Human Resource Outsourcing

WFH: Best practices for team building among remote teams

Until 2019, remote working was a privilege available to a select few, with only 7% of workplaces offering remote or flexible work culture. Everything changed with the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced businesses to either go remote or shut down. And, as the benefits of remote teams became apparent, remote — or at least hybrid — working became the norm, with 95% of companies focusing on building remote teams.

Remote teams, however, are not without challenges. Building remote teams and maintaining remote work culture has been a real issue for companies in the absence of in-person interactions with the team. As a result, HR professionals are dealing with employees feeling isolated and separated, struggling to build, maintain, and enhance corporate culture while working with remote teams.

Remote work culture and its significance

How you perceive corporate culture differs from company to company. It can simply be the way things work or a complex amalgamation of values, beliefs, goals, norms, and behaviours. However, irrespective of how you perceive corporate culture, it shapes an employee’s day-to-day experience, outlines acceptable behaviours, and demonstrates the overall attitude across the company. Positive company culture is a crucial contributor to employee recruitment and retention. But it is tough to transpose this company culture directly to remote teams, making the transition to remote work culture challenging.

Best practices to build and enhance remote work culture

A strong remote work culture helps employees stay connected, foster communication, and build trust with remote teams. It creates a sense of belonging among employees even without in-person interactions. This contributes to a positive day-to-day experience, increases engagement, and boosts employee morale so you can attract and retain talent in today’s changing world. Therefore, to brand yourself as the employer of choice in the current environment, focusing on building remote teams and remote team culture is essential. To start building a robust remote culture, you can:

• Focus on opportunities, not challenges:

   Remote teams have unique challenges — lack of human touch, overworking, Employee engagement, videoconferencing fatigue, and a lacking sense of belonging. On the other hand, opportunities for remote teams are endless: cost savings, flexibility, increased productivity, wider talent pool, and better work–life balance. So, instead of focusing on the negative aspects, let go of the cynicism and embrace the opportunities to build robust remote teams.

• Focus on building trust:

  Trust is crucial when working with remote teams. A fundamental building block of remote work culture is leaders and team members trusting each other. Give your employees autonomy and trust them to be productive instead of micromanaging them.

• Set clear goals and expectations:  

  Adapting to remote work culture needs renegotiation and redefinition of goals and expectations. You cannot expect to translate in-office expectations and goals to a remote workplace. Understand the opportunities and limitations of working with remote teams, eliminate unnecessary barriers to productivity, and set SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound) goals based on shared values and objectives.

• Make meetings count:

  Videoconferencing fatigue is a real concern for remote teams with an endless string of online meetings. Try to keep the meetings on point, purposeful, and concise. But don’t forget to build time for casual conversations during the discussions; this can help the team connect with each other without the need for in-person interactions.

• Focus on employee feedback:

  Regular feedback from employees helps you understand what factors are working and what need modifications. Also, you can identify, assess, and resolve any challenges affecting the employees to improve the remote work environment.

• Create employee-centric spaces:

  Employee-centric spaces — such as online groups, chat rooms, and resource centres — not only help employees stay connected on work-related matters but facilitate socialisation outside work as well. This helps build a sense of community among the employees and strong remote teams.

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How can Infosys BPM help?

Infosys BPM Human Resource Outsourcing (HRO) services offer flexible and adaptable outsourcing solutions that integrate consulting and technology seamlessly. Even working with remote teams, technology-driven Infosys BPM Human Resource Outsourcing (HRO) services can help you achieve continuous improvements while building team culture remotely.