How to Safeguard Company Culture in the Digital Workplace

Remote work is here to stay. A multinational survey by Slack showed that 72% of workers prefer a remote-hybrid working model and want to continue working from home in the future. For employers, this presents new challenges in data compliance and information security. It also threatens to redefine company culture — with potentially disastrous results.

Why Company Culture Matters

Cultivating a positive company culture is essential to reduce attrition and improve outcomes. The right culture makes employees feel noticed and valued. They’re part of a team, and they’re invested in supporting each other. They also produce better results for the organization. 

• 69% of employees would reject an offer from a company with a bad reputation 
• 79% of organizations believe culture will be critical to success over the next 1-2 years (but only 13% feel prepared to address this trend)
• Employees in high-stress workplaces are up to three times more likely to quit their job 
• Happy workers are 13% more productive, work faster, and convert more sales 

The data speaks for itself. Employees thrive in companies that establish and nurture a positive culture, and the company in turn benefits from lower turnover and increased productivity. 

How Company Culture is Changing 

With the rise of remote working, employee interactions have shifted from water cooler conversations and birthday cakes in the break room to splintered, fragmented conversations hosted across online collaboration platforms. 

Company culture is evolving. Intraoffice socialization has been replaced by a series of 1:1 relationships conducted through direct messages and private channels. And that can introduce new risks to the organization. 

Toxicity Thrives in the Shadows 

About 1 in every 190 private messages contains a negative or unwanted sentiment. And one-to-one conversations are 250% more likely to be toxic than public messages. The informality of digital messaging platforms has democratized collaboration, but it also provides dark corners where toxicity can thrive. 

While the overwhelming majority of messages between coworkers are positive or neutral, just a handful of negative interactions can cast a long shadow across an organization’s culture. Toxicity is a leading cause of excessive turnover and replacing an employee can cost an organization up to twice as much as the individual was being paid. 

How Aware Can Help 

Aware’s organizational insights can protect company culture by identifying risks in real time. In his article on , Product Evangelist Chris Plescia explains how organizations can harness Aware’s cutting-edge technology to bridge the disconnect between leadership and employees. 

Check out the article now to gain more insights into how you can truly connect with your employees and safeguard your company culture in the digital workplace.