Company culture is a real buzzword these days. The rise of remote work popularity has meant that companies are now searching for ways to retain their company culture and values while employing people from different locations and nationalities. 

Keeping employees engaged whether they're onsite or remote is no easy feat. In fact, companies are now scrambling to find new ways of supporting employees without being overbearing.

Workflow automation provides a step in the right direction, showing companies how they can take practical steps to improve their company culture with the advent of remote work.

Automation can improve company culture in a few simple ways:

• Provide a way for employees to give and receive feedback.

• Foster an environment built on teamwork and collaboration.

• Take the weight off HR by automating culture initiatives.

By breaking the barriers between business and IT, technology can be better used to support business initiatives to create a better work environment. 

What is company culture?

Company culture is more than just a buzzword. At its core, company culture describes a way for businesses to create better relationships with their employees and improve worker retention.

So, how is company culture defined? A standard definition is:

“Company culture refers to the shared set of values, goals, and practices that empowers your employees.”

Unfortunately, many employers focus their energy solely on fun incentives to spearhead their company culture initiatives. Post-work yoga, beer taps, and foosball tables have become synonymous with company culture, yet building culture goes beyond simple perks.

Company culture is actually about fostering a connection between the employer and the employees. Good company culture focuses on sharing values like mutual respect, supporting employees with purposeful goals, and setting company policies that ensure benefits for both the employer and the employees. 

Company culture and remote work

When teams are distant from one another, building company culture becomes more of a challenge. Employees miss out on water-cooler breaks to talk to their colleagues and in-person meetings and are replaced by Zoom calls. Now with the rise of the hybrid workplace, HR leaders have to work twice as hard to keep their distributed workforce motivated and engaged.

The distance created between employees as a result of the pandemic has some workers feeling blue. A survey of 700 remote workers found that employees missed social connections the most during the pandemic. Company culture becomes important in this equation by helping teams to find their groove again and foster meaningful connections.

Instead of relying on outdated techniques to boost employee engagement, companies can begin to create real change by using new technologies like workflow automation to build company culture, no matter where their employees are located.

Simple automation to supercharge workplace culture

If you’re looking for creative ways to enhance company culture, look no further than workflow automation. With a few simple actions and triggers, you can support your current initiatives whilst keeping employees involved.

Why not try out our range of FireStart HR forms designed to support your in-house company culture initiatives?

1. Gather employee feedback automatically

Looking for an easier way to proactively collect employee feedback? Regular communication is a key component of company culture, so give your workforce a quick way to share their opinions and start creating real change across the organization.

Use FireStart to create an employee feedback form so you can gather real-time data about how each employee is tracking in their role. In an automated process, managers can then arrange further meetings or escalate negative feedback to be resolved. Knowing exactly how each employee feels about their job and work environment can help businesses nurture a positive company culture.

Accepting, listening to, and implementing employee feedback encourages a growth mindset in the organization, leading to sustainable, positive change and a more pleasant work experience.

2. Automatically remind employees to clean the kitchen

A happy workplace culture is one where everyone contributes. Kitchen cleaning is often left unchecked on many employee to-do lists, so it can be useful to have a simple and effective process for allocating kitchen cleaning to make the workplace calmer and resentment-free.

With FireStart, you can create a kitchen cleaning workflow automation in a few minutes to make sure that everyone pulls their weight. Allocate automated kitchen cleaning tasks to different teams in the organization, and keep track of who has cleaned up and who has left their dirty dishes in the sink again!

3. Order office items in an automated workflow

Ever noticed that office supplies seem to sprout legs and go walkabouts? Keep your stationary cupboard fully stocked with everything all your employees need to work more effectively. Remember that a diverse workforce means diverse needs, so ensure you have office equipment for all types of employees.

Accommodating ergonomic employee requests with a simple FireStart form helps contribute to a culture that puts employees first. With FireStart, it's easy for any employee to instantly request the equipment they need, while also allowing managers to approve or reject requests according to company policies.

An automated workflow helps both procurement and business teams stay on top of request invoices and paper trails, while individual employees feel heard in their efforts to make the workplace better.

4. Request support for remote work digitally

Improving your remote work culture is imperative for businesses to remain competitive in the current job market. Remote working is quickly becoming the new normal, and so companies need to build digital support structures so employees feel heard and appreciated wherever they work from.

In FireStart, it's easy to build a form and automated workflow that allows employees to give feedback on their remote work experience. Employees can quickly request essential items like headphones to drown out the noisy kids in the background, and managers can have a clear picture of how each remote employee is tracking with their goals.

Fostering open dialogue between managers and employees creates a feedback culture, where employees are not left in the dark, even when they're working far from the office.

How to improve your company culture

Developing company culture is much more about creating a diverse, inclusive, and welcoming environment where employees are valued and their opinions are nurtured. Less attention should be paid to shiny things that look good on the careers page and more to cultivating strong workplace relationships.

Automation is becoming instrumental in resolving typical workplace pitfalls so that companies can work towards better company culture onsite and remotely.

Automation makes it possible to:

• Open up the chain of honest and transparent communication. Having a clear process for company culture initiatives creates a culture of open and clear communication between departments. With workflow automation, it's no longer difficult to keep track of digital communication or share anxieties on everything from mental health challenges to unrealistic workloads without judgment.

• Reward excellence and celebrate exceptional employees. With workflow automation, managers now have a clear picture of which team members are meeting goals, and can give praise accordingly. Recognizing achievements of all sizes is important to boosting team morale and creating a healthy company culture built on celebrating individual contributions. 

• Have a zero-tolerance company policy on inappropriate behavior. In a similar vein, stamping out toxic behavior like workplace bullying can be achieved with workflow automation. Digitizing feedback of all types makes it easier for serious feedback to not fall through the cracks and create real organizational change.