Can you create a high-performing and loyal culture without working in a shared office? Many of us have had to make this transition as leaders to remote or global work, and it has felt like losing some of that control. When we lose Friday drinks, chats by the water cooler, and the physical presence of a team, many of us feel a void in connection. I think the idea that culture is only created when teams are close together is one of the biggest myths in modern business, especially after the pandemic and after so many companies tried to get employees back into offices.
At Access Offshoring, we demonstrate that there is no correlation between geographic location and organisational health. In fact, while the average employee tenure in the offshoring industry is approximately 1.2 years, we have a 100% retention rate among our internal team. We didn’t achieve this by accident; we deliberately shifted our mindset from a transactional outsourced approach to a philosophy of developing an integrated global team. Let’s go through the steps for creating a culture with your team members, regardless of their location.
Dismantling the Invisible Hierarchy
True belonging begins with breaking down the ‘Us Versus Them’ mentality of business hierarchy. In order for your employees to feel connected to your business (and your company culture), they need to feel included, and included doesn’t begin with being given a job at the remote office. It begins when your employees have been made to feel included at head office. When a business separates its global staff from its head office, it creates a sense of separation that ultimately leads to disengagement and, eventually, employee turnover.
As I have experienced, creating a sense of inclusion and belonging starts with how you define your global staff through language and identity. They are not outsourced talent, but rather your global colleagues. While seemingly minor, defining your staff by their location and function creates a false perception of where an employee fits within your organisation. If your employees believe they are peripheral service providers rather than key members of the team, their belief in your vision will fade. Those leaders who are successful in this area include all members of their team (both domestic and international) in major victories, strategic updates, and cultural milestones. That is what makes a connection.
Systems as the Bridge for Connection
Connection in remote environments will not happen by accident. Rather, connections should be built into daily routines. That’s why we created our proprietary onboarding process with the intent to break down barriers of communication and culture, and provide a conduit for the workforce from different cultures to find common ground.
When a company has a structured training program and a well-defined communication framework, it reduces ambiguity, which breeds frustration. As employees know how their individual contributions fit into the overall mission and are able to rely on systems that are designed to support them within their own cultural context, they do not simply work for an organisation, but rather they become part of it.
High performance is a direct result of employees’ feeling psychologically safe and being clear about what is expected of them. The key is putting in the effort.
Moving from Transactional to Transformational
A transactional relationship is about dollars and cents. A transformational relationship is about the results of what those dollars and cents create. While it may be easy to connect with your remote team through a list of open tickets, or a set of logged hours, there will never be an opportunity for you to build a culture. All you can do is manage the tool.
Global integrated teams are able to perform better than teams who are managed as utilities due to a common social purpose that defines them. In all organisations, one aspect of social purpose is making a difference in the community. The more your employees see how their work affects something greater than just the organisation’s bottom line, the more likely they are to be loyal to the organisation.
The New Standard of Leadership
The next generation of leaders will not be identified by how many people are living at their home, but by how many people are standing behind their vision. If you have been experiencing high levels of employee turnover or a lack of engagement within your remote work teams; it is unlikely that implementing a new tracking system or faster Internet access will provide you the resolution you need. Instead, it will create a stronger sense of inclusion among employees.
A true culture is an invisible thread connecting an individual’s day-to-day efforts to the company’s overall mission and goals. When you place greater emphasis on your organisation’s purpose rather than on physical proximity, you do not simply reduce turnover among your employees. You develop a resilient, scalable, and world-class workforce that can function effectively regardless of where they reside.
I encourage you to reflect on the following question: If your brick-and-mortar office were to suddenly disappear tomorrow, what would continue to bind your employees together? Identify one of the Us Versus Them habits currently present in your current workflow and replace it with a collaborative, integrated process this week.
