Best Workplaces, Remote & Hybrid Culture
Check out these tips from leaders at Great Place To Work Certified companies on how to overcome the challenges of remote and hybrid work.
How has the rise of remote and hybrid work changed workplace culture?
While many employees value the flexibility offered by remote and hybrid work, the data shows that
Instead, the roll out of remote and hybrid work policies have become key inflection points for culture at companies like Nationwide and Edward Jones, both of which made the Fortune 100 Best 카지노 커뮤니티 추천 to Work For® List in 2024. Both companies leaned on their values to develop policies that supported employees, a tactic that they highlight as a key reason for success.
Edward Jones has 54,000 employees, the majority of which are financial advisors and client team support staff that operate in local communities around the country. These employees work in-person, even during the pandemic, as leaders and essential resources in their communities. About 9,600 employees at Edward Jones are home office associates who work in a hybrid model with three days a week in the office. Employees who don’t live within a comfortable commute to an Edward Jones office are asked to report to an office at least three times a year.
At Nationwide, 50% of associates work remotely, and 40% keep a hybrid schedule. About 10% of mission-critical staff report to the office every day.
See our latest research report on how onsite, remote, or hybrid work drives the employee experience.
Vinita Clements, EVP and chief human resources officer at Nationwide joined Suzan McDaniel, chief human resources officer, Edward Jones for a conversation to explore the challenges and opportunities offered by remote and hybrid work at the 2024 For All Summit℧ hosted by Great Place To Work®.
Lean on your values
Leaders might wonder how long-term remote work is affecting company culture. Can you maintain an award-winning culture when everybody is working in different places?
“The very first thing that any company has to do is really understand its values,” Clements said. Those values should inform policies and norms, no matter where an employee works.
Nationwide launched a formalized campaign to reinforce cultural values called “We Are the Culture.” “I wanted to dispel this notion that you have to come into the workplace to experience the culture,” Clements said. “You experience the culture by your behaviors and how you treat each other.”
The campaign used storytelling to help employees have a sense of belonging and lean into leadership, no matter what role they had at the company.
The rise of remote work has also expanded Nationwide’s values as the lines between work and home have blurred.
“Before [hybrid work] it was, ‘How is the work experience for your associate? How is the work experience?’” Clements explained. Now employers are asked to care about the full life experience of a person working for their company.
“You can no longer just be concerned with what's happening in the work location,” Clements said.
“It really is about listening, deeply understanding and ensuring that we are able to meet their needs where we can." - Suzan McDaniel, chief human resources officer, Edward Jones
McDaniel also says that cultural values around care and empathy at Edward Jones have been reinforced, not weakened by hybrid work policies.
“카지노 커뮤니티 랭킹 spirit of caring, of altruism, of helping others, is just paramount to who we are,” she explained. “We know that that’s primarily done through relationships. And those relationships can be virtual; they can be in person; but it’s really important that we focus on those relationships.”
Is remote work a leadership killer?
Some business leaders argue that , there are ways that hybrid work can threaten fairness in the workplace.
“Leaders would have some of their team members in the office every day, and then some that would be virtual,” Clements explained. “They have the meeting, and the people are on the camera — and then the camera goes away, and the meeting continues.”
In those scenarios, employees on camera were getting incomplete information or missing out on important decisions.
“It started to feel like the people who were in the office had an advantage,” Clements said. “They had more time with the leader, they got to hear more about different strategies.”
To level the playing field, virtual meetings became 100% virtual with leaders hosting a call from their office and everyone dialing in.
Another risk to fairness is whether remote employees get the same consideration as in-person staff for promotions. To ensure promotions are fair, Nationwide relies on its training program and tools that track promotability for all employees.
“It’s important to look at that data because you don’t want unintended consequences of what you’re trying to do in the right place end up hurting you,” Clements said.
Where do you get the data? Start with employee surveys — but be ready to act.
“Once you ask your people what’s on their mind, you have to do something with it,” Clements said.
Join us in Las Vegas!
Register for the next For All Summit℧, April 8-10, to connect with leaders and experts from great workplaces around the world.
