5 Signs of a Healthy Company Culture with Remote Workers

Your company’s numbers are up, and business is booming. But how is your team doing? A company’s success can come down to a few factors, and one of those is its healthy company culture. You might think, though, that a remote company can’t even have a company culture, much less a healthy one. The five remote companies offering testimony below prove otherwise, showing that a healthy company culture with remote workers is not only possible, but critical to a company’s success!

Here are five signs of a healthy company culture with remote workers:

1. Communication is flowing.

There’s no doubt about it: when you have a remote company, communication can make (or unfortunately, break) your probability of success. “We keep a constant communication flow in Slack, organize team meetings weekly, and also throw weekly hangouts where our new employees introduce themselves, or current team members share their plans and exciting news from conferences every team member visits,” says Alari Aho, CEO and founder of Toggl. Allowing employees to interact with each other—for both professional and personal purposes—can help not only strengthen their bonds with each other, but with the team as a whole.

2. Information is openly shared.

Sure, your workers are dedicated to their jobs, but do they know what they are working toward? It’s important for employees to see the bigger picture when it comes to their jobs and how they impact the overall success of the company, but that can only be done when management freely shares information. “It’s important to help everyone feel engaged, and we do this in a variety of ways,” says Chuck Vadun, communications director at Fire Engine RED. “Our CEO holds an all-company meeting via conference call every two weeks. Many of our teams have short production or ‘stand-up’ meetings each morning.” By keeping your workers looped in on company happenings, they’ll become a stronger workforce.

3. Management “gets it.”

It’s one thing to know that your company needs to have a healthy culture. It’s another thing, though, to implement and nurture it. “The most important thing is for the leadership to actively discuss and decide what the company values are up front, and then act upon those values to build the culture into the team around them,”
says Cliff Pollan, CEO of Sococo. “It’s important to establish and reinforce these values consistently with your team, lead by example, and provide them opportunities to demonstrate how these values translate into your culture.” After all, your employees will follow the precedents and policies set forth by management. So if you are committed to your company’s culture, they will be, too.

4. Everyone is on the same page.

No matter if your company is of the traditional office variety or remote, it’s crucial that everyone who works for the company believes in the same thing—the success of the organization. Without that, companies can flounder—and fail. The same holds particularly true for remote companies. “The key to any healthy culture is having everyone focused on the same shared goals. I believe that the reason Aha! has grown so quickly is due to the fact that our entire team has a shared sense of purpose and understands that we are changing how companies innovate,” says Brian de Haaff, co-founder and CEO of Aha! “Whether they work in marketing or engineering, our colleagues are all working towards the same shared goal—to help product managers build better software.” While this can be accomplished by having a strong company culture, another option is to ensure that you hire the right workers (i.e., the ones who believe in your company) from the start.

5. It’s everywhere.

Company culture shouldn’t only exist in a bubble—it needs to permeate throughout every aspect of your organization. “The company culture is something that exceeds the office boundaries. It should drive what you do and how you do it, at all times,” says Pablo Hoffman, director of Scrapinghub. “So figure out your culture, and apply it to everything you do. People will notice and follow you, whether they work with you in an office or remotely.” So from all-staff meetings, to annual retreats, to mini-meetings, and the way you disseminate information, be sure to always keep your company’s culture in mind, and it will become like second nature not only for you, but for your staff as well.

These are just five ways a company can have a healthy company culture with remote workers. By making it a priority, your company culture will not only survive, but thrive!