Let’s be honest: building a strong company culture when everyone’s working from their kitchen table or scattered across several office locations is no small feat. You can’t rely on the classic office perks – free snacks, Friday drinks, or impromptu hallway chats – to keep the team spirit alive. But here’s the good news: HR tech like HiBob has a host of solutions to help businesses not only maintain culture but actively grow it in remote and hybrid environments.
Think of your HR technology not just as a set of tools for onboarding or payroll, but as the glue that holds people together when physical proximity isn’t an option. From connection to recognition to development, it’s quietly becoming the backbone of modern company culture.
Let’s break down how.
Zoom fatigue is real, and it turns out that endless video meetings aren’t the secret to connection. But that’s where your HR system should be able to bridge the gap. Lets take HiBob as our example; the social media-styled homepage creates a familiar space to share and support updates, whether that’s a company anniversary, birthday, or a poll on what the next team social should be. For something a little more unique, HiBob enables you to create “Clubs” based on hobbies, interests, or pretty much anything you fancy, to help your employees connect with like-minded individuals wherever they are in the world.
These informal touchpoints replicate those water cooler moments we’ve lost, and that’s crucial. When remote workers feel connected to their colleagues as people, not just job titles, culture flourishes.
Recognition is one of the most underrated drivers of company culture. And when someone’s working in their own space, often unseen, it’s easy for wins to go unnoticed.
Make sure you’re using your HR technology’s recognition features that allow peers and managers to give praise publicly. HiBob terms these Shoutouts and Kudos. The key here is visibility; it brings celebration into the digital realm. These moments of appreciation help reinforce core values and make remote employees feel seen and valued.
Gone are the days of the once-a-year performance review. Remote and hybrid models require more fluid, real-time feedback loops, and your technology should make that possible.
Digital performance tools now enable regular check-ins, goal tracking, and coaching conversations that keep employees growing, no matter where they are. And when career development is part of the culture, employees are more likely to stay engaged and committed to the company’s mission.
Here’s a truth bomb: you can’t manage what you don’t measure. That’s why pulse surveys, sentiment analysis, and engagement dashboards are game-changers.
Instead of guessing how your people feel, ensure you can get real-time insight into morale, burnout risk, and satisfaction. This will enable you to adjust policies or offer support before small issues snowball. And being responsive to employee needs? That’s culture-building 101. Many platforms, including HiBob, offer completely anonymous surveys, empowering your team to give honest and unfiltered feedback and therefore giving you a clearer picture of employee experience.
In a remote or hybrid environment, it’s easy for some voices to get lost. Your HR technology needs to help level the playing field.
HiBob’s intuitive reporting dashboards can help you track metrics such as headcount, retention and absenteeism by age, ethnicity and more. And when it comes to pay parity, you can even set up alerts should inconsistencies around compensation or bonus allocation arise. When inclusion is built into the systems you use every day, belonging becomes more than a buzzword; it becomes part of the daily experience.
Company culture is no longer something that happens in the office. It’s something you design, intentionally, with the help of the right tools. Sophisticated HR technology such as HiBob gives remote and hybrid organisations the power to stay human, stay connected, and stay true to their values, no matter where their people are working.
It’s not just about making work work, it’s about making it feel like a place people want to be.
Don’t forget, our HiBob consultants are on hand if you feel your system configuration is not supporting your goals as much as it could. From setting up a new reporting dashboard on your behalf to implementing a whole new module, we’re here for you.
And if you’re not yet using HiBob, but would like to, our system selection consultancy can help to give you the confidence that it’s the right decision for you, or help you find the technology that is!
Assad founded Phase 3 in 2004 and is responsible for the strategy, growth and finances of the business.
