With omicron, fostering a strong remote work culture is more important than ever

Companies around the world had their back-to-work plans ready. But as we rang in the new year, it became clear that omicron isn’t going anywhere—for now. That means that we’re still WFH for the foreseeable future. 

Nicholas Bloom, a Stanford economics professor who studies remote work, believes return-to-office dates “are now history”, with or without coronavirus. And while some would prefer to no longer be remote, 52% of people say they’d rather quit than go back to the office. A Momentive (formerly SurveyMonkey) report found that 34% and 44% of employees see flexible and hybrid working as the core perks of a company, not physical perks like snacks or games. They’ve adapted to the new landscape and created a lifestyle that’s given them the elusive “work-life balance”. 

That said, it still feels like we’re in limbo. Digital fatigue, emotional exhaustion, and isolation abound, and leaders face a dilemma about how to ensure both employee groups—those who love remote work and those who don’t— are happy and satisfied.

Whether you enable a hybrid working model or go full remote, teams around the world need more investment in remote work culture, not less. Here at Dive, we understand how challenging it can be to build this culture—our entire team has been remote from the start! Fostering connection, trust, and empathy among people that aren’t in a physical space isn’t easy, but we’re here to help.

Dive’s platform has enabled 10,000 companies in 117 countries to engage their employees. Leaders from small team managers to c-suite executives are realizing the importance of having softcare dedicated to this purpose, just like having software for CRM or project management. Doing so not only boosts the ability of the team to work together, but it also empowers a working environment where everybody feels like they belong.

Like Rome, your current corporate culture wasn’t built in a day—we get that. It takes intentional effort from employees and managers alike. But as we continue to live in uncertainty with the pandemic and omicron, it is super important to start that effort now. With Dive, you can improve your recruiting, onboarding, collaboration one-on-ones, performance reviews and more - we’ve got you covered.

Some features that our customers love for culture building: 

• Fill the room with cheer using our sound reactions 🎉
• Express your #mood using GIF Reactions
• Take a break and play any of our games (we recommend: TRIVIA) 

• Host a YouTube Watch Party with your teammates 

• Customize themes for different events – farewell, birthday party, end of project) 

• Meet new people from your team with Shuffle, specially curated to match you with someone who gets your #vibe 

• Record sessions, conduct breakout rooms…and so much more. 
  

The possibilities are endless!

Look at what Pratik Agarwal, Vice President of Accel has to say about Dive‍

At Accel, we're excited to be early users of Dive. We've found Dive to be particularly useful in onboarding our new colleagues in a remote-only environment. Dive's games and fun activities act as a great ice-breaker for all of us to get to know each other better in a safe environment.

Whether you’re an experienced remote organization, new to managing remote workers, or somewhere in the middle (which honestly is many of us),  there’s something for everyone.