According to the Harvard Business Review, nearly 40% of employees say their company hasn't asked them how they're doing since the pandemic began. Whether or not it is your case, it is undeniable that establishing close and honest communication channels between the company and collaborators is always necessary. And much more when circumstances force the vast majority of us to be working remotely in an environment of uncertainty.
The corporate culture, the feeling of affiliation of people with their organization, the motivation... are aspects that do not cease to exist when we stop going to the office. What we knew as work environment or organizational now we could call it Virtual Environment, introducing a new term that precisely encapsulates the concept in the current context.
And don't you think that worrying about these aspects is now even more important than ever?
As a company, we must make people see that they are not alone in this and stimulate group consciousness. In addition, having data on the perception people have of what we do as an organization can undoubtedly help to take quick measures with which to gain competitiveness in multiple aspects.
If you also agree, we are going to give you 10 tips to keep in mind to carry out a successful virtual climate assessment:
1. Determine what to ask
From another study Posted by Josh Bersin on the priorities of HR departments at this time we could consider asking questions and taking data on aspects such as: physical health and well-being , adaptation to remote work with new tools for communication interpersonal, issues specifically related to work and work continuity and even about mental health and managing uncertainty.
2. Don't let good ideas slip away!
Launching a virtual climate survey can open you up to a world of new perceptions, opinions or situations that you were not aware of. Remember that innovation is also stimulated in environments that present certain limitations or when faced with pure necessity. Be sure to ask for feedback and ideas about how you can improve individual work, the team, and the whole company (now and going forward!)
3. Corporate communication
It may also be a good idea to ask for people's opinions about the communication channels being used, the techniques for monitoring tasks, the frequency of this follow-up and see which ones they feel most comfortable with.
4. Encourage participatory decisions
It will greatly help the involvement and cohesion of the team if everyone feels that they have been consulted and that their opinions are taken into account in a constructive way. That is why the previous point is important, taking data continuously to ensure a healthy virtual environment that lasts.
5. Be sensitive to the individual situation
Each person will have a particular situation that may help or hinder their work: there are people who have to reconcile attention to their tasks with attention to their children. Others who live this situation alone will have to deal with feelings of loneliness without seeing their relatives. You must be able to convey that, as an organization, we appreciate the individual efforts that each one makes to keep the focus on the day-to-day work.
6. Find out what leadership is needed
Check if the employees perceive that their leader communicates with them enough, or if, on the contrary, they need more space and freedom to manage themselves. Or if perhaps the feedback between boss and employee is scarce and we should promote other types of initiatives to favor it: such as performance evaluation, define new joint action plans or stimulate development conversations.
In this new situation, the need to reassess the strengths and weaknesses of each person could be highlighted. We may find that you need to shift responsibilities or spend more time in training in those aspects in which employees feel more insecure in the face of the new challenges they must face.
7. Take the opportunity to communicate certainties
Uncertain situations are not the most conducive to stimulating motivation, so you should take advantage of any communication input with the team to convey confidence messages and communicate about the situation that the company is going through or the new challenges that you all must pursue working as a team in the most transparent manner possible.
8. Respect
When we work from home, the boundaries between privacy and professionalism are blurred, so you must respect each one's decision to participate or not answer certain questions such as emotional stability. Although the survey is anonymous, you can give freedom in case someone does not want to answer a question: handling this possibility is easy with a response formula that includes a Does Not Apply (or Does not know / Does not answer).
9. Continuous feedback
If you make brief and effective questionnaires perhaps it could be interesting that they have a recurrence over time to measure the progress of the virtual environment, or to verify if the actions that the company are carrying out meet the desired objectives and manage to increase the well-being of people in this situation.
10. Don't be afraid of data
Let's embrace the mantra of Andy Grove, who said that "in times of crisis the bad companies are destroyed, the good ones survive and the great ones improve".
And only the brave ones who face the reality of things as they are, overcoming the fear that the problems will be highlighted, are the ones who improve. Those are the big companies!
Our conclusion is that maintaining a good virtual climate is a way of honoring those who are not lucky enough to continue working or who have suffered the consequences of the pandemic in person, as well as all those who continue to do their work in person. so that the rest of us can telework in the best possible conditions.
Going from chaos to trust is easy if you base your assessments on a platform like Hrider, which provides you with objective and real-time data for decision-making. We have many more ideas about this, if you wish to know more, we will be happy to share them with you. Do not hesitate: write to us!
Download a free template to assess your Work Climate