Reframe corporate culture to build a talent advantage now

Authors: Sanam Hadavi, Christine Dandy
 

Reframe hybrid work culture to create lasting connections, boost engagement, and gain a true talent advantage.

In brief

• Canadian businesses must evolve hybrid work culture to stay competitive and build a lasting talent advantage.
• A strong culture fosters trust, accountability, and engagement in increasingly fluid and hybrid work environments.
• Investing in human connection, technology, and outcomes-based strategies drives long-term organizational health.

Reframe corporate culture to build a talent advantage now

Employees and employers agree workplace culture improved in 2024. But that alone is not enough to sustain belonging and fuel organizations’ success. Canadian businesses must continue reframing and investing in culture succeed over the long term. Maintaining a talent advantage in this hybrid working world requires organizations to recognize that the flow of talent is now foundational, and culture must evolve to reflect current workforce realities, expectations and perceptions.

Culture remains key to organizational health in a hybrid working world

From an overnight leap into remote work to enduring hybrid models, Canada’s workforce has permanently changed. While traditional anchors for workforce culture — think in-office engagement activities, regular in-person interactions and more — are increasingly less relevant to workers, culture itself remains a priority.

In fact, the EY 2024 Work Reimagined Survey showed 40% of an organization’s health score is related to culture, measured in the number of respondents who say employees feel trusted, empowered and supported at work — and the sense that leadership cares about employees as people.

Delivering on those cultural fronts may not be easy to achieve in today’s environment. But doing so is important: the EY survey also shows that 32% of organizations with a more strategic, advanced people function are 7.8 times more likely to say their company has successfully navigated external pressures; 6.5 times more likely to say productivity has improved significantly in the past two years; and 5.8 times more likely to say they are overperforming significantly in the current economic conditions. These benefits can go a long way in our current operating environment, where geopolitical and macroeconomic factors compound demographic, generational and other workforce complexities.

Even so: how do you build and evolve culture to unleash its benefits where talent fluidity, workforce location, flexible scheduling and more have shaken up the very meaning of coming to work?

Think beyond legacy strategies to win the long-term race for talent

Employees are less willing to remain in roles and cultures that aren’t working for them. Even in today’s volatile environment, 38% of survey respondents said they were likely to quit their jobs over the next 12 months. Successful workforce strategies must consider that kind of workforce transience when building a culture that’s fit for purpose now.

Human connection should be a major force in culture planning. Without the office as the linchpin, people are seeking deeper and more meaningful connectivity within teams and across organizations.

What else matters to employees today? Possibilities abound. Wellbeing programs that support mental health, work-life harmony, social connection and stress management are increasingly in demand. Continuous learning and development programs that enable employees to grow their skills and futureproof their careers — whether in remote or in-person roles — can also help attract and retain talent.

Getting to the heart of what your specific workforce is looking for is a good way to start realigning culture to resonate in today’s hybrid landscape.

Leading organizations do this by focusing culture investments around five key areas:

1. Be intentional about culture.

Workplace culture doesn’t just happen. It’s built through deliberate and purposeful actions aligned to core organizational values. Take a proactive approach to reframing culture. Think creatively about what it means to your specific employees. Consider the dynamics at play within your workforce, including different generations collaborating together; diversity, equity and inclusion; emerging needs for upskilling or reskilling; shifts in business strategy or any other key factor impacting your people day to day. Then, reverse engineer the culture — including behaviours, attitudes, ways of working and more — you would like to build to address those specific, human-centred needs.

2. Make the office one of many cultural touchpoints.

Simply having an office does not improve your culture. Thinking creatively about how that office is used can. Making the office a place to promote collaboration, socialization and celebration can help reframe in-office time as a chance to come together. Employees have come to expect a good reason to commute to a central hub. Organizations that align office time with value and meaning can use these spaces to spark culture-building and a sense of belonging. This approach — whether it’s setting key anchor days, types of work or other initiatives — can support productivity and collaboration even after folks return to their unanchored workspaces. As you move in this direction, trust grows over the course of employee tenure. Be sure to individualize your approach so your people are empowered to focus on outcomes rather than hours at every stage of the employee journey.

3. Focus on outcomes, not hours.

Hybrid work environments are based on trust. People must feel psychologically safe to thrive. Shifting gears away from the traditional focus on number of hours worked to instead concentrate on quality and creativity of results delivered can help foster trust, especially in hybrid environments. In a results-oriented culture, people feel empowered to try new approaches, share innovative ideas and test different concepts in pursuit of better, bolder outcomes. But you can’t derive that kind of value without reinforcing trust within the culture itself.

4. Build relationships to establish a high level of accountability.

For culture to evolve and flourish, people must feel like they are both part of the build and responsible for its continuation. In high-trust cultures like this, leaders are equipped with skills to inspire colleagues, drive results and build trust — and they are held accountable on those nonfinancial metrics. That’s also true for employees themselves. Accountability is a two-way street; with trusted relationships comes the onus to act with integrity, follow through and help others succeed at the same time. Your culture should support these principles, providing guidance, mentorship and ample opportunity for open and honest two-way dialogue.

5. Make technology a culture enabler.

Investing in advanced collaboration tools and technologies that facilitate effective communication and project management help remote and in-office employees work together efficiently. Doing so also provides chances for people to expand capabilities and cultivate richer career experiences. For example, enabling people with the right digital platforms or automation tools can cut down their administrative burden and free up time to focus on higher-value work. Identifying change agents with a passion or interest in advanced technologies and providing them with the chance to pilot new initiatives or help others learn new skills can enhance their employee experience. Creating these kinds of opportunities shows people you’re invested in their development and goals.