of the newfound flexibility spurred by the pandemic. From working parents now planning childcare to employees who have moved away from their office-base, flexibility has become increasingly important to them, even while missing their co-workers and other office perks.
According to a survey of over 100,000 job seekers, company culture is the most important factor job seekers consider. Alternatively, employees who don’t like their company’s culture are 24% more likely to walk away. Employers can no longer ignore that workplace culture — offering a sense of belonging and identity — is imperative to both new and existing talent. Maintaining and refining a positive workplace culture that fosters and addresses all the best of what we learned during the pandemic, like work flexibility (and the worst, like inappropriate Zoom attire), should be at the center of this effort.
Ironically, some teams felt even more connected during lockdown with frequent Zoom meetings, virtual happy hours and more. In the absence of facilitating in-person gatherings and social events, HR professionals and executives had to get more creative than ever to foster a sense of community among fellow colleagues.
At trivago, we learned through action and are not afraid of trial and error to cultivate a collaborative, thriving and engaging culture. We slowly brought 700 employees back to campus after it was safe for us to do so in fall 2020, which gave us the opportunity to show new employees our identity and culture in Duesseldorf.
If your company is looking to continue and build upon the positive cultural shifts created over the past 16 months, here are five ways for you to mindfully keep workplace culture alive during this transition.
1. Bring employees together again.
Loneliness emerged as a major problem during the pandemic. As we return to what feels like normal again, it’s important to create opportunities for in-person gathering once again (complying with local guidelines).
For many people, colleagues make up their social circle; and for employees who joined the company during the remote phase, being integrated quickly and understanding the unique culture your company has to offer will be key. Employees may even be trying to adjust to a new home city or country, as many of our new employees are. Whether it’s through a summer party or company offsite, be sure to take cues on what kind of social interaction your employees may be looking for at this time.
2. Adopt a remote-first approach.
It can be easy for those who return to the office to fall back into old ways of working, i.e., utilizing conference rooms for in-person meetings and forgetting about the days of Zoom. With a hybrid model, and to ensure no employee is unintentionally left out of meeting conversation and banter, adopt an “always on” video approach to meetings. If one member is working from home, then all members should join the meeting via individual screens. This levels the playing field and ensures everyone is included equally in conversation.
You can even encourage teams to nominate a Zoom buddy or two. These team members should be responsible for making sure employees who are participating remotely are actively integrated. Also, consider a policy in which colleagues dialing in remotely always get the first say at the start of a meeting so their voice isn’t left out from the onset.
3. Be mindful of career growth opportunities for all employees.
For employees who choose to continue remote work for most of their workdays, make it clear that the promotion structure will remain the same for all so that one subset of your workforce that tends to come to the office regularly — and thus gets more visibility — isn’t getting preferential treatment during the promotion cycle. Consider organizing team days where every member of the team works in the office. That will not only strengthen the team spirit, but will also ensure that employees who work mostly remote get enough visibility and the opportunity to bond with the team. When arranging learning opportunities at the office, make sure that colleagues or outside speakers leading these will always offer a remote option so that it is available to all.
4. Keep up the good communication.
According to an MIT Sloan Management Review survey of over 400 global HR leaders in April 2020, the top response for the most meaningful thing that their company did during the remote work period was issue high-quality communication.
Communication should continue to happen on the same mediums that all employees are now well-acquainted with, and updates should remain frequent and transparent even if weekly face-to-face communication is taking place.
5. Honor age and generational differences.
We’ve learned during this time that different age groups have vastly different preferences for ways of working. Millennials are more likely to thrive in a hybrid model, where GenX workers tend to value office time. Be mindful and respectful of these differences. If you need to get better acquainted with what these differences are in your organization, research them or issue an employee survey asking for preferences on ways of working and feedback as you move through the transition.
Remember that everyone is learning and navigating the transition together, and it’s okay to learn as you go. Lean on your network of HR professionals to learn what’s working for other companies and don’t be afraid to test and learn. Your employees will take notice!
Forbes Human Resources Council is an invitation-only organization for HR executives across all industries. Do I qualify?
