The pandemic has proved that employees can be as productive while working remotely as they are when working from the office.

Remote working threw some challenges and benefits towards those affected by the change.

The challenges including the unavailability of high-speed internet service, home life balance, and more were encountered and fixed. People with slow internet service switched to better TV internet bundles, created a separate workstation for themselves, and even learned how to create a routine that ensures their availably home life and work.

However, now with the hybrid wok model making its way to the working life a lot more challenges are expected.

Now more than ever, it is part of the company leader’s job to cultivate culture both online and in-person.

Before the hybrid work module, leaders only had to build a virtual team culture that could make everyone feel part of the company and a bigger cause.

However, now maintaining team culture through online platforms will be more crucial to guarantee success. This is because those working from home and those working in the office would feel different kinds of emotions.

Not everyone will feel connected and not everyone will feel appreciated.

To help leaders with this following are some of the steps to take to make sure that a team is successful during this new work environment:

Online Communication and Connection

Without having positive work culture a business cannot aim to cultivate success in the new working model. The hybrid workplace requires communication and connection more than ever.

Whether it is in person or remote, collaboration and communication among the team members is the key.

One thing that has bothered me the most during the pandemic and remote working culture was the absence of human connection. Employees craved the impromptu meetings at their favorite coworker’s desk or to have live feedback on their ideas and suggestions. All of this has been lost through a year of virtually connecting with the team members

So now, with the return to the office, the return to collaboration and communication also begins.

For those working in the office returning to in-person communication won’t be a difficult task. However, for the people working virtually the sense of feeling left out might emerge every now and then due to lack of communication.

Therefore, the trick is to make sure everyone manages to leverage online communication tools that have been adapted over the year to not miss out on the coloration with our virtual friends.

Platforms like Zoom, Microsoft Team, Google Meet, Slack, and much more help the company, leaders bridge the gap between workers working for in-office and remote staff.

Embrace What We Learned

We know you have heard this a lot of time but we have to stay it as well: The pandemic has taught us a lot of things.

While the pandemic has messed up things that are hard to comprehend it also managed to give the businesses some important lessons.

In the last year, we have witnessed a dramatic increase in the number of independent employees. Even though the employees had the opportunity to work from the comfort of their home and also had other similar ease, the employees showed an increase in productivity.

This increase in productivity not only made the employers happy but also showed an increase in workers’ happiness.

However now as we are trying to move back into working in person we can not expect the old routine to come to us naturally.

People have adopted a new lifestyle and have been experiencing a more flexible routine which is hard to let go of.

Strengthen Team Communication 

With more than a year of remote working, we all are now familiar with the wall color of our colleague’s room. Moreover, we know how many kids they have or when their kids leave for school, what is their time to feed the pets, and so on and so forth?

By leaning into the newfound information about the workers, the team can strengthen and fuel the conversation.

This can also result in team support and eventually create a more uplifting environment.

 

Reflect on Employees Needs and Desires

To build an effective and friendly team culture you need to make sure that you create a hybrid work environment that reflects their needs and desires.