Businesses are no strangers to freelancers or short-term contract workers regardless of what field they work in. They have always been the “smash glass in case of emergencies” when full-time permanent employees leave a company or are signed off through illness.
Although it’s now starting to sound like a cliché, the pandemic has changed the way businesses operate forever, and now employees are more prone to working from home for a majority of the time. However, there is another layer that is often missed when talking about remote workers and that is the fact that large multinational global companies will have remote teams made up of remote employees, which, in turn, causes headaches for some companies when it comes to creating a strong work culture. How does a company bring together these remote teams and employees that might be scattered across the globe?
Here are five steps about how technology can help create a strong work culture regardless if employees and teams happen to be miles apart from each other.
Step 1: Make sure the technology you’re using is reliable
At a recent Solution Forum hosted by Adobe, author and entrepreneur, Stephen Van Belleghem, said that technology has to work because people have zero tolerance when it doesn’t. So, when choosing a HR benefits platform, it’s good to look for one that offers stability and hands-on help when needed. This way, you will be safe in the knowledge that all employees are able to be in contact with each other and be contacted.
Step 2: Choose a platform that can be easily integrated into existing systems
Following on from step 1, a major headache for IT departments happens when executive decisions are made to update or implement new software or operating systems. A new HR benefits platform is no different and if an employer wants to create a strong work culture through employee communication, then they will want something that can be up and running fast without causing hardly any to no downtime. The last thing an employer and employees want is to be in limbo.
Step 3: Use technology in the right way
Once a HR platform is in place, then all you need to do is let employees know it’s there and how to use it. This is really the first step in connecting remote teams and employees together across all types of organizations, even complex ones that have field workers or on-the-go employees who don’t have access to desktop computers. Employers can create online training, not just for the HR platform itself, but for all systems and processes that make a business tick. When employees know how to work their way around a HR platform, find the information they need, and take part in online activities with other employees, then a strong work culture begins to form.
Step 4: Make sure your employees collaborate and feel included
Having a platform where employees can come together and collaborate is a must, especially when hybrid / remote work is becoming more and more popular. Being able to communicate whenever and wherever employees find themselves is just the tip of the HR platform benefit iceberg. A stronger work culture is created through what the employer can provide in terms of benefits, and by offering the right benefits that employees want is paramount. For example, employers can arrange health related challenges (e.g. running a marathon in stages) where the location of an employee doesn’t matter. Not only does this keep a workforce healthy, it also connects employees from different departments, and, perhaps, in different parts of the world.
Step 5: It’s not all about being in conference meetings all the time
Although conferencing software has made it so much easier to communicate the world over, there comes a time where employees need a rest from being on camera or escaping a dodgy connection. Having a good communication tool through a HR platform is preferred by some employees who don’t feel comfortable communicating on camera or by those who have problems with low bandwidth. When an employer communicates through a HR platform, messages and notifications can be accessed at any time by all employees, which is sometimes more inclusive than conferencing. This, in turn, will create a stronger work culture and connect all employees together, especially through mobile devices.
For more information about how a HR total rewards and benefits platform can create a strong work culture across a global organization, read our whitepaper, Global Online Benefits – How to effectively manage your employee benefits below.