As the COVID-19 pandemic finally starts to end amidst vaccination roll outs, companies can start to strategize for things unrelated to the virus. One silver lining of the last year was the realization that employees can be very productive from home, offering money-saving opportunities for many corporations. In addition to the money-saving opportunities afforded by remote work, corporations can also take advantage of the near-limitless employee pool that exists with online business.
In order to attract these remote employees, human resource management teams need to put an added focus on company culture and diversity and inclusion, as a limitless employee pool means limitless cultural backgrounds for said employees. Even if your team is not planning on continuing remote work after the pandemic, studies have proven repeatedly that an inclusive workplace is more often a successful one when compared to a similar company without a focus on cultural awareness.
In order to successfully teach and spread company culture, corporate trainers have to make culture training a regular occurrence, and team leaders need to act swiftly and punitively when individuals do things that are not reflective of this company culture. Here are some tactics for these leaders and trainers to use to ensure employees are reflecting company culture, allowing it to grow.
Clear Guidelines
In order to convey company policy well, said policies need to be accessible, clearly stated, and repeated often. Your company server should have all of your team’s credos, guidelines, and conduct expectations available 24/7, and anyone who will be conducting training on these things should know them in and out. On the other side, over-writing can lead to a lack of clarity, so keeping the guidelines as concise as possible while still conveying all expectations is the recipe for success.
Leadership personnel will have the most influence on ensuring company culture is being reflected in action and work, so choosing leaders who naturally want to work with diverse teams should be the norm for HR teams.
Empower Everyone
Another way to ensure company culture is spread often and between training sessions is by empowering individuals to conduct their own education on the customs and cultures of their families and ancestors. Education is contagious, and though some employees may not want to participate, many will revel in the opportunity to share their stories with the people they spend most of their time around. Even if your company has paid positions strictly for training, it’s important to encourage and enable everyone to be a teacher, especially new hires who need to feel welcomed.
Make “Culture Fits” Part of the Hiring Process
To really prove that company culture is important to your team, hire individuals who display personality traits that your company credos and guidelines encourage. This also makes training easier, as these individuals are likely to want to participate in exercises that help the team grow and be more cognizant of their differences. Ultimately, these differences can lead to a lot of creative success in the workplace.
Cultivating interaction is also part of an inclusive workplace, and new hires should be encouraged to share their cultural beliefs, and opportunities to do so should also be frequent.
Repeat!
Workplaces that focus on inclusivity and diversity, generally have higher retention rates, but nonetheless, it’s the way of the business world in 2021: people change jobs a lot. With this, it is very important to not get lackadaisical in corporate trainings with focuses on inclusiveness and diversity, as new hires feeling comfortable and accepted starts with assurances that the company they work for is dedicated to being a place for everyone.
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