When was the last time your entire team had a real, meaningful moment together? The breakroom chats, the spontaneous team lunches, the simple energy of having people in one place... That interconnectedness was a huge part of company culture not that long ago. Now, in our hybrid world, these social interactions feel fragmented or maybe even nonexistent.
As an HR leader, you're likely feeling this disconnect firsthand. Your remote employees are worried about being forgotten, while your in-office employees sometimes wonder if they're missing out on flexibility. How do you build a strong, unified culture when your team is scattered across home offices, co-working spaces, and the main office?
The answer isn't recreating the pre-pandemic office. Building a strong company culture in a hybrid workplace is about intentionally designing a new, inclusive experience. It requires a people-first strategy that focuses on connection, equity, and well-being, no matter where an employee logs in from. Let’s dive into a practical framework and actionable steps to help you do just that.
The Three Cornerstones of a Strong Hybrid Culture
Before you start planning virtual game nights or digital happy hours, you need a solid foundation. A thriving hybrid work culture doesn't happen by accident. It’s built using three essential cornerstones that ensure every employee feels valued, included, and supported.
Cornerstone 1: Intentional Communication
When teams are split, information silos form. In-office employees get crucial updates through casual "drive-by" conversations, while remote workers are left waiting for the meeting notes. This creates confusion, inefficiency, and a feeling of being "out of the loop."
The Solution: Create a clear and intentional communication charter. This is a simple document that outlines which tool is used for what purpose. It is crucial to note this charter must be adopted from the top down; when leadership follows the rules, everyone else will, too.
Example: Slack or Teams is for quick, informal questions and social chat. Email is for formal, external communication and company-wide announcements. A project management tool (like Asana or Trello) is the single source of truth for project updates and deadlines.
The Outcome: A communication charter eliminates guesswork and reduces noise. It ensures everyone has equal access to the same information at the same time, which builds trust and improves project efficiency.
Cornerstone 2: Inclusive Practices
The biggest threat to a hybrid work culture is proximity bias. This is the unconscious tendency to favor employees who are physically closer to you. A 2023 report from SHRM found that 42% of business leaders admit they "sometimes" or "often" forget about remote employees when assigning tasks.
The Solution: You must actively design practices that level the playing field.
Hybrid Meeting Etiquette: Make "virtual-first" your default. If even one person is joining remotely, everyone should join from their own laptop. This puts all attendees on an equal footing, preventing side conversations in the conference room that remote workers can't hear.
Standardized Check-ins: Ensure managers have a consistent schedule for 1:1 meetings with all their direct reports, both in-office and remote.
Visible Project Assignments: Use shared tools to track who is working on what. This transparency helps ensure high-visibility projects are distributed based on skill, not location.
The Outcome: Actively fighting proximity bias is critical for retention and performance. It ensures that promotions, raises, and opportunities are based on an employee's contributions, not their zip code. This fosters a true meritocracy.
Cornerstone 3: Well-being as a Priority
The lines between work and home have never been blurrier. Hybrid and remote employees often struggle with a digital "always-on" culture, leading to burnout. Pew Research Center found that 53% of remote workers feel less connected to their company and colleagues, which can lead to isolation and a decline in mental health.
The Solution: Embed well-being into your culture, not just as a perk.
Leaders Must Model Behavior: Managers and executives should visibly take time off, set "offline" hours in their status, and encourage their teams to do the same.
Promote Your Resources: Don't just have mental health benefits; you must promote them. Regularly remind employees about your Employee Assistance Program (EAP), virtual therapy options, and wellness apps. This is where having a modern, accessible benefits platform becomes a cultural tool. At Bennie, we designed our platform to put these resources front and center.
The Outcome: A culture that prioritizes well-being is a culture that retains talent. Employees who feel their company genuinely cares about them are more engaged, more productive, and less likely to burn out.
Actionable Strategies to Implement Now
With your cornerstones in place, you can start building connections. Here are practical strategies for employee engagement in a hybrid work environment.
Strategy 1: Foster Social Connection
Many companies defaulted to virtual happy hours, which quickly led to "Zoom fatigue." Forced fun rarely feels fun. Genuine connection happens more organically. Try creating a mix of low-pressure virtual and in-person opportunities for fostering connection in a remote team.
Virtual Connections:
Employee Resource Groups (ERGs): Support the creation of ERGs for working parents, new hires, or specific affinity groups. Give them a small budget and the autonomy to plan their own events.
Niche Interest Channels: Create Slack/Teams channels for non-work topics like #pets, #cooking, #gardening, or #gaming. This allows people to connect over shared hobbies.
Virtual "Coffee Chats": Use an app like Donut to randomly pair two or three employees from different departments for a 15-minute, informal video chat. This rebuilds the "watercooler" moments lost in a hybrid model.
Intentional In-Person Time:
When you do bring people into the office, make it count. Don't have them commute just to sit on video calls.
Plan "anchor days" where specific teams come in for collaborative workshops, brainstorming sessions, and a team lunch. Make the on-site experience about collaboration and socializing, not just desk work.
Strategy 2: Activate Leadership Presence and Visibility
In a hybrid setup, leaders can become invisible to remote employees. This "out of sight, out of mind" dynamic erodes trust and makes team members feel adrift. Redefining "presence" is the key here. It's not about being in the building; it's about being available, engaged, and communicative.
Intentional 1:1s: As mentioned, these are non-negotiable. For remote employees, these meetings are often the only dedicated face-time they get with their manager. Protect this time.
Use Asynchronous Video: Encourage leaders to send short video messages (using tools like Loom or Vidyard) for weekly updates or to explain a new project. Seeing a leader's face and hearing their tone is far more personal and engaging than reading a wall of text.
Active Channel Participation: Leaders should make a point to be visible in the social and work channels. A simple "great job" or "congratulations" in a public channel goes a long way.
Strategy 3: Recognition and Appreciation for Everyone
It's easy to give some quick kudos in the hallway. But in a hybrid world, recognition often becomes inconsistent, leaving remote employees feeling unseen and unappreciated. Research from Workhuman and Gallup shows that employees who receive strong recognition are 56% less likely to be looking for a new job. It's one of the most cost-effective ways to improve employee engagement in a hybrid work setting. Try implementing a multi-channel recognition program that is public, timely, and equitable.
Public Shout-Outs: Create a dedicated #kudos or #wins channel where anyone can publicly recognize a colleague. Make this a regular feature in your all-hands meetings, and be sure to highlight wins from both in-office and remote team members equally.
Tangible Appreciation: Small, tangible rewards can have a big impact. Use services to send high-performing employees a gift card for coffee, a voucher for a food delivery service, or company-branded merchandise, no matter where they live.
Measuring Success
You can't improve what you don't measure. Building an effective total rewards strategy is an ongoing process that requires data to understand what's working. Without metrics, it's difficult to get leadership buy-in; simply investing in new programs or perks without tracking their impact on engagement and retention won't cut it. Employee feedback is essential here. By using data, you can make informed, strategic decisions about your total rewards initiatives, prove ROI to leadership, and adjust your approach based on real-time insights. This ensures your efforts and budget deliver real results.
Pulse Surveys: Instead of one massive annual survey, use short, frequent pulse surveys (quarterly or even monthly). Ask specific questions like:
"Do you feel you have the same opportunities for advancement as your colleagues, regardless of location?"
"Do you feel a strong sense of connection to your immediate team?"
"Do you know who to go to with a question?"
Analyze Key Metrics: Look at your existing HR data through a hybrid lens.
Turnover: Is your turnover rate higher for remote employees than for in-office employees? This could signal an issue with inclusion.
Promotion Rates: Are in-office employees being promoted faster than their remote peers? This is a red flag for proximity bias.
Engagement Scores: Track scores over time and see if your new initiatives are moving the needle.
Culture Is a Verb, Not a Noun
The "human touch" isn't lost in a hybrid world. It has just evolved. By being intentional with your communication, inclusive in your practices, and focused on well-being, you can build a culture of connection that is stronger and more resilient than ever.
Establishing company culture in a hybrid workplace isn't a "set it and forget it" program. It's a living, breathing part of your organization that requires continuous effort. It's the sum of every interaction, every meeting, and every message.
This can be a heavy lift for any HR team, but at Bennie, our goal is to help you succeed by simplifying the complex parts of your job. Our all-in-one benefits platform makes it easy for your people to access their health and wellness resources, while our ‘Ask Bennie’ service gives them a friendly, human team to help with claims and benefits questions. By taking that administrative burden off your plate, we give you more time to focus on what you do best: building a world-class environment for your people, wherever they are.
