CRACKING THE CULTURE CODE: BUILDING BLOCKS FOR OFFICE CULTURE IN A DISTRIBUTED WORKFORCE

The idea of a distributed workforce, a phenomenon that gained traction in the late 1990s/early 2000s mirroring the rise of the internet, has showed staying power instead of the temporary trend most assumed it would be. For example, in 2019, less than 7% of private sector employees worked primarily from home according to BLS data. In contrast, Gallup shows that today we find the distributed workforce has more than doubled to over 81%. As employers examine the spread of their employees in these instances and the associated organizational culture, and the impact it has on their business, we see more questions floating to the surface, like:

• Do distributed workforces disrupt organizational culture or create the evolution of organizational culture through this landscape?
• If so, how should organizations create a strong and positive culture to maximize performance, meet client needs, and generate great employee experiences?
• When it comes to creating culture and employee experience, is a one-size-fits-all approach the right recipe?

There is no plug-and-play, set-it-and-forget-it solution. But the uniqueness of the solution is found in the sweet spot where employees thrive; culture blooms, and employee engagement finally trends in the right direction.  So how can you make this work in your unique business, with your employees and in your marketplace?

While company culture occurs across various company environments, it is complex and yet remains an organic element that shapes regardless of intention, strategy, or cultural mindset. Culture can impact the health of the business, talent, and staying relevant to your customers and keeping them interested in your brand/service or product. Let’s rotate through various lenses that organizations can look through to consider building culture as this may inspire the recipe for creating the right culture in distributed workforces in your company.

OPERATIONAL EFFICIENCY IMPACTS THE PEOPLE WHO DRIVE PROCESS

A rock worth turning over in creating positive culture with distributed teams or workforces is perhaps in the workflows and processes. How complex are your procedures? How many steps does it take to complete one task? How many people, departments, or locations does it take to get a task one? Are the processes directly aligned to a product or service you offer, job description, job training program, KPI and performance review (with a thread an intentional thread weaved through)? These dynamics matter.

Standard operating procedures (SOP) often get overlooked in conversations about organizational culture, yet they shape how work feels—especially across distributed teams who often rely on static workflows to stay connected and productive. Every process is a cultural signal. Simplicity fosters agility and trust; complexity can create friction and disengagement. As you evaluate your procedures, ask yourself: Are they reinforcing the culture you want—or working against it? Consider these factors and the cultural impact of each.

When people feel successful: It boosts self-efficacy, which translates into positive outcomes, stronger collaboration, and greater understanding across teams.

When processes are overly complex or illogical: All employees, even the most up-and-coming, intelligent, high-performing and bright employees, can feel languid, disengaged, and unproductive.

When employees are buried in process roadblocks and red tape: It becomes hard to breathe, let alone notice positive cultural efforts, because the focus shifts to getting work done, feeling accomplished, and self-preservation.

TALENT DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY CREATES CULTURE

Make sense of talent development strategy with streamlined categories:

• Start with your product, what jobs need to get done to deliver on the product, does your job training align to those operating procedures.
• Clarify the competencies needed to stand out, accelerate performance, prep for future, and create programs that address these separately from job training.

While there are many methods to approach a talent development strategy, sometimes its most simple approach is to start with organizational design methods to understand business product purpose first and uncover why what works in delivering such service so that you can align the right training to empower employees. Find the ways to empower employees and help them be and feel successful.

PHILANTHROPIC INITIATIVES TO CREATE CULTURE AND CONNECTION

Why not invest in philanthropic initiatives? Organizations and customers gravitate toward companies with a visible, positive footprint in their local areas. These efforts don’t just strengthen brand reputation—they give employees meaningful ways to engage beyond their job scope, helping to inspire wellness, improve self-efficacy, and influence motivation to aim toward high performance on the job.

To stand up successful philanthropic operations, consider the following:

Narrow your focus and number of initiatives. While there is no shortage of goodwill, multiple initiatives can fatigue and confuse employees on what and why something matters to your business.

Map your plan for the year like a project and event plan with a budget. Tip: Always add 30 additional days of planning to the front of your initiative.

Elicit buy-in from key stakeholders and leaders. Tell them simply what you need and when you need their support and align on how they can best and want to show up as they have a following of employees and mentees and a personal leadership brand they are working on.

Buzz and promote initiatives with the same energy as you would a product launch.

Build relationships with organizations and look for strong footprints or values that align with your company values.

Establish the process for guardrails for partnerships, eligibility criteria, media/public relations, compliance implications and brand standards of your philanthropic program to keep it consistent and recognizable.

Build engagement internally by inviting employees to volunteer and serve as philanthropy ambassadors and celebrate employee contribution and participation. Collect stories along the way and share not just what your employees accomplished, but why they participated—these stories inspire and strengthen your culture.

COMPLIANCE CONSIDERATIONS AND LEGISLATION INFLUENCES CULTURE CREATION

Jobs of the future, evolving laws, and company spending are increasingly shaping organizational culture and what businesses can do for their people.

According to VensureHR’s compliance team:

• There are over 4,300 employment and labor laws in existence.
• U.S. employers spend more than $14 billion annually on outside legal counsel.

Dozens of proposed laws will also influence the tools people use and competencies needed to get the job done, impacting entire industries—for example, electrification mandates in logistics within certain states and implementation dates thereof. These changes affect training programs, company policies, engagement budgets, and more, all of which shape culture.

The rise of AI adds another layer. Beyond data privacy and GDPR, there are over two dozen legal considerations governing how companies deploy AI. These rules influence jobs, opportunities, and the need for stronger decision-making competencies.

Ultimately, how work is performed under these evolving conditions defines organizational culture—from workflows to employee expectations and engagement.

COMMUNICATIONS STRATEGY CAN INSPIRE OR DETRACT FROM CULTURE

Information and narratives give the employees something to connect to. Message delivery, including the vehicle/method, author, design, and language, creates an immediate visceral reaction. Additionally, design aesthetic matter as it requires consistency to underscore what employees recognize and where they should focus attention. Design coupled with thoughtful communication and delivery method builds trust. The tips below some pieces of a puzzle that help shape culture.

Highlight the achievements of who’s innovating, hitting goals, winning contests, and making an impact. Success stores inspire employees and strengthen engagement.

Feature employee contributions and “day-in-the-life” stories to demystify roles and simultaneously create authentic cross-team connections.

Tone matters—even in policy updates. Assign messages thoughtfully. As an example, be selective on who delivers what type of messages. Some organizations have HR message policy expectations—this is tricky as HR must be balanced and be an open door. Sometimes specific messages are better placed with managers as they manage performance and behavior expectations.

Apply authentic, human-generated writing and copyediting over solely relying on AI messages and suggested delivery. While AI is identified as the future of technology, word choice, emotive phrasing, etc. allows the corporate communications writer to control the brand voice and measure sentiment impact.

Measure everything! Track engagement (clicks, navigation, and traffic) to understand what resonates. Employees (your audience) will show you what inspires them through your messaging and what you are able to measure.

CONSUMER BEHAVIOR IMPACTS CULTURE AND INSPIRES EMPLOYEES.

Consumers will go where their needs are being met. If your business is innovating, and/or filling needs customer demand brings the jobs or brings purpose to your organization that employees connect to. Remaining relevant isn’t just about what happens inside your business. It’s about understanding and adapting to what’s happening in your customers’ world—a perspective that creates powerful internal conversations. Staying relevant to your customers is key.

This lens to look through may be interesting as this mostly happens outside of your business, but it creates important conversations internally. Those conversations are important in creating culture with employees when you invite them to share ideas or get involved in projects to improve or build customer experiences. Some employees get the opportunity to be part of building the brand versus delivering the experience. This cross knowledge allows employees to see the process it takes to stand up and sustain the business in a meaningful that can connect them to the business which further creates a culture where employees in a distributed workforce cannot just belong to but participate in and be inspired by.

As some of those employees may be direct or indirect consumers, they may have an idea or two that will enhance the product. And so, as your products drive consumer behavior, this is creating opportunities for your company’s culture.

While we’ve explored multiple lenses for shaping culture in distributed workforces and environments, these are not the only considerations—and many ideas apply universally across organizations with different structures.

Equally important is advocating for flexibility in how culture is created. Every department naturally develops its own subset, sometimes intentionally, due to the critical or unique nature of its work. This results in a department-owned brand identity—one that can either resonate with employees or inevitably create a disconnect.

Recognizing and embracing these nuances helps organizations foster a cohesive yet adaptable culture strategy that works across diverse teams.