Compared to before March 2020, the world of work has changed significantly. Both how, and where, we work is – in many cases – different to before the global pandemic took hold.
Such change brings a need to adapt, particularly when it comes to fostering and maintaining the workplace relationships that are so important for productivity, creativity, and engagement.
Best Companies research suggests that it is those organisations taking a strategic approach to ensuring that they maintain a sense of culture, through events or other coordinated activities, that are seeing a renewed sense of energy amongst their people. But just what does this look like in the new working world?
“Culture is so important, no matter what sector you are in.”
For Bill Fullen, CEO at Northeast-based Believe Housing, maintaining a sense of culture is something the organisation has prioritised since the lifting of restrictions has allowed people to come together.
“Culture is so important, no matter what sector you are in,” he explained. “We’ve lived through Covid and of course that means over the last few years it’s been incredibly difficult for people to come together and have shared experiences. So, we decided to encourage our people to come together and rediscover and rebuild those very important relationships that you have in the workplace.”
Fullen explained that by utilising its outdoor carpark, the organisation was able to host food vendors – including a hog roast, cupcake stall, and ice cream van – and invite all of its employees to attend for a free lunch and a chance to socialise with their colleagues.
“It was one of the best things we’ve done,” Fullen continued. “There was a really good atmosphere about the whole thing and I think it was really important for people to have that shared experience and come together again, and, of course, rebuild those working relationships.”
The initiative is not the only one that Believe Housing has held that has seen great results. Recently it set up an ‘Innovation Academy’ – a three-day event designed to produce a more innovative approach to developing services across the organisation that brought people together to work collaboratively in a shared environment.
“We themed the event around being at school,” Fullen explained. “So, the facilitators wore mortar board hats and gowns, everyone had a ‘school dinner’ with sponge cake and pink custard, and there was even an ‘end of term disco’. It really got people out of their comfort zones and thinking differently. As a result, we have developed a number of operational pilots that we’re going to be rolling out as a result of what came back from the sessions.”
“The vibe in the office is about the atmosphere created when people come in”
Also understanding the importance of bringing people together to collaborate is Charlotte Hamill, COO and Partner at Born Social, a global social media agency.
Hamill explained that in her organisation, they wanted to replicate an atmosphere where people could feel the same energy when they are working remotely as they do when they work in the office.
“The vibe in the office is actually not about the bean bags, football tables and the fact you can bring your dog, it’s about the atmosphere created when people come in,” she explained. “It’s more about the sharing of ideas, the showing of phones, talking about stuff, everyone cheering when someone wins a pitch.”
Hamill said that as a result, the organisation has started using the messaging platform, Slack, a programme designed specifically for the office, but that can also be adopted for personal use. Based around different ‘channels’, it allows employees to connect for work, and non-work conversations.
“We’ve got so many different channels set up, and it’s a great forum for people to feel connected,” Hamill continued. “They can send message, send photos and share exchanges about what they’ve been up to.”
“We have a strong ‘one team’ ethos”
For Gavin Du Preez, Estates Director at Here East, the innovation and technology campus situated in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in East London, maintaining a sense of energy after the last couple of years is down to a trust-based culture.
“It’s all about having trust in your team and treating them like adults,” he explained. “After Covid we explored moving to a hybrid working model but found where it would work for some departments it wouldn’t in others. We have a strong ‘one team’ ethos, and so it wouldn’t be right for us to have one rule for one side of the house and a different rule for the other. So, we made the decision to have everyone back in the office full time.”
To ensure that the organisation still offered the flexibility of a hybrid working arrangement despite people being office-based, Here East has implemented a policy where if an employee needs to work from home, they can. This also applies to late and early finishes during the working week.
“We have these policies in place and don’t expect people to have to tell us why they need to work flexibly on a certain day, because we’re all adults,” he continued. “We don’t check up on people, or have a micro-management culture and ultimately, we have found that this really works for us. By putting our trust in people, we find that they are delivering results.”
“We’re being a lot more flexible around people’s home lives”
Marc Lucock, HR Director at Selco Builders Warehouse, is also an advocate of how a different approach to work can be beneficial after the pandemic. For his organisation, traditional 40-hours contracts have been reduced without impacting pay and shortening the working week from five days to either four, or four-and-a-half, is being considered.
“We’re being a lot more flexible around people’s home lives and I think that’s the expectation now,” he explained. “With recruitment of staff being so difficult at the moment we have to do these things, otherwise someone else will.”
Lucock said that along with the move to the new, more flexible working arrangements, Selco is working hard to ensure that it keeps staff motivated and energised by focusing on its communications. He explained that a new initiative, called ‘Team Talk’, allows a forum of colleagues to give direct feedback on ideas for the future, as well as the benefits and initiatives the company has in place.
“It’s a really powerful way of getting people’s feedback, and it lets us know when we’re getting things right, as well as getting things wrong,” he explained. “For example, we had feedback that as an organisation, we offered a lot of benefits, but we weren’t good at telling people about them. At the very best, people knew about them but weren’t using them.”
As a result, Selco launched a ‘Rewards Roadshow’, where it hired a double-decker bus adorned with the company’s branding and toured its sites around the country to convey the benefits it offered and how colleagues could make the most of them.
“We used competitions, such as who could cycle the furthest distance in a minute on a static bike, to advertise our cycle-to-work scheme, and ‘play your cards right’ to promote the discounts on offer through certain retailers,” he explained. “We saw over 1500 staff come and join in, it brought people together, and it made a really good talking point.”
To enjoy this session in full, see the full recording here.
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