How We've Created Fun Remote Work Culture at Visuable
creating a fun company culture in a remote workplace
Visuable is a fully remote company, and our team is based all around Europe.
How do we stay connected and nurture a valued company culture?
We are all aware of the increased employee satisfaction rates when companies allow remote working, the benefits of work-life balance, and increased productivity. And these are all great!
So, why aren’t all companies remote?
The remote company structural approach isn’t the easiest when nurturing the company culture. Organisational culture is one of the key elements of the company and the glue that keeps the values and even employee well-being in shape. Also, research has proven that it is one of the most important factors in productivity, innovation, corporate performance, and growth.
The culture is formed and nurtured through daily interactions at the coffee machine, face-to-face chats, and by good-old socialising over a weekly happy hour or company-provided breakfast. The common thread here is that these are not possible in a fully remote company setting.
Are we then missing out on the benefits of a great company culture as a remote team?
The ongoing research is trying to find correlations between the increased level of remote working and company culture, and so far, no one has definite answers on how to nurture culture in a remote setting. However, this is our input:
Socialising and team culture building are worth investing in.
The truth is, we love hanging out with the team and it is one of the downfalls of remote working. Zoom happy hours just don’t cut it, and the current research has not seen a connection between online meetups, culture and employee well-being (Towner et al., 2021).
That’s why our company invests in culture building activities. For example, as a Christmas bonus, all Visuable team members received a $500 travel budget, which they can use to travel anywhere they like, as long as they’re traveling together with at least one other team member. The whole team loves to travel and explore new places, and one of Visuable’s company values is ‘laptop lifestyle’, so this turned out to be the perfect company perk to encourage the team to co-work in person, connect and build the company culture, while also doing what they love - visiting a new place in the world.
As a matter of fact, our first team meet-up of 2023 happened a couple of weeks ago in Athens, Greece. Lidia, Carmen, Efi, and Eleni had an amazing time co-working, immersing themselves in the local culture, visiting art exhibitions, attending live music events, and enjoying local cuisine, with lots of laughs and personal conversations in between.
For us, these personalised travel experiences are more valuable and helpful in building the remote company culture, than meeting up randomly at the coffee station, or attending a zoom happy hour, which may feel forced.
Just look at these happy faces.
How about on a daily basis?
When it comes to building the everyday culture of a virtual company, we have plenty of activities already in place!
Each of Visuable departments meets weekly for a review of activities and an overall catch-up. During those meetings, we ensure that all pieces of the Visuable puzzle are performing as required, check-in on each other, and engage in personalised conversations. Our cats are in attendance sometimes too.
This year, we’re also introducing a monthly ‘All Hands’ team meeting, to go over company updates and get to meet all together on a monthly basis. What’s more, each department runs regular ‘Learn’ sessions delivered by the Lead Expert, to share knowledge and up-skill other team members in areas where training is most needed.
Outside of the group catch-ups, we also have plenty of unscheduled 1-on-1’s, which are used for design work reviews, brainstorming ideas, trainings, and peer-to-peer support. Aside of the calls, we stay connected throughout the day by chatting via Slack, where we use various channels to discuss ideas, ask questions, cheer on each other successes, and offer support if needed.
The crucial thing for us is to stay connected, support each other, and help each other grow, while having fun along the way.
We also schedule regular social activities through AirBnB Online Experiences to connect socially in creative ways. Over the years, we’ve attended a Taco’s Cooking Class, Origami Art Class, Drink&Draw Session and a Circus Performance, all of which the team really loved!
In conclusion, our tip for building a remote culture is, first of all, to get to know your team members and establish what type of socialising works best for them, keep the communication going, and schedule activities that are aligned with personal and company values. And most importantly, help people bond and create fun memories together.
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