The secret to having a great company culture when you’re all at home

The office is dead! Long live working from wherever you happen to be today!

Which could still be the office - if that suits you better – or it could be the office just one or two days a week (if your employees have to come to the office on rota because of social distancing guidelines). That’s the point really. Now we all know that most of us can work from home (or the shed, or the garage, or wherever …), people and businesses are going to be very reluctant to go back to the way we were. And that brings with it a raft of other challenges – particularly from a company culture, employee engagement and IT/governance perspective. We’re currently using our blogs to explore some of these issues, alongside a range of webinars we’re running too (see our Events), bringing you tips, advice and discussion around these challenges and how to mitigate them.

Let’s start with company culture. I’m going to be bold here – if you don’t have a company intranet then you’re going to find it nigh on impossible to build your company culture and keep your employees engaged. I don’t mean an old fashioned, last century style, electronic messaging board with document sharing functionality, that no-one ever reads, and where only Barbara in HR posts notices about expenses due dates. I’m talking about modern intranets, such as Valo, that can become the lifeblood of your business, the core of your company culture, leading to engaged employees, who feel part of the bigger picture, valued and listened to. And we all know that engaged employees are happier, more productive and less likely to leave.

How can a modern intranet get you to this company culture nirvana? Well, the secret is it’s not actually that big a secret …

Stay connected and communicate - use your intranet to keep people informed:

- Use it to promote your company mission, values and strategy.
- Tell your teams what's going on - how you're doing as a business, latest successes or new projects, provide insights into what's happening in all teams, in all departments, in all regions, across the whole company.
- Promote and communicate learning and development opportunities.
- Communicate and recognise performance and achievements (not just work related ones either)

All of this brings people together and brings out the best in them too. It promotes conversations between those who might not normally see each other in an office. Perhaps most importantly though, don’t just have one team (or person) responsible for all content and news/messaging/announcements. Get representatives from all departments or functions. People want to know what the tech team or sales team are working on too.

Take a leaf out of Facebook ...

Why do you think social media is so popular? Because it gives everyone a voice and a chance to be seen and to be heard - to join in the conversation. Modern intranets can also create this social experience. It makes it so much easier to share information whether it’s one-on-one or across the board. Use it to share social news and to tell people about planned events, or even those that have taken place – along with the obligatory photos!

Make communication a two way street:

Giving employees the chance to comment on articles or news posted by others helps everyone feel that their voices can be heard and that they’re valued. Plus it makes top brass come across as more accessible and approachable, fostering that honest and open company culture vibe.

New employee on-boarding:

Modern intranets are great at giving new starters the lowdown on the company and culture. It can provide clarity on the shape and size of your organisation, roles, and responsibilities – individual bios and profiles help employees recognise and understand what colleagues do, especially when you use features such as Valo People Finder.

At the end of the day, it’s all about engagement. Encouraging communication amongst your employees, not just at them, and involving people at all levels in all things. Replicating the water cooler dynamic through your intranet, helping people stay motivated and wanting to work.

For more tips on engaging remote workers, read our complementary post here.

Or sign up for our next 30 minute webinar on Valo intranets HERE.