How to build a remote workplace culture among your virtual team

Remote workplace culture matters, because, even if you love remote work, you can’t deny that it has some pretty big and common downsides. While many embrace the flexibility and autonomy it offers, being part of a virtual team can introduce struggles with loneliness, communication barriers, and team disconnection. 

But the reality is that these challenges aren’t unique to remote work—they plague in-person teams, too. After all, there are in-person teams with awful communication, and there are virtual teams with blossoming friendships. 

Good communication and team vibes are not so much about the mode of work, as about how organizations approach and nurture their workplace culture. 

Workplace culture matters. A lot. And it’s not just about happy teams, but about productivity, employee retention, and countless other individual and organizational benefits. Let’s take a look at what exactly is workplace culture, why it can be harder to build in a remote environment, and how to succeed at it despite the challenges. 

What is workplace culture and why it matters?

Workplace culture encompasses the shared values, beliefs, attitudes, and practices that characterize your team. It’s the totality of the written and unwritten rules of engagement, collaboration, communication, and work. In the simplest terms, workplace culture can be thought of as how it feels to work for a company. 

Workplace culture deeply affects employees, and, in turn, the organization at large. For individuals, a positive workplace culture improves employee satisfaction, boosts morale, and increases engagement. This translates into better business outcomes—higher productivity, easier employee retention and hiring, and better team alignment. 

The converse is also typically true—toxic workplace culture leads to higher burnout rates, absenteeism, and staff turnover, ultimately costing the company tremendous resources. 

In traditional office settings, workplace culture often develops (and is picked up by new teammates) organically through daily interactions, shared experiences, and physical proximity. For example, you learn that it’s OK to ask your boss lots of questions because you see everybody else do it. 

So, what is remote work culture? In theory, it’s the exact same thing just in a remote setting. In practice, however, there are challenges that make it more difficult to establish. 

How remote work impacts the dynamics of workplace culture

Remote work fundamentally changes this dynamic, requiring a more intentional approach to remote work culture building. 

The most significant change occurs in communication patterns. Without in-person interaction, teams lose access to non-verbal cues, casual conversations, and spontaneous collaboration opportunities. Digital communication can sometimes feel cold or impersonal, and messages can be misinterpreted, leading to unnecessary tension or confusion. It’s hard to stay in tune with others’ workflows and gauge urgency. It can also feel like a chore to communicate in written form or organize a meeting for a small issue. 

Other ways remote work can impact workplace culture and wellbeing include: 

• Micromanaging caused by lack of trust
• Blurred boundaries between work and personal life
• Reduced sense of belonging and team cohesion
• Limited visibility into colleagues’ contributions and challenges
• Fewer opportunities for informal mentorship and learning
• And more

But here’s the thing—by identifying these issues, we know where the potential problems lie. The question then becomes how do you identify which of these apply to your team and what can you do about it? 

These challenges essentially lay out the way how to intentionally craft a stronger, more inclusive culture that supports remote team success.

3 ways how to build a remote workplace culture among your virtual team

First, a caveat: “building” remote workplace culture isn’t like building a house; it’s like building friendships. It’s something that grows and develops over time, rather than an artificial set of rules you enforce. 

That said, it does demand a structured, directed, and persistent effort to blossom—for virtual teams, it’s unlikely to just grow out of nothing. Moreover, different organizations will have different cultures. There’s no single right way to do it.

Nevertheless, there are some elements that underpin the growth of a positive culture, and the lack of which often leads to a toxic one. So, here’s how to build a remote work culture.  

1. Demonstrate and expect trust

Trust forms the foundation of any successful remote team. Unlike traditional offices where managers can physically observe work being done, remote work requires a fundamental shift from monitoring presence to measuring outcomes. This shift benefits both employers and employees, but it requires intentional effort to establish and maintain trust.

To build trust in remote teams:

• Set clear expectations and goals while allowing flexibility in how work gets done
• Focus on results and outcomes rather than hours worked
• Provide team members autonomy in managing their schedules and work processes
• Be transparent about company decisions, challenges, and successes
• Address concerns and conflicts promptly and directly
• Acknowledge and celebrate individual and team achievements

Yes, you will likely encounter individuals who take advantage of this trust. But here’s the thing—nobody has forbidden firing people. If there is no culture match between the individual and team, then it’s time to part ways—after all, this happens all the time in in-person teams, too.  

Using time tracking tools like DeskTime can help foster trust in both directions. It’s the best way for managers to keep a finger on the pulse of their virtual team, without micromanaging. And it’s a way for employees to enjoy remote work flexibility, while having receipts for completed work. 

2. Take control of communication

Communication in virtual teams can be tough. Luckily, with the right approach and tools, remote teams can communicate just as effectively as those sharing an office—sometimes even better, since everything needs to be explicit and documented.

First, establish clear communication guidelines. This means defining which channels to use for what purpose, expected response times, and meeting protocols. For example, instant messages might be for quick questions, email for formal communications, and project management tools for task-related discussions. Without such guidelines, teams often default to inefficient patterns like having important discussions scattered across multiple platforms.

Beyond the mechanics, focus on fostering open dialogue. Create an environment where team members feel comfortable speaking up, asking questions, and sharing concerns. This might mean starting meetings with quick check-ins, having regular one-on-ones, or maintaining an open-door policy through virtual office hours.

Remember that usually overcommunication is better than undercommunication in remote settings. When in doubt, write it down and share it. This not only ensures clarity but also creates a valuable knowledge base for the team.

However, be wary of communication overload. Too many messages, meetings, or platforms can be just as problematic as too little communication. The winning recipe for a positive remote workplace culture is to find the right balance that keeps everyone informed and connected without creating unnecessary noise or interruptions.

3. Make space for team building

Virtual team building? Is that playing those awkward games on Zoom? Well, yes and no. 

Virtual team building games certainly have a place in the story (and you should actually give them a try—once the awkwardness wears off, they can be a ton of fun). 

But virtual team building is more than that. It’s also about: 

• Celebrating team and individual wins together
• Involving people in company decisions
• Encouraging the discovery of shared passions and hobbies
• Making a space where people can get to know each other
• Supporting professional development
• Establishing mentorship programs that connect team members across levels and departments
• Creating cross-functional projects that encourage collaboration
• And so much more

While virtual happy hours and online games can play a role, meaningful team building goes beyond social activities to create shared experiences and mutual understanding. All of these things, however, take considerable effort and resources to manage and implement. 

But not having them can turn out to be more expensive in the long run, as employees disconnect from their work and teams and engage in box ticking, rather than meaningful work. 

Making remote work work

You’ll find that many opponents of remote work have simply had a bad experience with it. And you will too if you replace culture with micromanagement, iron-fisted governance, and hyper-focus on individual over team performance. 

Another common mistake is trying to replicate the office environment online. 

Building a strong remote workplace culture is about creating new ways of working that leverage the unique advantages of remote work while addressing its challenges. Success requires moving beyond surface-level solutions to address fundamental needs for connection, purpose, and growth. Moreover, leaders must model the behavior they want to see, whether it’s maintaining work-life boundaries, communicating effectively, or showing vulnerability and openness to feedback.

Hopefully, the remote work culture ideas in this article help. Remember that workplace culture isn’t built overnight or through mandatory fun activities. It grows through consistent actions, clear values, and genuine commitment to team success.