Fostering Belonging in Remote City

In a season when many were forced to trade watercooler chatter at the office with Slack messages and company lunches with Zoom happy hours, many businesses have been surprised by the consistent and even increased efficiencies from their employees. As it turned out, the ease to which teams made the adjustment to remote work now has many businesses re-evaluating their long-term employee location requirements. 

For employees, a company’s culture influences their sense of community and belonging in the workplace.

The digital spaces many of us operate allowed the day-to-day business to carry on as usual. However, as businesses resume their planning for the future, there is certainly more to consider than operations alone. For employees, a company’s culture influences their sense of community and belonging in the workplace. When the culture declines, the schism that takes place can have wide-ranging impacts across engagement, performance, team dynamics, and the bottom line.

Working to maintain or rebuild belonging and community for your team is a must. Whether employees will be returning to the office soon or working from home indefinitely, it would be helpful to consider these questions:

• What am I doing to recognize each member of my team and how they contribute to the success of the whole operation? Bolstering their sense of purpose and belonging reinforces that you’re all in it together.
•  How am I continuing to develop my team and reward their accomplishments? Employees may be working from home for now, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t thinking about professional growth or their career trajectories.
•  What are some ways I can encourage healthy work and life balance even while many may still be stuck inside? Employees will likely be more engaged and more efficient if they have time to reset during their weeks.
• How can I incentivize team building outlets away from a screen? We know virtual happy hours can be fun sometimes, but perhaps your team would enjoy a department or company-wide service opportunity or a few rounds of trivia instead?

Don’t let the brainstorming stop there–maybe it’s time to enlist the brainpower from your whole team! The next great idea for revitalizing your company culture may already exist. Empower your team to share their ideas.