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Remote Work Culture: Is Your Talent At Risk?

Forbes Coaches Council

Ed Krow is the Talent Transformation Expert for companies looking to achieve 8-figure growth.

Most companies are starting to realize the opportunity that a remote workforce presents. It’s no longer necessary for employees to be “in” the office from 9-5, but rather they are able to work from the comfort of their own homes or a remote site.

However, many leaders have also voiced their concerns about this shift away from being in the office affecting their bottom line, company morale and overall engagement—leading to worries that their employees may not complete their tasks on time, work as hard or be as invested in the company.

I’ve seen this time and time again, pre-, mid- and post-pandemic, where companies avoid adapting to the evolving recruitment landscape. Some organizations embrace the change and flourish, while others make haphazard decisions and crumble. Employees will no longer tolerate baseless logic when they see competitors offering the new standard. It won't be long before this talent feels unsettled and starts to look for work that aligns with their values elsewhere.

So while the general challenges of transitioning to a remote workforce are valid, many studies have now debunked these concerns and are in fact proving the very opposite.

The University of Chicago surveyed 10,000 employees and found that hours worked increased by 30%. A two-year Standford University study found that remote workers were 13.5% more productive, 50% less likely to leave and 9% more engaged in their work. According to Gallup, engaged employees are 21% more productive than their counterparts.

A study from Owl Labs performed in 2021 had similar findings. Fifty-five percent of respondents said they work more hours remotely than when they're physically at the office, and ​only 36% believed that the office is best suited for individual work.

Another byproduct of increased remote work is employees saving both time and money by no longer commuting. A Becker Friedman survey calculated that commuting time was reduced by 62.4 million hours per day with aggregate time savings of over 9 billion hours from mid-March 2020 to mid-September 2020—which is substantial as a whole, but how does this affect the individual?

The Owl Labs survey found that 32% of respondents said they would actually quit their job if they were not able to continue working remotely. So not only have people enjoyed the increased freedom and flexibility of not working the traditional 9-5, but they now value the gained autonomy, trust and control provided by remote work over their previous in-person roles.

One growing concern I hear voiced regularly from organizational leaders is the risk remote work poses to company culture. With employees no longer spending as much, or sometimes any, time in the office, it's become more difficult to share, teach and instill company values in a time when workplace culture ranks higher than ever as a priority for top talent.

A 2019 Glassdoor survey reported that 65% of Millennial respondents valued company culture over a high salary when it comes to job satisfaction, compared to 52% of those 45 years or older. In fact, 77% of adults said they consider a company’s culture before applying for a job there. This is why creating a strong employment brand, in addition to your external marketing brand, is so crucial for recruitment these days, as I've written about before. Culture not only helps your organization attract talent, but it can also be the reason that same talent stays.

Culture instills trust that people can rely on each other to make sound decisions with the best interests of the organization in mind—because they share the same values as the business. According to Glassdoor, 73% of adults surveyed would not apply to a company unless its values aligned with their own personal values. This type of trust is central to operating a remote organization successfully.

In my experience working with Fortune 500 companies and innovative leaders, today's companies have shifted away from emphasizing the traditional in-office perks. The old ways of attracting talent—featuring job security, decent paychecks and standard benefits packages that fueled the job market in the '80s, '90s and 2000s—just won’t cut it anymore.

Recruiting in 2022 and beyond is all about purpose, passion and alignment. Successful companies are now focusing on shared values, conscious missions and commitment to relationships, both internally and externally.

So all of this really begs the question: When was the last time you discussed your company's mission, vision and values? Can you see alignment between your team as people and the core beliefs that drive your business?

As "the office" becomes more and more nebulous, strong company culture becomes more necessary since your team won't be influenced by key players or the office environment on a daily basis. As statistics have shown, and continue to show, the rising talent of today tends to prioritize culture above income, so this is important to recognize.

Now, you need to capitalize on the appeal of meaningful work and shared purpose to attract and retain top talent in the face of remote work. Just because people are no longer in the office does not mean they’re not fully engaged. They may even perhaps be more engaged, as you fulfill their deeper desires for flexibility, freedom and choice.

If you haven't done a culture assessment in the last 12 months, your business may be at risk of losing your top performers.

And if your culture isn't where you want it to be, here is the exact process I walk my clients through. No matter where your business lands on the spectrum, this 10-step model will help you identify key objectives, emotionally connect with your employees, build an unshakeable culture and measure your results.

Remote work is here to stay—so it's time to accept, adapt and lead the charge in new-age recruiting.


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