Does your workplace reflect your company culture and values?

Does your workplace reflect your company culture and values?

As people begin returning and spending more time in the office, employers have to make sure that the physical workspace keeps everyone engaged and productive. They not only need to create a company culture that is safe and supportive, but one that also aligns with the company’s purpose and values. 

In this blog post, we look at how you can design a workplace that effectively communicates your values to your team, clients and customers, and why this is important.

How your workplace design can communicate company values

Company values are more important than ever—they set the tone for how employees communicate with their clients and each other and more—but if they’re not communicated well, businesses won’t be able to realise the benefits they bring.

The office is not just a physical space to do work. It’s not just an area with walls, desks, rooms and windows. An office is a place where people can collaborate, socialise and share ideas, views and aspirations. And the actual design of your workplace can have a significant impact in creating a supportive, engaging and productive culture. 

Workplace design creates an environment that supports your brand and tells your story. Each design element can communicate to employees, clients and customers the core values that represent who you are as a company. 

Here are some steps to make your workplace design reflect company values.

1. Define your company values

The workplace design process doesn’t start with choosing the right colours, lighting or layout. It begins with defining and establishing your core values. This is an opportunity for your business to refocus on your mission as a company, determine your ‘why’, and review the values and principles that are essential for both management and staff.

This is a critical step in the process – and should not be skipped. It builds the foundation that guides the way forward. So, take the time to re-examine and define your company values before you start thinking about how to translate them into the physical workplace.

2. Design the workplace to reflect your values

When you have defined and established your core company values, it’s important to communicate them across the whole business. Conduct company-wide presentations and team workshops. Email your values to each employee, and have team managers lead the way in practising those values. 

One important aspect in this step of the process is to have a look around the office and review the physical workspace. Does your office interior design reflect your company values? If not, you’ve missed an important opportunity to communicate your values internally and externally.

Let’s take a set of example values and talk about how we could create a workspace to align and promote them. 

Company values: Empowerment, Real People, Innovation and Customer-Centric.

  • Create a front of house area that is prominent and purposely designed to host clients and external visitors to ensure being customer-centric is clear to all. Continue on with this theme by choosing a higher level of finish and furnishing and mood lighting, artwork to emphasise the importance of visitors. More specifically, the choice and style of furnishings also need to portray the appropriate tone and language to anyone who visits your office, e.g. timber veneers and the use of a reasonable amount of glazing reinforces trust and transparency, but also may delineate front of house from back of house, assuring your clients that their IP protected when you work for them.
  • Using seamless technology connections focuses on the values of customer-centric, innovation and making the design for real people. How does this work in practice? By designing a workplace where employees can drop into unbookable spaces to accommodate a client that has arrived unannounced and needs a quick meeting. The employee can book the space at the door of the room for 30 minutes with no fuss and hassle, making the experience great for the client. Need to connect to the AV and dial in a virtual team member? No problem. It’s all done at the touch of a button and intended to accommodate and facilitate the client’s needs empowering everyone to collaborate efficiently.
  • Include ‘experience centres’ to address innovation and customer-centric needs by facilitating a curated experience for people. How? Design for creative sessions, change the lighting, allow writing and sticking onto all walls, use modular furniture and a variety of settings within a room to create a sense of innovation when combined with high tech solutions in lighting and VC/AV equipment.
  • Include right-sized, placed and styled collaboration, entertainment and social spaces to empower employees to host client-centric meetings and workshops that treat everyone like real people.
  • Design social spaces that accommodate employee activities – keeping it real for them in how they connect their support services, reinforcing that real people connect with their real needs being met. It might be as simple as a functional kitchen layout with enough recycling bins, sufficient microwaves placed correctly and free access to the filtered water tap without having to impede the packing of the dishwasher.
  • Provide choice in work settings i.e. flexibility about when you are in the office to choose the most productive work setting in order to empower and enable customer-centric responses by cutting down response time.
  • Include sufficient focus and quiet spaces – this again means real people are getting their real needs met and enables high performance.

3. Consider employee habits and work preferences

Building a values-based workplace and culture would not be successful without the input and support of your employees. Engage them in the workplace design process. Ask them what works, what doesn’t, if the workspace communicates the right mood or perception, and how to best implement any changes. It’s also important to consider work habits and how teams collaborate and work together. 

Designing the best physical space where employees feel comfortable and energised, can do wonders in enhancing work performance and productivity in the long run.

4. Partner with workplace design experts

Let’s face it – creating an environment that reflects your values would require a lot of time planning, coordinating and building. Consider working with workplace strategy and design experts to help you do the job properly and efficiently. Companies like Axiom can help you strategise, design and build a physical workspace that reflects your culture, communicates your core values, and improves staff well-being and performance.  

Why company values are important

Now that we’ve seen how to make your workplace design reflect company values, it’s essential to understand why your core values matter in the first place.

Your company values matter especially in these times of uncertainty and change. They build the foundation of your company culture and serve as a guiding force for both management and employees. Here are a few reasons why company values are important:

Values keep your business unique

Core values not only create the culture within the organisation but also stay consistent with the company’s overall identity. They help communicate the brand story and build on the ‘why’ of the business – why you do what you do, why you’re different from the competition, and why the company was established in the first place.

They unite staff with a common purpose

People want to be inspired. They want to know that their work contributes to something bigger than themselves. Company values can help create that bond between individuals and teams to work together to achieve common goals and fulfil a shared mission or purpose.

They drive team performance

When employees are working together for a common purpose, they feel more engaged with their work; more energised and motivated. Team productivity and performance, therefore, significantly improve. 

Want to learn more about creating the best workplace that reflects your company values? Read our Future of Work guide and see what’s in store for employees, employers and workplaces in 2021 and beyond.

 

People in the workplace

The future of the office: An interview with AMEX

When the world was flung into a mass work-from-home experiment in 2020, American Express Global Business Travel’s employees didn’t lack the tech or training to make it work. In fact, 70 to 80 percent of the 500 strong Australian workforce already worked from home. 

We spoke with Kate Witenden, Head of Human Resources at AMEX Global Business Travel during 2020, about how their virtual-first workforce handled the crisis almost seamlessly. We also explored what shifts still need to occur and what other companies can learn from their business model and company culture. Finally, we talked about what Kate sees as the future of the office.

A snapshot of the business pre-COVID

Pre-COVID, AMEX Global Business Travel had offices in Perth, Melbourne and Sydney, but around 70-80 per cent of staff were designated as ‘virtual employees’ (i.e. not attached in any permanent capacity to a physical office). These virtual employees were fully set up to work from home 100 per cent of the time. They were equipped with the technology and processes to service customers and collaborate with their colleagues remotely.

Kate said this working model was one of the things that attracted her to the business in the first place: “I was intrigued from an HR perspective. Does it actually work? And it did.”

“This is a highly collaborative global organisation that works over many time zones. So they innately built this model so that people could be set up to work from home at the hours required.”

Even those employees who did regularly work from an office were ultimately enabled to also work remotely. 

“We all had the equipment to be able to work from home already because the chances were that nine out of 10 of those people who still chose to turn up to the office had to be on calls with the UK out of normal business hours at home. The work required us to be flexible.”

The AMEX response to the crisis

In March 2020, when Australian office workers were advised to work from home by the government, the AMEX Global Business Travel team didn’t miss a beat. Kate told us there were only five (out of 500!) employees that weren’t ready.

“They were brand new recruits going through training in the office with seasoned consultants or team leaders. While we had the technology to train people remotely, it took some quick thinking from the team to get these ‘newbies’ up and running at home,” Kate explained. 

“But the reality is that’s how quick we were to be able to move with the crisis to 100 percent of employees working from home – and WFH continued throughout the entire year of 2020.”

What needed to evolve

Pre-COVID, AMEX Global Business Travel had town hall-style meetings to provide business updates from the leadership team. But during the pandemic, this level and amount of communication couldn’t keep up with the rapid changes and shifting business landscape – especially in a hard-hit industry like business travel. Instead, town halls started happening more regularly and evolved into a two-way communication channel, with employees able to ask questions of their leaders.

With many employees stood down and a lot of uncertainty, though, more needed to be done. “The leadership team created their own WhatsApp groups so they could pass on messages,” explained Kate.

“It was about adapting and using the right medium for the situation rather than a more traditional corporate channel. So, although the WhatsApp groups won’t be a permanent fixture, they disseminated information quickly and got the job done.”

Although the outlook for the business travel sector is uncertain, Kate said, “Out of horrible adversity came something quite miraculous – it permitted people to act with speed.”

“It’s going to be a long recovery, but having been through it will put the business in such an amazing standing for when lights switch back on in business travel.”

The future of the office

Kate noted that “the danger of going completely virtual is that nothing replaces that face-to-face collaboration, the feeling of energy being created.”

“I think it’s very, very difficult to sustain [100 percent virtual] unless you’ve got excellent tools and practices and discipline. That said, we had a lot of those foundations already in place in our business, which set us up for success.”

We were curious to know what Kate thought the office of the future might look like:

“The office of the future is about collaboration. The rest of the stuff, your emails and solo work, you can do that from home in peace and quiet much more productively. 

“So if you’re going to be in the office, you need to be present. You need to be available, you need to be open, and you need to be there to give something back. Turning up to bring your laptop in for the sake of sitting in the office is not what the office of the future is about.”

If you’d like to explore more about what the future holds for the office, take a look at Leading the Future of Work in Australia: Insights and Strategies. It’s our one-stop resource for all things future of work-related.

Thank you to Kate Witenden for this interview. You can connect with Kate on LinkedIn.

The future of work and how it's impacting company culture

Almost a year on from the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, we are starting to see the impacts of the crisis on workplace culture in Australia and it's clear that the future of work is being reshaped. But although the picture is coming into more distinct focus, the long term effects probably won’t be apparent for years to come.

What we do know is that the workplace, the workforce and the way we work have significantly and permanently changed. Lockdowns and travel bans have flipped what we thought about the nature of work altogether. Businesses have seen that employees don’t necessarily need to be in the office to get particular work done. Remote work has become the new norm. Commutes have been cancelled. Business travel superseded by Zoom meetings. So as we adjust to these new working ways, leaders must consider the effects this is having on company culture.

What is company culture?

Company or organisational culture is made up of every interaction within your business. It’s the processes, decisions and conversations held within your office and also what is played out online. In a recent webinar Axiom hosted, culture was likened to the body’s immune system. There to support the body, but if not treated well or looked after, it can fail or, in fact, attack.

Company culture is critical as it guides behaviour. It tells employees how to respond, what choices to make and how to handle tricky issues. Company culture is the unseen force which drives employee decision-making day in, day out. Culture tells employees what to do when their leader is out of sight.

How do we shape culture?

So if culture is this nebulous, almost unseen thing, how can leaders shape and improve it?

Before making any change, it is essential to understand your culture first and from there identify what you want to achieve. Without this initial understanding and vision of where you want to be, it can be easy to lose sight of the end goal and get stuck in business as usual.

In a recent webinar we hosted, it was mentioned that the higher you go up the corporate ladder, the less that person actually understands what the culture is within an organisation. So as businesses get bigger and organisational structures become more vast, so does the challenge of truly grasping what the company culture is like.

To help you get an understanding of your company’s culture, we’ve broken down what the culture of a high-performance workplace consists of:

We see company culture as an amalgamation of a few key things: Technology, Environment and Behaviour. These areas are interwoven, inextricably linked, and the building blocks of organisational culture.

Technology

Technology is a driver and enabler of culture. It provides the ability for seamless connections and also to make location agnostic. It fosters collaboration amongst teams and allows them to remain productive, whether in the office or remote. And while technology has been vital to the work from home shift during COVID-19, it’s just as important in the physical workplace. A bad technological experience, no matter the location, is remarkably detrimental to culture.

Environment

In a recent webinar Axiom hosted, we polled the audience, and most people said they plan to modify their existing physical office in response to the shift in working style we’ve seen over the past year. This is the perfect opportunity to think about how the physical environment can support and improve your company culture.

In our new hybrid working environment, it’s essential to consider how people are working in the co-located office. What tasks are being performed? How can the environment support those tasks specifically?

The other thing to consider is, now that people have the option to work from home, how can the physical office be designed in a way to attract staff back in?

To answer these questions, it’s essential to get to know your people by immersing yourself in your organisation. You need to understand your people, the type of work they do, and where and how they can do it best. In general, an office is a place of connection, learning, collaboration and socialisation, and designing the space to support these key elements will support strong company culture.

Behaviour

Behaviour is an obvious part of the company culture ‘pie’, which ideally should be underpinned by strong organisational values. The values held by employees on the inside will be reflected by their behaviour on the outside. However, creating company values, printing them on posters and sticking them on a wall is not good enough. Values must be role modelled from the top and built into the way business is done. Action must follow words, or company culture will suffer.

How has COVID-19 affected culture?

COVID-19 was a moment of truth for workplace culture in Australia. Businesses with robust, resilient and positive cultures are in much better positions than those with weak or negative cultures. In our last webinar, our panel noted that there had been a few common cultural themes highlighted over the pandemic. Let’s start with some positives.

For many employees, the move to remote work was an opportunity to get comfortable being more personal and open with colleagues. Work from home has been a window into people’s lives which wasn’t available before. Connections have become more genuine, and employees have felt they can be their whole selves.

Interestingly, given greater physical distancing, closer collaboration, and a willingness to jump in and help colleagues has also developed. This perhaps due to the “we’re all in this together” attitude that’s permeating companies.

The shared struggle has also seen an increase in empathy and understanding between colleagues, employees and employers. Before the pandemic, problems were usually individual and left at home. Now, everyone is weathering the storm, and the home is a genuine part of the workplace.

On the flip side, pandemic-induced isolation and job insecurity have unsurprisingly hurt employee wellbeing. Employees are struggling to switch off and set boundaries between work and home life.

Physical distancing, the rise in remote working and working in shifts also means less incidental, serendipitous meetings. These “water cooler” chats are often the catalyst for innovation, fresh ideas and collaboration, and we’re yet to see the true impact of missing out on them.

What is a cultural continuity plan?

Just like a business continuity plan, a cultural continuity plan is about making it through a crisis or navigating change and coming out the other side strong. It’s important that your business has the ability to translate what is important to the company (i.e. mission, vision and values) no matter what is happening externally or internally in order for your culture to be preserved.

Your cultural continuity plan starts with an outline of the things that are important to your company’s culture. Then it needs to address how these things will be protected when a crisis, like the pandemic, occurs. For example, if your business values social connections, and this usually looks like Friday night drinks at the pub, what will this look like in a lockdown situation?

How does the physical workplace affect culture?

As you now know, the environment is an integral part of the company culture ‘pie’. While it is only part of the equation, if you have a physical workspace, it is essential to building and supporting a thriving company culture.

However, we’ve found that most companies are not measuring how well their physical workspace supports their people, productivity and culture. Measurement is key to objectively interpret the progress of your company culture. Without proper measurement, you cannot see what’s being done well, what’s being done poorly, and where there are opportunities for improvement.

This is why Axiom developed the Workplace Thrive Index, a tool which will take the pulse of your organisation. Once the pulse has been taken with a carefully facilitated process, the Index score is measured against industry benchmarks and areas for improvement are determined. Want to know where your organisation sits on the Workplace Thrive Index?

Company culture is an essential part of the Future of Work, explore other considerations in the Future of Work: A Progressive Leaders Guide To Staying Ahead.

The office of the future: Transform your workplace for changing space requirements

The office of the future: Transform your workplace for changing space requirements

The pandemic has accelerated a range of pre-existing workspace trends around health and wellbeing, flexibility, activity-based working and the demand drive for better space utilisation. With this change in working habits, the requirements of COVID-19 workplace design have come into focus.

Things like high quality virtual connective hardware which were once on the “wish list” are now office must-haves. Some of these investments are now also within reach, thanks to boosted tenant incentives.

In this article, we’ll explore the new requirements of the office as well as the incentives on offer to fund these essential upgrades.

The new office must-haves

Right now conflicting forces are pulling at the future of office footprints. One is the need for more space to accommodate physical distancing protocols. The other is the need to reduce space with more people working remotely. In a post-vaccine world, physical distancing requirements will cease to exist, but the changes to the way people work are here to stay.

While technology has proven valuable to support and maintain collaboration and interaction in the required work from home period, long term it will complement but not replace the need for a physical workplace.

Long term, workspaces will have a rationalised physical footprint, and be comprised of flexible well-equipped spaces designed to support specific employee needs. The new office will have technology built in (eg. occupancy sensors or smart lighting solutions), a strong focus on health and wellbeing, plus a workplace design that is sympathetic to the productivity needs of employees while they’re in the workspace.

Entice employees to the workspace

Enhanced productivity, no commute and the opportunity to work in leisurewear – working from home has a lot of perks the office now needs to compete with. The new workplace needs to become a destination with a purpose which entices employees to return.

The office will need to offer more to employees than just a workstation to sit at for 8 hours a day. Rather, smart businesses will create places that attract and retain their employees with careful workspace design.

Employee health and safety

The new office puts employee health and safety front and centre. Workspaces will take advantage of technology and equipment such as hands-free or easy to clean materials (non-porous surfaces) and fixtures (automatic doors and taps) to rebuild employees’ trust and confidence.

Seamless connection between physical and virtual

Remote working isn’t going anywhere, which means the new office needs to be reconfigured to accommodate technology upgrades. Meeting rooms need to be equipped for seamless video conferencing, whether that’s with better quality screens and audio or faster data connections, to ensure flawless links between those out of and those in the office.

Collaboration and connection spaces

A key purpose of the new office is connection and collaboration between employees. With focussed and deep work done from home, employees will increasingly visit the office when human interaction is required, and the workspace needs to encourage and support this type of work. In a pre-vaccine world, these spaces will need to consider movable furniture for safe distancing and acoustic treatments which aid conversation across distance.

Use tenant incentives to create your new future-proof office

According to the Property Council of Australia, Australian office vacancy increased over the first six months of 2020 for the first time in four and a half years to 9.5%. This has created a pro-tenant market, and as landlords work to keep building values steady in a turbulent time, they are offering incentives to tenants like:

  • Rent-free periods
  • Rent abatement
  • Fitout contributions
  • Changes to rent review and make good terms

While tenant incentives aren’t new, they are currently on the increase. CBRE notes that in Sydney, “incentives are on the rise to encourage leasing activity in the market, nudging up around the 30% mark.” In previous years, this sat at 18-20%. It is a good time to take advantage of the increased incentives to fund your future-proof workspace upgrades.

Wondering what other future of work trends are affecting workspace design? Check out the Future Of Work: A Progressive Leader’s Guide.

The challenges of remote working, rationalising office space reductions, and maintaining company culture

The challenges of remote working, rationalising office space reductions, and maintaining company culture

As many businesses shift to a work from home strategy during the developing COVID 19 crisis, more Australians are working remotely than ever before. Rather than a passing trend, it appears the rise in remote working in Australia will permanently change our working culture. 

With benefits like supporting employee health, increased productivity, better work-life balance and the opportunity to cut costs by rationalising office space, it’s no wonder remote working is seen as the future of the workplace.  

But what do we know about the challenges of remote working in Australia and how to overcome them long term? And how will long-term remote work impact company culture? 

This post explores how an organisation might rationalise real estate costs, while still strengthening and maintaining its culture. 

Remote working benefits

Remote work had been on the rise for years before COVID 19 required people to shelter in place. Undeniably, the pandemic has accelerated the adoption of remote work across the world. And with this acceleration, companies have noticed some fantastic benefits for both employees and employers, not least of which is saving money on commercial real estate.  While there are some more benefits of this strategy, there are also some watch-outs too. 

Productivity and performance

Pre-COVID 19, a study found that 49% of professionals noted that they chose to work at home to complete deep, high-concentration work. So it’s not surprising that remote workers tend to be more productive. With more time and fewer distractions having a positive impact on productivity, remote work enables employees to focus on performance, results and higher quality work. Interestingly, this increased productivity and performance translate into greater employee engagement, which is significantly lowering absenteeism. 

However, not all types of work are easy to perform in isolation – in the Owl Labs Global State of Remote Work report, respondents said brainstorms are the most challenging meetings to follow and participate in when working remotely. Perhaps more surprisingly, a different study found that dull repetitive tasks are also more difficult for remote workers.

Rationalise commercial rent and other associated costs 

Remote working cuts costs for both employees and employers. According to Global Workplace Analytics, a part-time remote worker saves their company an average of $11,000 per year on rent and other associated office costs.  So adopting a work-from-home stance for the longer term can clearly help to rationalise space and lower rent costs for an organisation. 

However, a  physical workplace is more than an overhead cost of running a business. Culture, collaboration and connection between individuals and teams are essential to overall unity and directed output in an organisation. So the reduction of rent cannot be considered in isolation – any space reduction must be considered in terms of the longer-term impact on culture also. 

Healthier and happier employees

Aside from the obvious benefit of reducing the risk of spreading COVID 19, working remotely – even part-time, has been shown to increase happiness and lower stress for employees. Factors leading to improved employee wellness include:

  • More time for exercise
  • Healthy eating
  • Less exposure to illness
  • More time for interests and hobbies
  • Improved personal relationships

However, without the ability to leave ‘the office’ many employees are now working longer hours. A recent Bluejeans survey found employees are working an additional 3.13 hours per day from home. It’s therefore unsurprising that working at home can lead to the blurring of work and non-work boundaries which can lead to increased stress levels. 

Additionally, while remote work is well-received currently, due to COVID-19, Australians have only been working remotely for around five months (true at the time of writing). As the pandemic progresses and eventually passes, it is possible that extended remote work practices may become inhibiting and that a stronger delineation between work and home is desired. 

Attracting and retaining talent

In a Zapier remote work report, about 75% of workers said they would be willing to quit a job that didn’t allow remote working for one that did. Unsurprising then that top HR executives recognise that offering remote working and flexibility will help a company to attract top talent and source the best candidates, regardless of location. 

Having said that,  some office-based collaboration and connection is still largely desired, and intelligent workplace strategy and design – even in a smaller corporate space, will assist in meeting those collaborative goals. 

Why you might consider rationalising – not leaving – your commercial office space 

Many organisations are now rationalising their commercial spaces, looking for some kind of hybrid solution that ensures culture and connection can be maintained, while remote work can support wellbeing, productivity and balance.  

Collaboration and communication

Water cooler conversations, lunch with a colleague, team chats over coffee, all of these co-located office scenarios allow passive information gathering, which is lacking for remote workers. While a Slack chat is helpful, it doesn’t have the same impact as an in-person interaction. In fact, a study found that a face-to-face request is 34 times more successful than an email. 

The bottom line is that there are fewer opportunities to communicate effectively when working remotely full time.

Smart workplace design with clever sensing technologies can instead help organisations to optimise their commercial space, in order to utilise space in a planned, efficient manner, maintaining social distance while reaping the benefits of commercial collaboration when in the office too. 

Building company culture

Humans are social creatures who have a biological requirement for connection with others. Being physically near colleagues provides us access to a broad range of subconscious information and non-verbal communication cues. Remote working full time and only connecting virtually cheats us of these opportunities – the impact of which will be realised over time.  

Take the opportunity to come together in person when it is safe to do so. Physical distancing solutions can be achieved with clever design and smart technology that manages room and desk availability in a user-friendly manner.  There are clever ways you can make employees feel (and be) safe in the office environment. Not only does this kind of investment rationalise rent now and help keep employees safe, but it ensures the efficient use of all office space into the future, further saving on commercial rent and making the best of the space you have. 

Employee wellbeing

While remote working is often seen as a bastion of employee wellbeing, it can lead to feelings of isolation and stress for some. It’s easy for boundaries to become blurred when employees aren’t leaving ‘the office’ at the end of the day. Without this clear distinction, unhealthy habits can form, like working back late and less in-person connection (whether that is with coworkers or family at home). 

A hybrid remote work and in-office solution can help to maintain such balance. In the office employees’ work and personal time boundaries are so much more defined. Similarly, supporting remote workers to find their ‘third place’ whether that be a 5 pm walk or a group call prior to logging off for the day can assist. Recent experiences also show that an ergonomic home office that is separated from casual living space also helps to delineate work and home life.  

Interruptions and distractions

While remote workers don’t need to worry about common office interruptions, they do have a whole host of new distractions at home. Whether it’s unannounced visitors, children arriving home from school, a spouse who types too loudly, or a delivery driver at the door, it can be challenging to maintain focus in non-commercial environments. 

Whether in the commercial office or not, there isn’t a way to avoid all interruptions, but there are some strategies that can assist. 

  • Set office hours – you’re not to be disturbed between the hours of X and Y
  • Noise-cancelling headphones (and tell others what it means when you’re wearing them)
  • A home office with a door and a  ‘do not disturb’ sign when you need to keep your head down
  • An option to attend a safe, well-designed commercial office where you can work quietly and comfortably with less distractions should home become challenging 

While remote work is likely to be a component of workplace strategy for some time, many Australian organisations are considering the longer term implications of this on culture and collaboration. Many conversations in the market are currently pitted around rationalising real estate costs by reducing and optimising commercial space. This then enables individuals and teams to work remotely some of the time, and use the office at other times – which is an extension of the activity-based trend we’ve been seeing for the last few years. 

To manage this successfully and for the long-term, you may wish to consider aspects of design that assist with social distancing, that help to optimise and utilise underused space, and assist employees to find and use workspaces with efficiency and ease.

If you are looking to optimise your workplace for staff productivity and wellbeing, our proven workplace strategy and design process thoroughly considers your current realities, business objectives and future plans – including remote working. Find out more about our process here. 

Managing remote teams: how to support your employees while working from home

Managing remote teams: how to support your employees while working from home

Remote work is no longer a temporary fix, it is how modern businesses operate. Today, over 6.7 million Australians, roughly 46% of the employed population, work from home at least some of the time, according toRoy Morgan's 2024–2025 research. For managers and business leaders, this means that managing remote employees effectively is no longer optional. It is a core leadership skill.

Leading a fully distributed or hybrid workforce comes with the same challenge, keeping employees engaged, productive, and supported without regular face-to-face interaction.

Why Managing Remote Employees Matters More Than Ever?

The numbers tell a clear story. According to theAustralian HR Institute, 97% of Australian organisations now offer some form of flexible remote working. A McCrindle survey found that 78% of Australian employees prefer a hybrid model, andPwC research confirms that the average Australian professional wants to work from home at least 3.2 days per week.

At the same time, managing staff working from home brings real challenges. Without face-to-face contact, miscommunication increases, team culture weakens, and employees can feel disconnected from the organisation. Gallup's latest workplace research confirms that management quality is the single biggest driver of remote team performance, and the bar for managers is even higher in a distributed setting.

This is why having a structured, intentional approach to managing a remote team is not just helpful, it is essential for any business that wants to retain top talent and stay competitive.

1. Emotional Wellbeing: Keep Your Remote Staff Connected and Supported

One of the most common struggles faced by remote employees is a sense of isolation. Studies show that75% of fully remote workers experience some form of stress, anxiety, or burnout at some point. When managing remote staff, emotional health should be a top priority, not an afterthought.

Here is how to support your team's emotional well-being effectively:

Communicate clearly and consistently. Remote teams with strong communication habits are 25–30% more productive and engaged than those without. Hold regular one-on-one check-ins and weekly team huddles, so your remote employees always know what is expected and where they stand. Clear expectations remove ambiguity and reduce workplace anxiety.

Build genuine social connections. Virtual lunches, informal chat channels, and online team-building activities help remote employees feel part of something bigger. When working with remote teams, social touchpoints matter just as much as task-related updates. Do not underestimate the value of casual conversation in keeping team culture alive.

Support mental health proactively. Provide access to Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs), mental health apps likeHeadspace orCalm, and telehealth services. Normalising conversations about mental health builds psychological safety across your team. According toNulab's 2025 guide on managing remote employees, telehealth services and EAPs are among the most effective tools for reducing remote worker burnout.

Recognise effort and achievement. Remote employees often feel invisible compared to office-based colleagues. Build recognition into your management rhythm, whether it is a shout-out in a team meeting or a personalised message acknowledging quality work. Consistent recognition improves morale, loyalty, and performance.

Promote healthy work-life boundaries. Remote workers are statistically more likely to overwork than office-based employees. Reinforce the importance of finishing at a set time, taking real breaks, and fully disconnecting after hours. This protects long-term performance and prevents burnout.

2. Effective Technology: Give Your Remote Team the Tools They Need

Technology is the backbone of managing a remote team in 2026. Without the right platforms, collaboration breaks down and productivity suffers. The good news is that the tools available today are better, smarter, and more integrated than ever before.

Here are the core categories every remote team needs to be covered:

Communication platforms. Tools likeMicrosoft Teams,Slack, andZoom form the foundation of day-to-day collaboration. Usage of these platforms has grown by over 60% since hybrid work became standard across Australian businesses, and they remain essential for keeping remote employees connected in real time.

Project management tools. Applications likeAsana,Trello, orMonday.com help teams stay aligned on tasks, deadlines, and priorities without the need for constant check-in calls. They also give managers clear visibility into progress without micromanaging.

Document collaboration platforms. A centralised hub likeGoogle Workspace orMicrosoft 365 ensures everyone works from the same source of truth, eliminating version confusion, missed updates, and long email threads.

Asynchronous communication tools. Not every update needs a live meeting. Tools likeLoom for recorded video messages andNotion orConfluence for documentation allow remote staff to stay informed and contribute without needing to be online at the same time. This is especially valuable for teams spread across different time zones or working flexible hours.

AI-powered productivity tools. In 2026, more organisations are integrating AI assistants into their remote workflows, from automated meeting summaries to smart task prioritisation. These tools reduce administrative load and help managers focus on people, not processes. Explore howAI is reshaping the modern workplace and what it means for distributed teams.

When building a tech stack for managing remote staff, simplicity matters. Too many overlapping tools create confusion and fatigue. Aim for a lean, integrated set of platforms that covers communication, collaboration, and documentation clearly.

3. Physical Wellbeing: Set Up Your Remote Employees for Long-Term Health

Physical setup is often the most overlooked area when managing staff working from home, yet it has a direct impact on health, comfort, and daily output. Many employees are still working from dining tables, unsupported chairs, or poorly lit rooms, and this takes a measurable toll over time.

Research from ergonomics experts shows that a properly set-up home office can deliver a25% uplift in productivity and significantly reduce injury risk and compensation claims. Investing in your employees' physical workspace is not just a well-being gesture, it is a smart operational decision.

Here is what strong physical support looks like in practice:

  • Offer a home office equipment allowance so employees can purchase a proper desk, chair, and monitor setup.
  • Provide ergonomic checklists or a short self-assessment guide to help staff configure their space correctly.
  • Encourage regular movement breaks, stretching, and screen-free periods throughout the working day.
  • Consider subsidising standing desk converters or ergonomic accessories for employees who flag discomfort.

For organisations that want a more structured approach, working with aworkplace design and strategy specialist can help you build a comprehensive work-from-home support program that covers ergonomics, equipment standards, and employee wellness in one framework.

4. Building a Remote Work Culture That Actually Sticks

Beyond the three pillars, the most successful remote teams share one thing in common: a strong, deliberate culture. When people are not sharing a physical office, culture does not happen naturally, it has to be built with intention.

Lead with outcomes, not hours. The most effective approach to managing remote employees is a results-oriented mindset. Assess performance based on what people deliver, not when they are logged on. This approach, championed by leading remote-first companies like GitLab and Atlassian, builds trust, reduces micromanagement, and gives staff the autonomy they need to perform at their best.

Invest in your managers.Gallup's research makes this clear: the quality of management is the biggest differentiator in remote team performance. Train your people leaders in virtual communication, giving feedback across distance, performance coaching, and building trust without in-person interaction.

Document processes and decisions. Successful remote teams operate on a foundation of clear documentation. When project briefs, team decisions, and process guides are written down and accessible to everyone, working with remote teams becomes smoother, faster, and less dependent on back-and-forth messages or unnecessary meetings.

Stay consistent with structure. Remote work performs best when there is a clear weekly rhythm, regular stand-ups, team check-ins, and asynchronous update cycles. This keeps remote employees anchored and aligned, while still giving them the flexibility that makes remote work worth it.

Common Challenges When Managing Remote Staff and How to Overcome Them

Even the best remote teams still face problems from time to time. Understanding these issues early helps you fix them before they grow into bigger problems.

Communication gaps. Without in-person cues, messages are more easily misread. Encourage clarity in written communication, and confirm understanding after key decisions. Build a culture where asking questions is always welcomed.

Burnout and always-on pressure. Remote employees often find it harder to switch off. Reinforce healthy boundaries as part of your team culture, not just policy. If someone is consistently working late, address it directly rather than rewarding it.

Isolation and disconnection. Even independent workers need social contact. If a team member goes quiet for several days, check in personally. Regular human connection, not just work updates, is what keeps remote staff feeling like they belong.

Visibility and career growth. Employees who are physically absent from the office can feel overlooked for development opportunities. Make career conversations, mentoring, and project visibility a deliberate part of how you manage your remote team, not something that only happens in the office.

Empowering Remote Teams with Smarter Workplace Support

At Axiom Workplaces, we know that great work happens when people have the right environment to support them, whether that is in the office, at home, or somewhere in between. Ourworkplace strategy team works with Australian organisations to design spaces and structures that bring out the best in their people, regardless of where they work.

If you are ready to build a stronger approach to supporting your remote employees, explore ourworkplace guides and work-from-home resources orbook a consultation with one of our experts today.