However, some leaders worry about how to maintain company culture and engagement when team members are spread across different cities and countries. It’s an understandable concern, especially when working norms and team-building initiatives have been developed based on what works in traditional office set-ups.

However, my experience leading a remote-first team (whereby staff work remotely and are based across the UK, with one day per month in the office together) has taught me that when you create policies tailored to your work environment, you can create a strong, collaborative remote culture. And your employees and business will thrive as a result. Here are my tips on how other startups can do this, too.

1. Make communication everyone’s job

When you’re in the office, it’s easy to check something with your colleague sitting next to you or have a quick touch base between meetings. Those organic touchpoints don’t exist in the same way when everyone’s working from home. This means you have to lean into intentional, proactive communication. Managers, of course, have a key role to play in facilitating this, but to get the most out of remote teams, effective communication should be everyone’s responsibility.

At Flexa, our whole team is encouraged to proactively flag blockers, ask questions, and reach out to colleagues when needed. There’s no waiting until the next meeting or a nudge from a manager to discuss and progress actions. This keeps projects moving forward at pace and means colleagues build stronger working relationships with one another. Additionally, by giving staff more trust and autonomy, they feel respected, engaged and take more ownership of their work.

2. Be intentional with hybrid days

Different types of work can lend themselves better to different settings. For example, tasks that require deep focus, like long-form copywriting, can benefit from being done in the quiet of home. Team brainstorms can work well when everyone is in the room together.

So, if your team has a mix of in-person and remote days, whether that’s weekly or once a month, encourage employees to consider where they’ll be working when planning their week.

When staff are able to complete tasks in the environment that suits them best, they’ll be more productive. Plus, scheduling collaborative activities for in-person days creates more opportunities for colleagues to connect and build stronger relationships, which helps the team work better together.

3. Define core working hours

If the team is based across different time zones or has flexible hours, it can be helpful to define ‘core hours’, a period of time when everyone should be online. For example, at Flexa, everyone is expected to be online and available between 11am-3pm each day.

Outside of this window, the team can be free to structure their day around their needs and productivity levels – whether that means starting later to do the school run, or working later in the evening if that’s when they feel most productive. But having that shared time where the whole team is online makes it much easier to schedule meetings, collaborate in real time and keep projects moving, without sacrificing flexibility.

4. Create virtual watercooler moments

When you’re working remotely, there aren’t the same opportunities for watercooler conversations that there would be in an office. These light-hearted conversations are key to fostering deeper team bonds and strengthening communication, and research even shows that they could boost productivity by 10-15%. So, when you’re distributed, you have to intentionally create space for those moments.

At Flexa, we do this through a dedicated Slack channel where the team can chat about non-work-related topics. Everything from holiday pictures to amusing news stories are all shared on this channel, and it’s a great way for the team to connect on a deeper level.

If your staff spend some of their time in the office together, like we do once a month, it’s also worth setting aside time for team socials. They’re an opportunity for people to connect outside the office and build more meaningful relationships with colleagues, which helps with work.

When remote and hybrid teams let go of practices built for in-office setups and design policies tailored to their working environment, both the team and the business will thrive.

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