According to a recent Glassdoor survey, over 77% of employees look closely at company culture before applying for a job, while 58% of employees say that company culture is actually more important to them than salary
These figures aren’t all that surprising when you consider that company culture defines most of your life from Monday to Friday. It’s the sum of your company’s values, traditions, beliefs, behaviors, and attitudes. Culture is usually the reason why you love your job—or the reason why you hate it.
So how can you make sure that your team or organization doesn’t neglect this critical part of the employee experience? Luckily, remote teams can still have a thriving, values-driven culture. I know because I’ve been making this a reality for 10+ years. Read on to learn from my experiences.
Step 1: Identify your mission
First, identify the guiding principles of your organization. These can be in the form of vision, mission, and values statements. Do they already exist? Are employees and leaders aware of them and are they living them? If so, recognize and encourage those in your team that champion these values. If not, this is the first task you need to complete.
Step 2: Establish how to live your values
Next, use your values to build your cultural foundation. If something like “Putting customers first” is key for your organization, review the performance goals and metrics that align, create recognition opportunities that celebrate, ensure onboarding covers who your customers are and how each role serves them. Bring this conversation into 1:1s, team calls and performance objectives. If “Diversity, inclusion, and belonging” are part of your values, make sure you look at your leadership and programs to ensure they reflect the commitment. Also, take a look at the training you are providing to make sure that employees know what this takes on their part to make this a reality. Do this for each of the guiding principles so that every employee can speak to them and cite habits and behaviors that support them.
Step 3: Cultivate culture together
Once these guiding principles are understood, and you have started putting words into action, it’s time to engage the community. If you previously had a strong office culture, and have been relying solely on video conference calls to stay connected, you may be feeling some loss of community.
People create culture together. Refocus on community by trying some of these ideas:
Step 4: Review and improve
Finally, use the data that you have to understand where you are. Identify metrics you can use to assess how you are doing on living and leading with your guiding principles. What do your customers say about you? Regularly survey your employees to understand what is working and where you should focus improvements. Would they recommend your company to a friend? How are you doing on diverse representation in your company, on the leadership team, promotions? Once you have the data, make it visible and work toward improving where you find gaps and celebrating where you are doing well.
Culture is a team sport. Everyone must know the rules and expectations as defined in your vision, mission, and values, and do their part to make it real. Doing this remotely takes thoughtfulness, creativity, and a plan—which you now have. Start today and see what you can build together.
Want to join a company with a strong, values-driven culture? We’re hiring now. Explore careers at Oracle.