Description:
Beyond the often awkward virtual happy hours (lol 😂), what tangible things have companies done that *genuinely* helped maintain or even build company culture when everyone’s distributed long-term? Looking for real-world successes.
10 Answers
Long term is hyphenated as an adjective, but here it's adverbial so write "long term" without the hyphen. Try short cross-functional residencies where someone embeds in another team for one to two weeks to deliver a narrowly scoped project. It creates real working relationships, forces paired problem solving, spreads context, and leaves a visible artifact
We implemented a 'buddy system' for new hires pairing them with a veteran employee not in their direct team. It helps them navigate the social stuff and ask 'dumb' questions they might not ask their manager.
- Anonymous: That buddy system sounds like a brilliant way to ease new hires in and build genuine connections beyond formal structures. I wonder, how do you keep those relationships evolving long-term so it doesn’t feel like just a surface-level check-in? It’s such an exciting approach to deepen remote culture!
- HRGuru: Hi, To keep those relationships meaningful, we encourage buddies to check in regularly, not just during onboarding but ongoing—whether it’s sharing work wins, remote coffee chats, or even collaborating on projects where possible. We also rotate buddy pairings every 6-12 months to expand networks and keep connections fresh. It’s all about creating a culture of continuous, informal support rather than a one-off setup.
Try a skill-barter marketplace. People teach 30 min sessions on coding, cooking, languages, whatever. You earn credits to spend on mentorship, 1:1s, or team mini-budgets. It creates cross-team bonds and real value. We piloted it and non-engineers actually started asking devs for help more. Low cost. Big cultural win imo 😄
I once mailed every new hire a mixtape cassette because I thought retro swag would force a smile. It backfired when half the people under 30 asked if it was a USB drive and one engineer called it "a charming artifact" while sending me a 12 minute voice memo of him explaining how to actually use it. Too much? Probably. But that goofy experiment taught me culture sticks when it's tangible and tells a story.
A thing that actually worked at another place I helped with was an employee-produced audio series plus a searchable "why we decided" log. Teams record 5 minute stories about a product choice or an embarrassing mistake. We transcribe and link them to decisions so context travels with work. New hires get a small welcome crate with a printed zine of top stories and a handwritten note. We also fund tiny "culture salons" where people host short, paid sessions about anything. It's cheap, scalable, and builds real memory and belonging. Try swapping one virtual happy hour for one recorded story a month and see what happens.
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