Redefining company culture
Covid scattered employees in every direction, exposed many to new risks, and redefined what each one needs to do on their jobs safely, efficiently, and effectively.The companies also had to suddenly design and adopt a new plan to hold on to the powerful aspect of their businesses, predicated as it seemed to be on so many real-world things: colleagues meeting and face to face interactions, perks ranging from free coffee to onsite gyms, in short, the design of the office environment itself? Then, there was a sudden shift towards accepting digitization which became the need of the hour.But, the management didn’t fail. According to a study conducted by Glassdoor, an important theme that does stand out while discussing the importance of company culture during the pandemic is the quality of communication by leaders. Employees of Culture 500 companies gave their corporate leaders much higher marks in terms of honest communication and transparency during the first six months of the coronavirus pandemic compared with the preceding year. In fact, they were 88% more likely to write positively about leaders’ honesty and transparency (46%). Employees also expressed more positive sentiment about transparency (42%) and communication (35%) in general. Also Read:Covid Situation Worsens: 5 Reasons to Stay Home According to another study conducted by Quartz and Qualtrics,the impact on culture in workplaces around the world hasn’t been all that negative. In fact, more people said their workplace culture had gotten better in the pandemic. Highlighting the need and importance of company culture, organisations now need to:
Focus on improved teamwork. As people are working remotely, companies need to highlight the importance of cooperation amongst the employees to complete projects in a more fruitful manner.Create an open line of communication. Many women who are working from home are still struggling to juggle work chores and office demands. The leaders need to be more understanding and generous while dealing with such cases.The most important here to offer flexibility. Since flexible scheduling is an impending need within the workplace, members now need to accommodate evolving scheduling needs.Conduct team-building activities remotely. Encourage employees to share their experiences and understand the difficulties to accordingly modulate the online culture.Send few freebies and gifts to keep the employees motivated.Last but not the least, celebrate the successes of all. Recognize achievements big and small. If the company has a win, let everyone enjoy a little piece of cake.
Living through Covid-19 has often been messy and confusing: We all often scuffle to work out what we can or should do, and plan for a future that is still covered by uncertainty. But when it comes to our relationships with work, it seems that in many cases the pandemic has been clarifying and reinforcing. Do you think office culture has improved since the pandemic hit the world? How is your company helping you deal and manage the work-life balance crises? What is that one thing your company has done to highlight the need and importance of office culture? Drop in your views in the comment section.
