No one wants to be the person sitting behind a screen watching their co-workers laugh about an in-joke from office happy hour or having to Slack their manager for an introduction to a new team member everyone else has already met. With more and more companies adopting hybrid work models, though, these kinds of situations are bound to arise.
Keeping a dispersed team connected presents new challenges for employers. Remote employees can’t count on the same casual interactions and bonding moments with colleagues as their in-office peers, but flexible work arrangements can contribute to better job satisfaction and engagement overall. Intentional social activities are essential, but they can’t necessarily carry over in the form they were in prior to the pandemic.
“These last three years have done more to shift workplace culture than all of the years prior, and employers are still learning how to manage a hybrid workforce,” WeaveGrid’s Workplace Experience Specialist Matt Cobette tells Built In San Francisco.
While some bumps along the way are unavoidable, the stakes for success are high. According to a Gallup survey, the share of full- and part-time employees who are currently engaged at work dropped to 32 percent in 2022 from 36 percent in 2020. Engaged employees feel connected to their company’s mission, clear about the expectations of their role and satisfied with their opportunities to advance — all of which contribute significantly to performance and retention.
“Thinking outside the box to create delightful and intentional moments for people to feel connected and seen can take a lot of time,” says Amanda Samuel, a people ops specialist at Superhuman. But, Samuel says, getting the hybrid experience right is worth the investment.
Read on for the strategies both teams have used to make events work for everyone.
WeaveGrid helps power the electric transportation transition with solutions for automakers, utilities and drivers.
Describe an event, ritual or activity where you saw success in engagement from both your remote and in-office workforce.
Here at WeaveGrid, we have almost an even split between remote employees and employees that work in office. Even if you work in San Francisco, where WeaveGrid is headquartered, employees have the option to work from home or come into our headquarters. WeaveGrid has provided really great connections for folks across the organization and in different cities, but recently we’ve seen more employees coming into the office on a voluntary basis, which has created a lot of fun and positive energy.
One ritual we started during the pandemic is the virtual “Coffee Break.” These are company-wide Zoom meetings that happen every Tuesday and Thursday and are designed as an opportunity for everyone, remote or in-person, to come together and connect on a personal level. We have a few variations of the Coffee Break, some for employees to connect over games or present a “WeaveGrid Talk” (like a TED talk), others for simply taking a few minutes to socialize, among other things. The most popular Coffee Break is the WeaveGrid “Book o’ Faces Intro” break. These breaks focus on and highlight new employees joining our team, and also introduce them to some of the other teammates they will meet across the organization.
What feedback did you receive from the participants of this event?
The feedback has been overall very positive. Folks have recognized the effort to connect our remote team and in-person groups. The most recent feedback has been around calendering and how we label certain events. Being sure we label the Coffee Breaks where we know a Book o’ Faces is being held has been useful, as it helps the team prioritize these meetings.
In your opinion, what should employers be doing to create an engaging hybrid culture? What is important to consider when planning activities for in-person and remote employees?
My advice is that as companies begin to open headquarters and manage a hybrid workforce, it is even more important to acknowledge and actively include your remote employees in your workplace culture. Companies need to make a greater effort in creating spaces for employees local and remote to connect, whether that be through dedicated events like our Coffee Breaks, or utilizing tools they currently have to facilitate these hybrid relationships.
Companies need to make a greater effort in creating spaces for employees local and remote to connect.
Slack is great for work communication, but it can also be a useful tool for employee connection through themed social channels for coworkers to build relationships and community. Examples of channels at WeaveGrid are #parentland (for the parents in the company), #tunes (to share music) and #kudos (a channel dedicated to recognizing the hard work of our team). These channels give employees an opportunity to choose their own journey and allow for asynchronous communication since employees can engage with posts on their own time, regardless of time zone.
Also, a crucial consideration employers should make when it comes to their remote employees is understanding their choice and desire to remain working remotely. Many have chosen to stay part of the remote workforce because of the work-life balance it provides. This is something they have come to embrace because of the flexibility it provides. Employers should make it a priority to have consistent recurring options for remote employees to connect with the company, which will allow them to schedule the time to engage if they choose.
Superhuman delivers a faster email experience to make work more productive and less stressful.
Describe an event, ritual or activity where you saw success in engagement from both your remote and in-office workforce.
We have a weekly company-wide meeting every Friday called “Friday Wins.” This started off as an in-person tradition where folks would gather in the office on Friday at 5 p.m. with drinks in hand to celebrate the accomplishments of the past week. Employees would rotate every other week to present their professional and personal wins, and it was a fun way to end the week together.
As Superhuman evolved into a remote-first workforce spread across many time zones, we needed to figure out a way to keep the spirit of Friday Wins as a delightful and enjoyable meeting for folks while adjusting the tradition to accommodate an in-office and virtual environment. A weekly meeting at 5 p.m. Pacific Time on Friday became more of a nuisance and an obligation than a celebration — employees would often have to miss the meeting, and some folks could never join at all.
Based on feedback we heard from employees ad-hoc and from a survey we sent out, we decided to adjust Friday Wins so that it happened at 1 p.m. PT every week on Friday. This ensured that everyone could join it at a reasonable hour for their time zone while still keeping in line with the intent of the tradition to end the week together on a high note.
Traditions or events that have worked really well in the past might need to be changed, and that’s okay.
What feedback did you receive from the participants of this event?
Since we are now a remote-first hybrid team, this has transitioned to a completely virtual meeting for the most part. Team members have appreciated the earlier time change and how we use the meeting to highlight anniversaries and new hires, too. Employees who were part of Friday Wins when it was in-person really enjoyed the camaraderie of it, and we try to replicate some of that as best we can by asking folks to unmute, turn their cameras on and keep a really active chat and emoji reactions up through the event.
However, we’ve also gotten feedback that something folks are missing is a chance to hear more personal wins from their team members. It turned out that switching up our rotation system has made Friday Wins feel more “professional” in the kinds of wins people share. Now, we’re trying to solve for ways to keep the tone casual and fun and invite folks to share more of the wins happening in their lives outside of work.
In your opinion, what should employers be doing to create an engaging hybrid culture? What is important to consider when planning activities for in-person and remote employees?
It's important to consider inclusivity and accessibility across in-person and remote employees and think about how folks will engage with activities in both settings.
Planning ahead is super important, too. Our people team has started using an internal quarterly company calendar to plan out our events and activities, so we know what’s coming up and can be prepared.
Lastly, building and maintaining an engaging hybrid culture requires the creative ability and willingness to try different things. Traditions or events that have worked really well in the past might need to be changed, and that’s okay. This hybrid culture is still relatively new, and it can take a while to figure out what works best for your team and even to adjust that as teams grow and change.
