Strengthening Corporate Culture in the Age of Hybrid Work

Trust is the bedrock of any strong organizational culture, and especially when managers are physically distanced from their reports. The good news is that, while many people prefer working from home, having to go into the office on some days apparently hasn’t damaged their trust in their organization’s senior leadership. In fact, nearly 6 in 10 (58%) hybrid workers in the research from Robert Half and Workplace Intelligence reported their trust in their company leaders has grown since returning to the office more often.

Don’t let this lull you into a false sense of security, though. Managers must also build trust directly with their teams. Hybrid team members expect their supervisor to have confidence in their ability to deliver great work on time. Communicate regularly with your staff, providing constructive feedback and recognizing strong work. And don’t micromanage with too many meetings or calls to check on projects’ progress.

Much office culture revolves around real-time interactions, from team meetings to watercooler conversations. Video calls and chat threads allow you to replicate some of this with your distributed team, but too much instant communication can be a distraction and drag down productivity.

Encourage employees to balance real-time collaboration with asynchronous collaboration, with colleagues working toward a common goal but not at the same time. For example, instead of calling a meeting to discuss a new proposal, you can distribute the plan as a series of cloud-based documents and ask team members to leave comments by a comfortable deadline.

Organizational culture can rapidly go south if team members start underperforming. When some employees aren't pulling their weight, it can affect the morale of the rest of the team and disrupt the collaboration you’ve worked hard to build among your staff.

Managers of office-based teams can usually spot when individuals are struggling and help them turn things around before the malaise spreads. But with hybrid workers, struggles may be more difficult to detect, requiring you to be especially vigilant for any signs of stress, low morale and burnout.

Has a top performer's output dipped? Is a star employee missing deadlines? Has a normally vocal person suddenly gone quiet in meetings? Reach out quickly to offer support in cases like these. Also, emphasize to your full staff that you appreciate the unique problems some hybrid workers face and that you’re always open to new solutions.

In a distributed team, proximity bias, managers unconsciously favoring employees they are in close contact with, could mean that workers who spend a good chunk of time in the office are more likely to receive raises, promotions and career-boosting assignments than their remote colleagues. This is a concern for many: The Robert Half and Workplace Intelligence research found 66% of hybrid professionals feel that choosing to work remotely more often could slow their career advancement.

Proximity bias can damage your company culture when it’s seen as discriminating against team members who more frequently work from home. Employers have options to tackle this issue. For example, the majority (54%) of HR respondents said they offer training for managers on how to optimize fairness in the hybrid workplace.

Hybrid work wouldn't be possible without technology, but putting in place too many hard-to-master corporate systems can become overwhelming — and damaging to an otherwise favorable work culture. Just as you provide technology tools that make it easier for employees in different locations to work together, you can also use technology to help people disconnect. Email and notifications can be made to limit after-hours use or to let others know they are trying to reach someone outside that colleague’s working hours. User-invoked do-not-disturb-modes are also included with some apps.

It’s up to you to help your team bridge geographical divides and come together to work toward common goals. Building on that collaboration to create an environment where everyone feels seen and valued no matter where they work is a hallmark of an organizational culture that draws talent and keeps it.