COVID-19大流行为许多会计师事务所和组织带来了在家工作的时代. Now, three years since the pandemic’s onset, 许多组织已经接受了远程工作——无论是全职工作还是混合工作.
Although remote work offers flexibility, 随着互动转移到网上，公司的整体文化可能会发生变化. With employees being separated by states, time zones, and in some cases countries or hemispheres, 商业领袖们正在继续寻找新的创新方法来促进工作场所的联系, belonging, and engagement.
四位专家在网络直播中讨论了他们与远程员工培养和维持强大文化的最佳技巧 “How to Maintain Culture in a Remote World.”
Forge trust. “在建立和维持远程文化时，信任是最重要的,” said Jody Grunden, CPA, Partner and Virtual CFO Practice Leader, Summit Virtual CFO by Anders. “Employees want choice, and they want clarity.”
但建立信任也依赖于坚定的领导改变其思维方式. “For a lot of accounting firms, the mindset is ‘What have you done? How many hours have you worked today?’” said Grunden. “With a fully remote environment, it’s completely different. We’re results oriented. Trust is the building block. 你必须有这种信任，改变每周工作40小时的心态.”
但洛杉矶事务所GHJ的188bet亚洲真人体育下载网址、管理合伙人汤姆•巴里(Tom Barry)说，信任是双向的.
“Yes, firms must trust their staff members, but staff members should also develop trust in their employers,” Barry said. “Modeling flexibility, 创造向上的机会……员工需要相信雇主正在朝着这些目标努力.”
Enable flexibility. Attracting talent became a business issue for Barry’s firm. To address the challenge, 公司领导层承认他们的员工需要并想要更多的灵活性. “我们的律所秉承的理念是家庭、个人和律所的平衡. 对这三个个体的承诺推动了集体的成功. If we didn’t work remotely, we could never work that way. Flexibility affords it.
“If an employee is expected to be present 100% of the time, they miss out on family obligations or other extracurriculars,” said Barry.
灵活性是一种“业务需求”，对灵活性的渴望超越了几代人. “这不仅仅是年轻人告诉我们他们不想呆在办公室里,” said Lisa Simpson, CPA, CGMA, Vice President, Firm Services, AICPA® & CIMA®. “我认为为公司里的每个人找到合适的平衡点是很重要的.”
Practice intentionality with scheduling. Even with some or all staff working remotely, many firms still want to employ some in-person workdays, and it matters how those are scheduled. Simpson, who lives more than two hours from the office, 不想在上下班后被困在虚拟会议中. “你肯定不想在办公室里呆上一天，整天都在接Zoom的电话. I want intentional interactions. I want to make it more meaningful.”
缺乏有意识的日程安排”可能是我们在混合动力车中遇到的问题,” said Margaret Heneghan, Deputy Chief People Office & Chief People Officer at AON.
“My days in the office could be Monday and Tuesday, but my team members are there Wednesday and Thursday. We’re ships passing,” said Heneghan. “雇主应该提供灵活性，明确谁在办公室的时间，这样我们就可以有更多的时间在一起.”
除了计划每个人都能在办公室聚会的日子, 巴里想要确保那些不能亲自见面的人的需求得到满足. 巴里说:“我们还需要认识到所有这一切的公平性. “For those 80 people who are not coming in, 我们怎样才能不让他们觉得被新来的人排斥?”
Foster relationships with high-profile, in-person events. 虽然巴瑞的公司工作环境是混合型的而格伦登的公司完全是远程办公, both see the importance of several all-staff, in-person meetings or retreats each year. “We’ve found that after about six months of being fully remote, folks start getting disconnected,” said Grunden, who started twice yearly retreats in 2010. “They start losing their connection to the organization.诸如务虚会或全体员工会议等面对面的活动有助于纠正这一点.
格伦登公司举办的务虚会将员工送到一个特定的地点, like Nashville, and are given chances to mingle, work, connect, and even listen to a live performance. “Our team loves the retreats. They can’t wait to go to them,” said Grunden.
Barry’s firm started with four yearly all-staff, 面对面的会议，并将总数减少到两次，因为从后勤角度来看，四次会议太多了, but Barry believes they are invaluable. 巴里说:“这是对我们的员工进行的一项投资，让他们相互参与、相互成长、相互学习。.
尽管格伦登和巴里承认，将所有人聚集在一个地方是一笔巨大的开支, it ultimately helps reduce training and onboarding costs. “You have one, two, or three people stay another year or two, and that return is tremendous,” said Barry. “This is a new cost of business.”
Change onboarding practices to bolster engagement. 由于新员工无法进入办公室，疫情使入职工作复杂化. 格伦登透露，他的许多流行病新兵在被雇用后不久就离开了，理由是缺乏文化和包容性. 格伦登的团队分散在全国各地，面对面的会议几乎是不可能的. Instead, 他和他的领导们很快学会了在整个入职过程中——从最初的面试到第一天的工作——传达虚拟环境的重要性.
To act as resources and guides, 格伦登聘请了两名受过商业心理学培训的专业人士，他们直接与雇主合作，以确保“他们在一个遥远的世界里获得最好的体验。.” If a staff member is struggling, 员工可以向这些专业人士倾诉，找到可能的解决方案.
Firm cultures can thrive remotely
在COVID-19大流行之前，许多公司和组织都在慢慢实施更多的远程工作选择，但“COVID确实是这一切的加速器,” Barry said. “Everything was moving in that way; it just made us get there in a hurry.”
Heneghan, Barry, 格伦登和辛普森都认为，与面对面的办公室相比，远程工作有许多不同的好处, 但每个人都需要考虑在网络环境中茁壮成长.
“在一个偏远的环境中，你必须非常谨慎，因为你看不到那个人,” Grunden said.
In addition to these topics, 小组成员讨论了向新一代工人学习的重要性, how to ensure everyone is working toward the same goal, training managers for virtual environments, and much more in the full webcast “How to Maintain Culture in a Remote World.”
为了提升你的组织文化，一定要查看可用的人才资源 Transforming Your Business Model project. 你可以找到人才资源，培养包容的文化，在公司和整个行业留住人才.