Transitioning to a fully-remote work environment hasn’t been easy.
One challenge, in particular, revolves around maintaining that same sense of connected and engaging company culture that typically occurs inside the office — the proverbial water cooler chats, the ability to meet in a conference room and even the spontaneous happy hours.
But all hope for staying connected is not lost. Thanks to creative HR teams, companies are taking the challenge head-on and successfully implementing initiatives that keep their culture alive even in a remote setting.
Built In LA checked in with Kelly Battelle, vice president of people operations at adtech company GumGum, and Victoria Tamer, office and HR coordinator at healthtech company Honeybee Health, to gain some insight into the initiatives they’re implementing to build and maintain a connected and engaging company culture while remote.
Since transitioning to a remote setting, GumGum launched “Connect,” an initiative that encompasses the term as both a concept and an online platform for employees to stay connected to one another through various programs, VP of People Operations Kelly Battelle said.
What’s the most notable change you’ve seen in your company culture since transitioning to remote work?
We’ve had to become more conscious and thoughtful in how we stay connected. We’ve always placed value on looking out for one another at GumGum: celebrating the happy times, but also being there when things get tough. This close-knit, caring culture doesn’t happen by mistake — you have to create opportunities for team members to communicate and connect. So with remote working, it was vital that we found ways to replace all those in-person moments like grabbing a coffee, going out for lunch or arranging a fun team outing.
An example of how we did this was by launching our Connect initiative. Connect is both a concept and a tool. As a concept, it brands and packages all of the amazing opportunities that we create for our team members to connect with one another. This connection is enabled and made easy by an internal platform where team members can check out the great events we do and sign up to participate.
We also use it to post team news, provide updates on our ERGs and share photos about our happy life events, such as new babies and engagements. Prior to the Connect initiative, our events and programs appeared as more ad hoc. By developing a brand, program and package of our offerings, people feel more motivated to participate and see the value.
You can uplift the culture within a virtual environment and create a strong and consistent sense of belonging.”
What’s one culture-building ritual your company has kept alive since going remote?
One ritual we adapted is our “Leadership Bites Dinner Series.” Before the COVID-19 pandemic, this was a chance for someone like our CTO to fly into New York and take a small cross-functional group out for dinner at a nice restaurant, allowing the leader to get to know team members, have more in-depth conversations and establish connections.
As we converted to 100 percent remote working, we knew we wanted to continue providing this but we would have to tweak it. Now, instead of a restaurant, we host themed virtual events such as wine tastings or chocolate masterclasses hosted by one of our executives. It’s fun and innovative and people love the specialness of it. One team member told us, “That was the best in-person event I’ve been to on Zoom!”
What’s the most important piece of advice you'd share with other companies that are looking for new ways to build and maintain culture right now?
To keep culture alive and stay connected in a virtual space, you have to double down on your employee experience strategies. In times of stress and anxiety, the temptation might be to step back a little and simplify things. But instead, you have to get more expansive and creative. Get your best people together and focus on the goal of engagement.
For example, you might notice people quickly get tired of virtual happy hours. That’s your cue to mix things up — ask people what’s interesting to them. You want to appeal to different personality styles, and don’t be afraid to use a bit of imagination. You can experiment with timings, too. We started running some virtual events during the day since Zoom fatigue had set in by the evening.
Various teams also implemented their own offerings. For example, I introduced an awards program in my team that recognized people who exemplify GumGum’s values of thoughtfulness, agility and grit. Since GumGum’s values are closely tied to a sense of connection, it meant we became really intentional about culture and communication. As long as you’re willing to use a little imagination, you can uplift the culture within the virtual environment and create a strong and consistent sense of belonging.
In order to keep employees connected and engaged in a virtual setting, Honeybee Health holds weekly all-hands meetings, game nights and happy hours. Victoria Tamer, office and HR coordinator, said that these virtual get-togethers are a great way for employees to de-stress and get to know each other in a way they otherwise wouldn’t have.
What’s the most notable change you’ve seen in your company culture since transitioning to remote work?
Honeybee Health’s culture has always centered around our office (which we like to call our “hive”). For example, before COVID-19, much of our team-building involved shared lunches and other food-related events such as holiday potlucks or food truck nights. Obviously, that doesn’t translate to a virtual setting. But we’ve found innovative ways to still spend time together outside of work, and I’ve found that the transition to remote work has actually allowed us to get to know each other in completely different ways. Now we have game nights and virtual happy hours instead, which help us maintain our tight-knit culture.
Encouraging employees to turn their cameras on during video meetings keeps people connected and reminds them that there’s a real human on the other side of the screen.”
What’s one culture-building ritual your company has kept alive since going remote?
The culture-building ritual that we always practice, regardless of the distance, is an open-door policy. Honeybee Health employees can always set up video chats with the CEOs or other hive members just to catch up or check-in with each other. We also hold a weekly all-hands meeting — with everyone’s camera on! — so that everyone can see each other’s faces and share updates.
One new culture-building activity has been game nights. Trivia and other games have been easy to coordinate over video chat and it’s provided a great way for employees to de-stress from anxieties around the pandemic while getting to know each other better.
What’s the most important piece of advice you’d share with other companies that are looking for new ways to build and maintain culture right now?
The most important piece of advice I’d give is to experiment. I understand that it can be tricky because many of us aren’t used to working remotely, but do your research! You’ll find that there are so many options to keep your team happy. It may be a bit of trial and error, but it’s better to try many different things and see what works for your team. Trust me, they’ll appreciate it. One other small tip: Try to encourage employees to turn their cameras on whenever possible during video meetings. This helps keep everyone connected and helps remind people that there is a real human on the other side of the screen.
