With that said, there are many companies with a long-tenured staff that have seen declines in the strength of their culture. One of the reasons our culture continues to thrive is because we actively and intentionally work on it. Since March of 2020, we've been sending a daily email with encouraging stories, interactive games and contests, and video interviews of our employees so we can get to know one another better, even though we're mostly remote. We have also implemented a number of 30-minute, voluntary, weekly virtual events to keep people connected, learning and communicating, including:

Friday Chat and Chew: A lunchtime activity where we essentially play games and have some fun at the end of the week.
Strengths and Snacks: We work to be a strengths-based organization where people are encouraged to be who they are, while getting to do more of the things they're good at and enjoy. CliftonStrengths, a tool that assesses individuals' strengths in order to maximize potential, is at the center of this approach. Each one of these development sessions focuses on one of the 34 CliftonStrengths to give people a deeper understanding of their natural gifts.
Leaders at Lunch: Here, managers of all levels come together to share ideas and discuss best practices. Attendees usually leave the sessions with a fresh perspective and a stronger bond with their colleagues.
Connection Clubs: These are end-of-the-day gatherings where people with like interests get together and discuss a specific topic. Some of the Connection Clubs cover movies, technology, sports, parenting and novels.

Prior to working remotely, we were already using virtual meetings to bring our entire employee base together from our four campuses to learn, strengthen relationships and ensure everyone understood what was going on at the corporate. These included:

Monthly sessions to discuss our vision, values, teamwork and self-improvement;
Monthly sessions that cover leadership development; and
Bi-annual all-staff meetings and quarterly managers' meetings.

We still continue these meetings in a remote environment and they've been successful in bringing staff closer together.

Instant Insights /

How to Foster a Great Culture in a Remote Environment

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