COVID-19 has been hitting hard globally and affected our lifestyle more than ever.
We are unable to go out as much and are forced to stay at home because of lockdowns.
This means that grocery shopping, going to cafes or restaurant, traveling isn’t as easy as it used to be. Even with vaccinations nowadays, people still can’t afford to go easily with how restricted some areas are.
In short, the pandemic has changed our life.
This doesn’t just apply to us in our daily lifestyle but also affects our work.
Because of the pandemic, people are forced to work from home all the time without commuting to the office anymore. A study estimates that 1 in 4 people in the US has to work remotely in 2021.
Moreover, on a global scale, 5.7 million employees calculated are working from home half-time or full time.
When working from home, noticeable differences definitely will show to the employees working in your company.
People don’t meet as often and they might not exert as much effort into working because they’re at home.
Employees can also feel that because they’re at home, they’re not getting proper instructions and recognition that’d otherwise be shown in a face-to-face meeting in the office.
Due to that, the company is the one that is affected the most during this pandemic.
The company culture that the company has upheld for a long time now, because of the pandemic, doesn’t work as effectively anymore.
Thus it comes to a point where a company should adjust to the current situation. That means you should change the company culture.
But you might be thinking, how do I change a company culture that has been running for so long?
Don’t worry, here are some tips that you can use to revise your company culture to be more effective during the pandemic.
- Utilize digital tools that are available
- Hold a regular gathering for team bonding
- Normalize chain communication
- Give recognition and benefits to employees
1. Utilize digital tools that are available
In the company, people communicated face-to-face and build rapport from that.
However, working from home means that you’d have to communicate online using a digital platform. In this case, a company should utilize all the tools that are available to build an effective company culture.
The tools are digital platforms such as video communication applications and instant message applications.
Video communication apps are ones of the most used platforms ever since the pandemic hits. During Covid-19, the market of video conferencing has increased up to 500% in the first two months of the pandemic.
Students used it for their online lessons and staff and employees use it to hold their meetings. You’ve certainly used apps like Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and Google Meet before.
They are all free video communication tools that let you have video meetings or conferences (sometimes with limited participants) easily with just a few clicks.
But before that, ask yourself: how often have I used them in my company? Do I hold virtual meetings often? Do employees show themselves on cameras during the meeting?
If the answers are no, then you might have not utilized it correctly or optimally yet. These free apps have so many uses and it can be used more effectively for more efficient company culture. In building a great relationship with employees, you should build rapport and trust.
This comes from interactions in meetings. Try holding work meetings and communicate as often as possible with video conferences. You can even utilize other features in the apps such as the group chat feature that lets you send messages, images, videos, links, and many other things.
By amplifying online communication, employees will find it easier to interact and this encourages them to build connections that would happen in a face-to-face meeting.
2. Hold a regular gathering for team bonding for positive company culture
Communication regarding work is certainly important, but building a connection doesn’t come from just that.
Employees build connections with each other through small talks and personal, private talks. Working from home individually reduces the chance for personal talks to happen because people do their own things from home and finishes work individually.
There’s not much chance to meet other employees aside from work-related reasons. This might disrupt the work environment and your company culture. Employees should always trust and build a good relationship with each other.
Other than holding meetings or video conferences for work, try to encourage employees to expand more than that.
Try holding a weekly or bi-weekly gathering or a casual meeting among employees that lets them share their experiences in working from home.
This could include talks about how they manage their work schedule, what they do in the house aside from work, introducing their pets or their new hobbies, and more things.
Another idea for a casual gathering is a virtual party. Nowadays, people can’t go out and have parties outside. This applies to the employees that are working too.
Generally, company culture will hold drinking parties or welcoming parties for employees to deepen the employees’ bonds.
Since now there’s a pandemic, the alternative is to hold a virtual party. Perhaps each of the employees can bring their own homemade food and beverages and enjoy personal talks.
By building personal connections, the work environment would be more comfortable and the company culture can be more positive.
3. Normalize chain communication
The two points above have emphasized the importance of communication and relationship for effective company culture. However, online communication can be complex in more ways than one.
In virtual meetings, not everyone can get a chance to speak since they might not have to speak up or bring up their opinions.
Some people are also more averse to responding in a virtual meeting because their attention might not be fully there. It also might not be rare for people’s opinions to overlap in a meeting with many participants.
Conversations are harder to do on the phone or online because there is the complicated rule of language and conversations as well as gestures that aren’t captured.
This can lead to many miscommunications and a disruption in the work environment.
Effective company culture should provide clear instruction on how to manage the line of communication.
Perhaps what you can do is break up the company’s employees into teams or smaller teams if they are already in one according to the department. Appoint one member that would lead the team and is the one who’s reporting to the department head or leader.
By breaking ups communication lines like this, it’ll be easier for the subordinates to know the work progress. This can lead to healthy and effective company culture.
4. Give recognition and benefits to employees
During the pandemic, people are ordered to work from home.
You might think that because of the lack of commute and eating out, your monthly spending would be lower. But you’d be surprised to see that there are hidden costs that you’d never think about before during WFH (Work From Home).
Firstly, your internet data spending would be bigger as you’d have to rely on online apps to communicate for your job. Statistics report there is a significant rise in internet usage in the US during the pandemic.
Nowadays, if you want access to high-speed internet with no connection problems, you’d have to pay higher to the internet provider.
This will significantly affect your monthly bill. In fact, a survey has proved that people do worry about their internet bills for months during the pandemic.
There are also some transportation costs and an additional cost for vaccine and sanitary items. Vaccine means you’ll have to go to vaccination, buys some health-related things such as vitamins and supplements.
Companies that have a great work culture should be able to support and encourage the employees to take vaccines and to take proper care of themselves by sanitizing themselves and doing social distance, etc.
Try to give recognition for their effort in taking care of themselves during the pandemic and give them cost-related benefits to cover up for the hidden costs they have to cover.
In doing so, employees will gain a favorable impression of the company culture. Employees will also work harder if you give them recognition, such as giving benefits like this.
Takeaways
Essentially, things that you can prioritize for an effective organizational culture are communication and recognition.
Changing a company culture is not always easy and fast. The process that it takes adjusts slowly over time and there’ll be obstacles to tackle for your company.
But remember that this is something that is necessary for your company to be able to grow amidst the pandemic.
Working from home is not something negative and it can be a great way to do your job if you can utilize this method. Employees can even increase their productivity when working from home.
Won’t it be great if in the times when companies are being hit the hardest is the time your company starts to grow rather than staying stagnant?
And if you are hiring great and culturally-fit employees, do hire them at 9cv9 Hiring Platform today.
You might also want to read:
Effective Company Culture: 4 Tips on How to Build It
