There are many challenges facing HR leaders today and recent events have forced business leaders worldwide to figure out how to maintain a cohesive yet distributed team. In March, my team and I decided to implement a mandatory work-from-home (WFH) policy for all Nitro offices, globally. As VP of People, I can say first-hand that the last couple of months have tested the strengths and the pain points of our work culture—and I’m sure yours have been tested too. 
 

In times of isolation, we need to come together and reflect on what has worked in the past that we can repurpose for today. I had to ask myself: How can we translate our existing processes and culture to operate in a 100% remote environment? Hint: it goes beyond technology.

Overcoming Our New Reality, Together

I’m proud to say that my team has done a lot work around meeting Nitronauts where they are. This means that we come through with whatever resources we can find that are helpful in different ways to different individuals. We put human needs first and have worked hard to provide our people with what they need to feel comfortable and productive, as possible right now, on a day-to-day basis.

Though we live and breathe digital transformation, going 100% remote poses new challenges. Surprisingly, the easy part was leveraging our technology and updating our remote work policies. What was more difficult, and more important, was figuring out how to show our employees that we care—and that we’re here for them in this new environment. 

To do our best work and to achieve our mission, everyone must feel valued, respected, and included—wherever they may be. We know that the work we do on our culture is never done, so here are the 3 pillars that guide our approach to effectively adjusting to the new reality of remote work.

A 3-Pronged Approach to Diversity & Inclusion

1. Proactive Communication & Feedback
Communication is key to fixing things quickly—and we hold ourselves accountable through feedback loops. Especially during a time of uncertainty, it’s critical to hear from everybody; not just the employees who are vocal. The reality is there are people who don’t feel comfortable speaking up. At Nitro, we have been deploying a weekly anonymous-optional survey that helps us understand the individual experiences of everyone. This also lets us measure if people are being heard and feeling included.

Be sure to use various touchpoints for employees across the full lifecycle. For example, a critical stage that cannot be ignored is onboarding new hires. The challenge for distributed teams is helping a new hire feel included with people who have existing relationships. We will assign a new employee a “Nitromate”: A longer-tenured employee on a completely different team who serves as a guide during those first few weeks. While we are all working from home, we have modified this so that there are more virtual check-ins with their Nitromate. At the end of the day, we want you to know (and feel) that you’re a part of something bigger.

2. Productivity & Engagement
As an HR leader myself, I often get asked how we maximize productivity while ensuring the well-being of our people. Maintaining “business as usual” simply isn’t an option anymore so we’ve asked our teams to be “present” as much as possible—whether it’s attending meetings with video on or being available on Slack during certain hours. We’ve found that flexible working arrangements can actually improve productivity.

And let’s talk about candidates for a minute. We try to make sure that the time they spend interviewing is productive and engaging for them and for us. A member of the Talent team reaches out before the interview to be sure they have the right setup. Do they have a video camera? A room that they can use for an hour-long call? The last thing we want is for the candidate to be surprised by the technology needed for the call at the time of the interview, which could possibly lead to an unproductive call for them and the hiring manger. We want to make sure that even future Nitronauts know that care about their experience and their time. 

3. Wellness & Support
Since every employee’s situation is unique, we had to ask ourselves: How can we serve all global employees during a very difficult time? Not only do we need to have ongoing support available, but we constantly communicate the importance of having empathy and compassion for those around us. Say one of your colleagues can’t join a meeting because they’re putting their baby down for a nap. The solution? Record the meeting so they can catch up later. To sum it up: we find ways to support each other. 

There’s also a wide range of things that people could be doing from a wellness standpoint because not all of us are runners or do yoga—and not everyone is dealing with just physical issues but mental challenges as well. We found through a survey that our people weren’t doing great from a wellness perspective. Now we’re figuring out how to share more resources regularly on mental, emotional, and physical health.

The Future of (Remote) Work

We’ve learned a lot through this transition and will continue to maintain the level of communication and collaboration that we’ve found through this time. Over communication is key to staying on track and solving issues, quickly. We’ll also continue with regular Feedback loops and running check-in surveys, with actionable insights to follow suit.

Remote work doesn’t have to be isolating. I think we all took for granted being able to turn to our neighbor and ask them a question. Now, we need to focus on driving inclusivity through creative methods of communication, collaboration, and new technology (and I have a feeling this will stick).

Author Bio

As Vice President of People at Nitro, Erica Johnson supports and advances the authentic culture that is Nitro. With over 15 years of experience in HR and Operations, she oversees employer branding and every aspect of the employee experience—from talent recruitment and onboarding to employee engagement and development. Guided by the mission to empower Nitronauts to do their best work, Erica helps uphold Nitro’s core values, ensuring an equal balance between the needs of the company and the employee Visit www.gonitro.com  Connect Erica Johnson

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