The Key Ingredients To Cultivating A Great Startup Workplace

Life at a startup can move fast. For founders, this creates both an opportunity and challenge to establish a workplace culture that captivates core company values but takes into consideration employees’ thoughts, values, beliefs, and the way they work.

In a remote-working environment, workplace culture can look different than in traditional colocated offices, where employees might share similar values, creativity, and personal experiences.

Traditionally, workplace culture is often defined by the reflection of personalities and passions team members share with one another. For in-office companies, this manifests itself into an ecosystem whereby employees can freely communicate, share in creative processes, and benefit from company-related perks.

However, when it comes to remote-first startups, the opportunity to establish a company culture is often hindered by the lack of physical interactions such as office space, premium amenities, and open communication.

With these shortcomings in the remote-only workplace, startup founders have a brief window of opportunity to establish a workplace culture that captures company values but ties it with remote employees’ values and beliefs at the same time.

Remote Startup Culture vs. Corporate Culture

Companies are increasingly growing across their borders, onboarding employees with the necessary skills and knowledge that reside in various locales. A research survey found that nearly half - 44 percent - of businesses have reported seeing an increase in the number of full-time employees working remotely from foreign countries.

For established companies, hiring employees outside of their direct talent pool creates new opportunities to tap into a knowledgeable labor market that enhances their culture but also creates a more inclusive and diverse workplace.

Looking at the foundations of workplace culture, in this case, remote-first and corporate workplace culture, there are several differences and often similarities these two working environments share.

For starters, remote startup culture consists of characteristics such as innovation, flexibility, and autonomy. It creates an open environment through which employees can share ideas, become more connected with remote colleagues, and often lead them to feel more passionate about their contribution to the overall future outlook of the startup.

In a corporate or collocated environment, company culture is something that is already established and has been formed through knowledge that can be transparently shared with employees across multiple tiers of the business.

Often when we think of startup culture, images of free-flowing coffee, table tennis, lounge areas, and open-floor office spaces come to mind. Adjustments in the way we work and approach the workplace have seen traditional office spaces transform into an environment whereby employees can openly share their thoughts and ideas while communicating innovation.

However, for remote-only startups and companies, establishing a workplace culture takes intentionality and requires an adequate understanding of the business, the customers, and the type of people founders are looking to make up their teams.

Elements of Remote Startup Culture

With startups being less confined to a geographical location, the iteration of workplace culture needs to take priority for entrepreneurs and startup founders.

In the startup ecosystem and for remote-only companies, understanding the importance of company culture can help them overcome marketplace challenges and outshine their more established competitors.

The trend of euphoric startups fading into the abyss is a growing problem, even in the high-paced environment of the Electric Vehicle (EV) industry, where EV startups are losing out against legacy automakers due to their lack of understanding of company culture and the important driving factor it holds over younger employees.

In a remote-only setting, where employees are likely to interact through virtual communication, establishing the right culture that helps to motivate employees and minimize voluntary employee turnover requires startup founders to take a closer look at the ingredients that make up the startup culture.

Startup core values

At the base, founders, and startup founders need to establish the core values of their businesses. Core values often encapsulate the environment in which employees will work but also how they will function during different projects.

Establishing core values ensures that founders have a clear understanding of their startup’s mission and vision. Knowing where the company is heading, how certain milestones will be achieved, and how everything employees do will influence the long-term performance of the startup.

Instead of only applying core values at the foundational levels of the business, founders should replicate this throughout all levels of business to ensure that every employee, from junior to managers and founders, has a clear understanding of the startup’s values.

In a remote setting, this would require founders to replicate their values in team building activities, different exercises, and during the onboarding process. It ensures that new hires are equipped with a thorough understanding of what the startup is aiming to achieve and how their contribution will influence the direction of the business.

Commitment & Leadership

During the early stages of any business, and especially in the context of a startup, founders are required to hold a sense of commitment both to the overarching purpose of the company and their employees.

In a remote-only environment, commitment will ensure that founders have a sense of drive and passion but also carry the ability to share these values with their fellow employees. Seeing as employees will have less chance to interact with their colleagues. It’s important to consider how commitment efforts can flow through each level of the business.

Second to this is leadership, and while this might seem like a no-brainer, there are multiple examples of how startup founders lost track of their purpose and how in due course, this impacts their ability to actively lead their remote teams.

Leadership can wear many different hats. Often, it can be support, motivation, or the importance of employee happiness. Being a strong leader in a remote startup ensures that founders remain approachable at all phases of growth but continuously encourage their team members to improve.

Transparency

Having a sense of transparency establishes an “open door policy” even in the virtual office. Transparency is not only important for effective communication; it further ensures that all employees are informed and have the necessary understanding to actively contribute to the overarching purpose of the startup.

In a remote-first startup, transparency can be sharing important information equally among all staff members. Other times it can be the ability to share both positive and negative feedback, allowing team members to understand where improvement is needed.

Being proactive with transparent communication makes it easier for teams to voice their concerns to their managers when troublesome situations occur. It further allows management to keep founders informed about changes needed in the company or innovations that can help improve existing systems within the business.

There are multiple reasons why transparency is often overlooked when establishing company culture, but ultimately, with the right mindset, and understanding of how open and effective communication can help grow a team's creativity and ability to collaborate, startup founders intentionally establish a sense of culture for their remote employees.

Purpose

Without purpose, remote employees will often feel disconnected from their peers and from the company. This environment can create gaps in the chain of communication or lead to employees feeling disassociated from their work, their colleagues, the founders, and the business.

With a sense of purpose, all team members may be on track to a shared goal or milestone. Through effective communication and transparent goal setting, startup employees in the remote or virtual office will have a unified sense of what their achievements should look like and how this will enable them to be effective contributors to these goals.

Having a sense of purpose in any setting, and, more importantly, in a remote startup, requires founders to clearly state what the business goals are and how current actions will help achieve long-term goals.

Furthermore, sharing a purpose-driven mindset among remote team members can help to motivate their actions. Keeping employees up-to-date with project developments ensures that they are well-informed, resulting in purpose-driven contributions and active participation, and can help lead to more innovative collaboration efforts.

Autonomy

Perhaps one of the key ingredients in any remote work setting is the ability to have more autonomy in terms of work and personal time. Allowing employees a better balance in their day-to-day life can improve their physical and mental well-being, leading to lower levels of stress, which translates into them feeling more motivated and productive.

In the remote startup environment, autonomy can be practiced in different ways; however, in this case, where employees are completely out of the watchful eye of their managers, startup founders need to set boundaries with employees and communicate accountability.

When employees are allowed to have improved work-life balance, they are often happier, minimizing voluntary turnover. In a remote-first environment, predetermined schedules often lack purpose and leadership. This is when it becomes important for startup founders and management to have defined roles, objectives, and goals for their team members.

Practicing autonomy encourages employees and leaves them feeling more motivated to actively contribute to the overarching purpose of the business. However, in the remote workplace, having clear boundaries but also encouraging employees to embrace flexibility can help to create balance and understanding.

Recognition

At any given time, recognition can be considered a driver of motivation for employees. Studies indicate that when employees know they will be recognized for their contribution, they are 2.7 times more likely to be engaged.

Making recognition part of company culture, in this case in the remote-first workplace setting, encourages employees to actively contribute, engage and share ideas. With improved recognition, employers are not only helping to motivate their teams, but they are also creating an environment where employees feel satisfied and have an enjoyment of work.

Ultimately, we see that recognition is often a driver of personal and team culture. This established higher company loyalty, which ensures that employees have a greater sense of workplace satisfaction.

With the ability to recognize employees’ efforts, startup founders can establish an inclusive company culture, making it possible for them to create teams that are driven by their purpose but also able to collectively achieve and manage company expectations properly.

Culture Drives Innovation

The importance of remote-first workplace culture is often overlooked by startup founders, leading to gaps in their chain of communication and further hindering them from their business goals.

Understanding the intricacies of remote work culture can help startup founders establish a workplace environment that incorporates humanity and inclusivity among remote team members.

With the right ingredients and fostering an understanding of workplace culture, startup founders can further improve their innovative efforts, allowing team members better opportunities to actively contribute to the overarching goals and further manifest a sense of purpose-driven achievements.