Creating a positive culture in a hybrid workplace

After the Covid 19 pandemic, there has been a significant increase in businesses that have embraced a hybrid working model. This means more workers are now splitting their job duties between the office and their home, or not going to the office at all, depending on what they have agreed with the employer. While hybrid working has several benefits for businesses and employees alike, it also poses challenges for companies trying to ensure a collaborative workspace. For instance, encouraging teamwork is much more challenging than before when implementing such a model.

In a hybrid setting, showing employees emotional, intellectual and physical support plays a crucial role in setting them up for success in your company. Although it may seem complicated, building a positive work environment is indeed doable, leaving employees feeling like they are valued members of your companies instead of just salaried workhorses. Here are our tips on how to do so.

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Pay attention to the onboarding process

Starting a job looks very different in a remote environment, making onboarding daunting. If organisations don’t take the right approach, employee turnover will be inevitable. Creating a positive work environment should begin right from the moment when you hire a new employee. So, you should create opportunities to help newbies get through the initiation phase and ensure they understand their role.

There are different strategies to implement in your organization to this end, such as:

• Introducing internal mentors;
• Training employees on workplace safety practices;
• Setting clear expectations regarding their performance and behavioural standards;
• Asking employees for feedback on the onboarding process.

Encourage communication

Whether at the office or remotely, communication remains one of the most important aspects when it comes to the success of a company. Without it, you can’t create a positive workplace culture. As a leader, you want to ensure that no one in your team feels left out; thus, it’s essential to prioritise building an inclusive atmosphere where everyone feels seen. There are several ways to establish effective communication within your organisation, such as:

• Having a dedicated channel for each new project;
• Including coworkers in adequate email chains;
• Ensuring everyone can access team priorities by pinning them on Slack.

Simple and honest communication is key to fostering teamwork and building a sense of community that will help you succeed as you move forward with your business.

Ensure a comfortable work environment

It is one thing to ensure a positive team dynamic, but creating a good physical work environment is another story. It doesn’t matter if employees are at the office or home -comfort in the workspace is always essential to be productive and achieve great results. If your team regularly comes to the office, you must ensure they work in a productive space. According to Vepa, the modern workplace represents an engine for innovation and health, so as a leader, it’s your responsibility to provide employees with the best conditions at the office.

This includes temperature-regulated interiors, as well as ergonomic furniture. Poor office ergonomics has a negative impact on employees’ health, leading to lost work time. Back and neck pain and vision problems are just some of the issues that workers can deal with when not working in a comfortable area. So, if you want to keep employees healthy and productive, you need to ensure the office is equipped with the best furnishings that provide optimal comfort. Visit https://vepa.co.uk/ to check out the best solutions to maximise comfort over working hours.

Consider everyone’s ideas

Your team members are all unique, and each can come with great ideas to help grow your business. Therefore, you should take advantage of this diversity and consider what they have to say. It doesn’t matter if it comes from an old or newer employee – every person in your company can bring a different perspective to a particular project, which can go a long way in its success.

So, you should allow everyone – and also encourage them – to express their ideas freely, and when they do, make sure to give the best ones a try! You can only win if you do so – even if the idea many not help you reach the expected milestone in your business, it will at least ensure team members become more invested in their work.

Create learning opportunities

If you want to ensure success in your team, it isn’t enough to focus on what improves their productivity in the short term. It’s also important to prioritize workplace learning. Employees can only thrive in a workplace where professional development is at the forefront – they want to feel challenged, and this is only possible by creating opportunities so that they can constantly learn new things and evolve at your company.

There are several ways to help employees grow professionally, but you must first ask their needs. Promoting learning at the workplace is now easier thanks to technology, so take advantage of all the available resources and tools. Obviously, no matter how great your professional development program is, it won’t mean anything unless employees will participate in it. So, focus on encouraging educational pursuits among employees.    

Show appreciation to employees

People like receiving appreciation for their qualities, which is especially important in the workplace. Employees want to feel like what they do matters, and if you praise them, they will likely be even more motivated to do their job well. There are simple ways to show honest appreciation to your team members, such as creating a shout-out group chat on your company’s platform and acknowledging their hard work there.

Doing so will help employees understand what qualities they bring to a project, and encourage them to keep performing well. If they feel they have a meaningful contribution, they will naturally want to keep doing their best to help achieve your company’s goals. So, don’t underestimate the power of a simple ‘thank you’.

The bottom line

Building high-performing teams is all about creating the ideal hybrid work environment. Company work culture is an essential part of employees’ lives, so as a leader, you want to focus on implementing the practices discussed above to ensure they are happy and engaged.