Picture your company’s culture as the threads that bind your organization together. But in today’s landscape of remote and hybrid work, maintaining that fabric can feel like a bit of a tightrope act. The struggle to connect and engage employees is a theme that emerged loud and clear in our independent research report on workplace experience trends and insights.

Employees’ no 1 struggle is “feeling connected and engaged with my work”.

With just 3% of staff operating entirely in-person compared to 43% working fully remote, now is the time to review the strategies and tools that support and elevate your workplace culture and meet the needs of all employees. To get that right, you need to involve everyone in your organization: your leaders, innovators, influencers, remote workers, and newest hires. Everyone.

Your workplace culture isn’t just for insiders. It affects how your business is perceived by employees, customers, industry, and the press. A vibrant culture fuels morale, powers productivity, amplifies talent attraction and retention, and sparks collaboration and innovation. If you can’t pinpoint and experience the essence of your culture, it could be time for a change in the workplace.

Not sure where to start? Here are our top tips.

1. Uncover the behaviors that need to change

To start changing your workplace culture for the better, you need to determine what needs fixing. The best way to do that is to ask employees at every level of your organization. What do they think needs improving? Think wellbeing, engagement, collaboration, morale, training, and personal development. What tools would they like to see in place to support them?

Allow employees to dish out their thoughts through anonymous digital surveys and polls. Their involvement sparks a sense of ownership and investment in delivering a positive culture right across your workplace.

2. Make communication your number-one priority

Our latest research shows that communication is a universal woe – whether you’re glued to the office, hopping between realms, or fully remote.

Remote employees struggle with feeling out of the loop and hybrid employees express a greater struggle than fully remote employees with feeling connected and engaged with their work.

Remote workers often grapple with feeling out of sync, while hybrid employees wrestle even more with staying tethered to their tasks.

The antidote? Fostering open channels of communication. Tools like a company intranet and employee app offer important ways to cement your values among staff and ensure everyone has access to the same information, regardless of their work style.

3. Live your company values

When you truly live your company values, they become the DNA of your culture. This starts with leaders personifying them.

This can include modeling behaviors and attitudes that align with your organization’s values, communicating the importance of those values to your teams through stories that illustrate how they guide actions and decisions.

And make sure those communications cut through to all employees by using virtual get-togethers, video messages, and blog posts (the latter two are great for those who can’t join in real-time).

4. Recognize and reward behaviors that resonate with your values

Positive reinforcement is a surefire way to motivate employees to live your values and instill them in your company culture. Develop methods of recognizing and rewarding desired behaviors to get employees on board with your culture change.

There are lots of ways to recognize your teams for a job well done. For example, celebrate those who consistently walk the talk and align with your values.

5. Support your company culture with the right tech and tools

Two-thirds of respondents (67%) aren’t completely satisfied with their company’s current workplace tools and technologies.

The number 1 employee pain point when it comes to workplace tools and technologies, according to our report, is that not everyone uses the same tools and tech. No wonder hybrid and remote teams find it hard to connect.

Providing easy-to-use technology that integrates the apps they know and use every day helps to bring teams together (and boosts productivity, collaboration, and innovation).

If you’re not sure where to start with culture change, get in touch. We can help you transform your workplace.