How to Build A Company Culture That’s Truly Global

A truly inclusive and cohesive culture is one of the key ingredients for a successful company.

Get culture right and you attract the best employees.?

Get culture right and you retain the talented colleagues who are bought into your company’s vision and want to go on that journey with you.?

Get culture right and you cultivate an environment where innovation and creativity thrive, propelling your company ahead of the competition.

But fostering that sense of unity and cohesion is harder if you’re running a company that is global and, as is increasingly common with many multinational businesses, remote in nature.?

There are three significant challenges that any global company faces as it attempts to build a cohesive global culture.?

The first challenge is bridging cultural differences. It’s easy for diverse and differing cultural norms to lead to misunderstandings and miscommunications in the day-to-day rhythms and operations of a company.?

The second challenge is understanding the different legal and regulatory environments that your company must operate in. Differing laws and regulations in different countries can complicate the implementation of key strategies and policies across borders.?

The third key challenge is communication. Of course, time zone differences, language barriers and varying communication preferences can be tricky to navigate.?

We were fortunate to recently speak to Christopher Hitchins, Managing Partner at the London branch of Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP.?

In a wide-ranging and in-depth interview with our GTM Director George Britton, Christopher outlined a number of strategies that global companies can employ to build a cohesive company culture.?

Start with core values

Chris highlights that the first step in creating a cohesive global culture is identifying and clearly articulating your company’s core values.?

As an employment lawyer, Chris notes that the bigger picture of what you’re trying to achieve with your company culture outweighs the legal and regulatory considerations.?

So it’s vital that these core values serve as the foundation for all your company’s cultural initiatives and remain consistent across all locations.?

Build consistent & inclusive communication strategies

Use tools and platforms that facilitate communication across different time zones and languages. This is particularly important in a global context when your business expands across borders.?

When we spoke to Chris, he used the example of a merger or acquisition - and it’s inherent disruptions to the workforce - to highlight why a consistent, inclusive and responsive communication strategy is so vital.?

“Reporting lines may change. Reporting lines may be across borders. People may actually meet with their line managers face to face."

And don’t forget that communication strategies need to include day-to-day workforce management and initiatives to make sure everyone feels included and seen.?

For example, you need to ensure that you’re not just relying on Slack or Microsoft Teams to DM your employees.

Make sure there are opportunities for whole company all-hands and water-cooler chats to ensure team members can meet, get to know each other, flag any concerns and celebrate any wins.?

Make sure you have benefits tailored to localised expectations

It’s imperative to align your company's benefits with your global strategy while ensuring that those benefits are also aligned with local expectations. Examples might include health benefits, retirement plans, or performance bonuses that resonate with local employees’ needs and expectations.?

Chris notes that, as organisations scale within a particular company, their purchasing power will increase. Over time, this will allow your company to offer more competitive in-market benefits.?

Over time, it’s important to tailor these benefits to localised expectations and norms.?

So ask yourself: what are employees’ expectations in this specific employment market? They could include any number of the following?

• Flexible working policy
• Generous paid time off
• Learning and development stipend
• Access to therapy and well-being resources
• Healthcare
• Inclusive family leave
• Stock options

Scale your workforce effectively

A company culture will only be cohesive and successful if you make the right decisions about how you scale it.?

Chris posed the question well in our interview.?

On considering scalability when setting up international operations he advises: "Are you looking just to keep one person? Are you going to go to two or three or is this a dip in the toe? And if it all, if it all goes well, then you're going to scale up a lot larger because that will influence what you put in place."

Companies need to think beyond their immediate hiring needs. Whether it's just one employee or a small team, the infrastructure and processes put in place should be scalable.

The approach to integrating one employee versus a larger team into the company culture may differ significantly. Planning for potential growth can help ensure a consistent cultural experience as the team expands.

Give your teams the freedom to define their own cultures

While you should have an overarching company culture, it’s important to recognize that each team works in different ways.?

Your engineers likely work in a very different way from your salespeople and are motivated by different things too, so giving teams or departments the freedom to define their own cultures and rituals can be highly beneficial. The important thing is that each team culture still aligns with your core values.

For example, your teams might approach collaboration or socialisation in distinct ways.?

Some might prefer daily Zoom meetings, while others benefit more from asynchronous communication methods.?

Some might thrive on Friday social gatherings, while others enjoy casual coffee chats. Leave the ins and outs of culture to your individual teams, but ensure your values are always woven throughout their processes and behaviours.

?? The Omni-Outlook

Strategies for integrating global workforces with Christopher Hitchins

Watch the full video of our interview with Christopher Hitchins on our YouTube channel .?

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Our VP of Corporate James Mallet & and our CFO. Katherine Kellett explain everything you need to know if you're a CFO running a globally distributed company.?

Watch the recording from our recent CFO masterclass here .?

?? In other global employment news…

We stay ahead of the key employment law changes around the world so you don’t have to. Here are some of the latest updates.?

Puerto Rico

Effective July 1, 2024, the minimum wage will increase to $10.50 per hour. Employers now have until August 15, 2024, to file their annual payroll statement to maintain their insurance coverage through the State Insurance Fund Corporation. Read more .

Poland

Starting January 1, 2024, minimum wages are revised to PLN 27.70 per hour and PLN 4,242 per month. Read more .

Vietnam?

Effective July 1, 2024, the updated minimum wage structure for all 4 economic regions is as follows: Region I: 4,960,000 VND/month; Region II: 4,410,000 VND/month; Region III: 3,860,000 VND/month; Region IV: 3,450,000 VND/month. Read more .

About us

Global Team Trends is brought to you by Omnipresent.? Omnipresent is the only global employment platform built & supported by global employment experts in legal, benefits and HR.?

Our Employer of Record solution lets you easily and compliantly hire teams in a country where you don’t have a legal entity.?

Get in touch if you want to know more about who we are and how we can help you .?