Modern business culture blends remote and hybrid work environments with the traditional workspace. Because of this, building a positive remote work culture can apply to almost any company. Creating a positive workplace can seem daunting at first. Thankfully, there are simple, actionable ways to build employee connections and bolster positivity throughout your remote or hybrid workspace. Ensuring your employees stay connected despite distance and work well with other departments all comes down to promoting positive workplace culture, both online and offline.

Here, we discuss the best ways to bolster your remote work culture, from prioritizing employee acknowledgment to encouraging collaboration. From using Slack integrations to maintain employee connections to fostering a creative, positive environment, we cover the top tips and tricks for building a positive remote culture. Without further ado, let’s dive into the topic at hand.

1. Prioritize Employee Acknowledgement

One way to build positive remote culture is to acknowledge employee achievements. No one wants their hard work to go unnoticed, even if your workspace is largely online. Thankfully, Slack integrations can help ensure your employees feel recognized and appreciated.

Apps like CultureBot offer peer-to-peer acknowledgments and opportunities for upper management to call out a job well done. Team members can shout out coworkers who went above and beyond. Solidifying the importance of employee recognition to your team can act as a foundation for positive remote workplace interactions.

By using something as easy to implement as a Slack app, you can encourage team members to interact with one another and cultivate a team environment where employees lift each other instead of competing against one another, leading to positive interactions. In short, by ensuring team acknowledgments are part of your remote work setup, you can foster a positive workplace environment from day one.

2. Offer Professional Growth Opportunities

From onboarding to professional growth opportunities, offering remote employees the chance to connect with their position and build their understanding of the industry is crucial to employee retention. Thankfully, Slack integrations can make onboarding and professional mentoring a snap. From offering comprehensive work guides to new employees to connecting team members for mentorship opportunities, ensuring remote employees feel supported in their professional journeys is crucial to maintaining a positive workplace environment.

One example of allowing for professional growth is enabling surveys in your Slack channel. These surveys provide an avenue for anonymous feedback, enabling team members to offer suggestions without worry. By combining active mentorship with anonymous surveys, you can show your remote employees you value their input and support their growth. These surveys are also a great way for team leaders to gauge overall employee engagement, allowing them to implement new and innovative collaborative efforts without singling out employees for feedback. From a remote workplace perspective, anonymity mixed with active engagement is a win-win for positive workplace culture.

3. Encourage Collaboration

One of the struggles of remote and hybrid workplaces is a sense of isolation. You encourage interdepartmental collaboration by encouraging team members to work with one another in a remote workspace. This encouragement can come in social prompts, team activities, or, as we’ve mentioned before, peer-to-peer shoutouts. With such a wide range of

Collaboration features available through Slack apps and other programs, getting team members to interact with one another becomes simple.

A great example of how Slack apps like CultureBot encourage collaboration comes from the peer-to-peer shoutout features we mentioned earlier. These simple but poignant tools allow team members to call out a job well done and bolster team members from different departments. Gone are the days of office positions divided by cubicles and floors; online workspaces allow employees to seamlessly work with members of any department and office, creating a cohesive, positive workplace culture.

4. Provide Online Social Activities

One thing remote work struggles with compared to the traditional workplace is socialization. Employees can feel isolated when working online without a physical water cooler to gather around. Thankfully, there are solutions to this problem. Working with a Slack app that encourages socialization through automated prompts can help fend off the social isolation that comes hand-in-hand with working remotely. Adding a virtual water cooler to your office's Slack can spark conversation and keep team members connected, regardless of location.

By allowing space for socialization, team leaders can build workplace connections, leading to greater workplace productivity and an overall positive workplace culture. Remember, all work and no play lead to a dreary workspace, so leave time for socialization, employee acknowledgments, and workplace bonding activities.

5. Bolster Employee Wellness

In the past, workplaces have succeeded with fitness initiatives, like including a gym in their office building or having weekly workout check-ins as part of an optional workplace activity. While this kind of employee wellness check–in can be difficult with remote work, there are ways to integrate employee wellness and online workspaces.

Meditation reminders, break pop-ups, and encouraging remote employees to take frequent breaks can lead to a more productive, healthy workplace. After all, burnout is a serious problem for all workspaces, especially those online, as there are fewer social signals for breaks between tasks. Using Slack integrations to remind team members to pay attention to their physical needs and take a break when needed, you can signal your employees that their physical health is important, even if they work outside the office.

As you can see, working to integrate a Slack app like CultureBot can help drastically improve your workplace culture. From encouraging socialization and positive employee callouts to fostering communication between departments, working with the right Slack app can revolutionize your online workspace and build a positive remote culture.

If you need help connecting with your remote employees or want to elevate your office's online workspace, using an app like CultureBot can take the hassle out of employee engagement and lead to more productivity and a positive workplace in no time. With the right Slack integrations and an eye for collaboration, any remote workspace can become a positive, supportive workplace environment in no time.