Maintaining company culture
With the majority of non-key worker employees now working remotely for what looks to be weeks at the very least, it is more important than ever to strengthen company engagement to avoid them feeling disconnected.
Corporate identity or company culture; whatever term an organisation uses to describe its values and character it takes years to develop and time and effort to maintain. For some organisations, a consistent drip-feed of company news, response to employee feedback, and the sharing of strategic direction is coordinated, drafted and communicated. For others it is as simple as close working relationships across the business and a two-way communication.
Whatever the approach, integral to the success of any organisation’s identity is the relationships between the people who work side by side. Technology such as Microsoft Teams and Zoom has made home-working far more easy but alone, can't replace the sense of connectedness people feel with their work-colleagues and a culture that binds people together every day.
At the moment, and for most employers across the property industry, the main focus is simply how to survive, yet it is crucial that that at this time of immense challenge, employees maintain their feeling of belonging, of being valued and supported and actually, irrespective of what we're being told to do, don't feel isolated.
This is especially so for organisations such as construction companies where some employees are working from home while others are still out on site. Who knows for how much longer they will be working, but they are doing a vital job, albeit not an easy one at this time.
The maintenance of regular internal communication to connect people is not just for employee well-being but to ensure that everyone continues to feel motivated enough to be productive. A combination of social isolation, the management of children and a lack of daily work routine or structure can have a negative impact on the most committed and well-intentioned people.
While internal communications and employee engagement may not be a priority for those trying to keep their heads above water, it is everybody working together as a team that is most likely to keep a company afloat.
Below are five steps on how to keep people feeling connected to their company. The list is not exhaustive, all ideas are welcome.
1. Over-communicate – in times of change and or crisis it is more important than ever to keep people up to date with what is happening in the organisation. One of the leading drivers of company engagement is feeling informed about what is going on.
2. Get creative: use video to be a visible leader – most people are used to seeing an MD wander around the office; continue to be visible by using video to speak to employees directly.
3. Maintain the regular communications that people expect – consistency creates reassurance; if your company develops a weekly newsletter and the MD issues a monthly email then continue to do it.
4. Adapt your content to suit your audience needs – understand and empathise with your audience and modify your communications to address what is important to them. If your communications usually contain social events and people news, continue to develop this but be creative and ask people to share experiences from their own homes.
5. Open the door to feedback – use internal platforms during times of change to deliver messages and make it clear that two-way communication is encouraged.