How To Cultivate A Strong Hybrid Workplace Culture
One of the first initiatives in my role as an HR generalist for my current employer was to develop a formal hybrid work model that fits the organizational culture, meets the needs of employees, and maintains compliance.
Since RTO became possible, we have employees in retail settings working on-site, most corporate office employees have varying hybrid schedules, and the IT department is almost all remote workers.
We’ve worked to cultivate a strong, unique culture based on our values of sustainability, creativity, and quality, and we want all team members to feel part of it, regardless of where they work.
It’s an ongoing process, but I wanted to share some ideas for how we’ve approached hybrid workplace culture as well as ideas from other people leaders.
The Importance of Building Company Culture in Remote Environments
Culture is formed by instilling the values, mission, strategy, vision, policies, and codes of conduct into every part of a business.
In a traditional onsite work environment, these are more easily observed and adopted—for example how people interact with each other, how they dress and conduct themselves, the company values displayed around the office, events and socials, and whether office doors are open or closed.
Of course, hybrid and remote teams miss out on much of this, so we have to be even more intentional about nurturing the culture we want and ensuring they feel part of it.
As Hope Horner, CEO of Lemonlight, rightly points out “Building a strong hybrid culture isn't about trying to recreate the old office environment. It's about reshaping your culture to fit this new reality, about being intentional in leveraging the strengths of the model while mitigating the weaknesses”.
Hybrid and remote work required us to adapt our culture. For example, we amped up the elements of trust and autonomy to support the nature of remote working.
Something we found was that onsite employees weren’t connecting as well with the fully remote workers, and newly hired remote workers were having a harder time collaborating on projects that needed big creative ideas.
You may have to think outside of the box. For example, adopting certain office management tools allows companies to balance in-office and remote work, creating a more effective hybrid workplace.
Many people need to collaborate across departments to develop new products and materialize creative designs, and we found that hybrid teams were struggling with idea creation (creativity).
That team is now more strategic about coordinating their days in the office, which I will talk more about below.
How To Build A Winning Hybrid Culture
No two organizations are the same, and the idea in this section isn’t to be prescriptive about how your culture should be, but to ensure that the culture you want is successfully implemented in a hybrid environment.
Over-communicate
Being part of a culture is feeling connected to it, which is why communication across all levels is key.
As Horner highlights, “You've got to over-communicate. We're talking regular communication from senior managers, all-hands meetings, frequent check-ins, and hitting people from all angles: email, Slack, video calls. It's about making sure everyone is in the loop, no matter where they're working from.”
Consider communication tools with built-in, customizable notifications—for example, for your meeting room booking system—sometimes a little ping is all it takes to get someone up-to-date or send a really important reminder.
Recognizing when people uphold the company values
A great way to instill your values and the organizational behaviors they drive is to recognize people for upholding them.
For example, your company may use channels in Slack, Teams, employee recognition platform, or newsletters to celebrate when a team member demonstrates one of the values in a positive way.
We also started a weekly email newsletter with a shout-out section. Anyone can recognize a fellow team member for showcasing our brand in a positive light, collaborating across teams, or demonstrating our values through their work.
As Horner points out, “You've got to embrace the unique advantages of the hybrid model. The flexibility, the autonomy, the focus on results over face time. We make a point of celebrating those things, of highlighting how they make our culture special.”
Facilitate personal connections
“Hybrid workplace culture requires intentionality... You need to create opportunities for remote workers to feel included, whether it’s through virtual team-building activities or regular check-ins to make sure they’re engaged.” — Crystal Pinney-Ramos, HR Technology Strategist @ cClearHR
Work is work, but people are social creatures and there’s value in less formal relationships to help uphold the culture and break down silos across the org.
As Horner notes, “You’ve got to create space for those casual, watercooler-type interactions too. That's why we've set up dedicated Slack channels for just shooting the breeze, having virtual coffee breaks, even doing online game nights. It's not the same as bumping into each other in the office kitchen, but it helps keep those personal connections alive”.
Getting everyone together once or twice a year is also a great way to help build relationships, create a sense of community, and give remote employees the opportunity to experience the company culture in person.
It also gives the chance for company leaders to reinforce cultural values, typically through presentations and employee recognition/rewards.
You might even want to run sessions where people collaborate on reflecting on past scenarios and identifying instances where cultural values were upheld.
Be strategic about days in the office for hybrid employees
As great as async work can be for productivity, we found that having coordinated in-office days helped overcome the challenge of creativity in our idea-generating teams.
This will look different for every company, but we’ve found it’s better to let teams decide. Your company may prefer density days, where more employees come in on certain days, or maybe office space is at a premium, so teams have to space out their in-person days.
A few examples of how my company handles it:
- Talent Acquisition team schedules their in-office days based on in-person interviews, typically Tuesdays and Thursdays.
- The Product team is in the office on Monday to receive samples from vendors.
Calibrate onboarding
Sharing the company’s values, mission, vision, and strategy with all employees is key to ensuring that everyone knows how their work contributes to the organization as a whole.
It’s certainly not something that can be shared once in onboarding and then never mentioned again, but it’s a great place to start.
A great onboarding plan can work for onsite, hybrid, and remote employees with a few minor adjustments to format and delivery.
New hires at my company meet with an HR representative on their first day to finalize onboarding (most of which is completed electronically prior).
Onsite employees meet in person, while fully remote employees meet via Zoom. We strive to have hybrid employees onsite for the first week so they can meet their team in person, form bonds, and be assimilated into our culture.
Of course, this requires a little office space management and a doff of the cap to our hot desk booking software to make coordinating this process easier!
Be technology forward
Being technology-forward is essential for building a strong hybrid workplace culture, as it bridges the gap between in-office and remote employees. I'm not just talking about employee monitoring tools, either.
HR tools & apps like video conferencing platforms, project management software, and e-signature software streamline collaboration and ensure that tasks are completed efficiently, regardless of location.
But also think above-and-beyond: Technology can make hybrid workplaces fun by enabling virtual games, team hangouts, and interest groups. Platforms like Slack or Microsoft Teams can host trivia, Q&A sessions, or casual coffee chats.
By adopting technologies that foster communication, teamwork, and convenience, companies can create an inclusive and productive environment where all employees feel connected.
Get employee feedback
Providing a platform for employees to share their thoughts and ideas is a great way to get feedback on lots of things, including culture.
My company sends out periodic pulse surveys to different teams and occasionally the whole company. These quick surveys give leadership an understanding of employee sentiment on a particular topic e.g. how to best calibrate a hybrid model.
We used the pulse surveys early in our return-to-office rollout to inform our decisions on timing and to ensure we were meeting the needs of employees as they returned to the office.
Doing What’s Right For You
Hybrid and remote working have had a huge impact on us as a business, and mostly for the better.
There have been some challenges along the way but, using the methods above, we’ve come to a place where our values and ways of working are consistently expressed across the business.
For further advice on getting hybrid right, check out Alex and Cillian’s excellent article on hybrid workforce best practices.
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