To illustrate the value of a remote company culture based on empathy, I like to tell the story of a former Howdy engineer (let's call him Raul). Raul, based in Medellín, Colombia, was an amazing teammate: whip-smart, hard-working, and talented. So, I was surprised when his concerned manager reached out to tell me Raul's productivity had plummeted. According to his manager, the software engineer was late to work, unresponsive, and missing meetings.
"Let me talk to him in person," his Howdy mentor told me. "I speak the same language. I understand cultural nuances.”
"Somos paisas — we’re both from Medellín," his mentor reassured me.
Meeting with Raul, the Howdy mentor learned that a close family member was gravely ill and had moved in with Raul out of financial necessity. Attempting to keep his personal and professional life separate, Raul didn't mention anything to his team. Nevertheless, the difficult circumstances were understandably interfering with Raul's work and taking a toll on his mental health.
The Howdy team worked with Raul's manager to arrange bereavement time. After taking the space and time needed, the dev returned to work as a top performer.
The moral of the story? The success of remote teams hinges on technical skills and productivity and a company culture rooted in empathy.
How to build a strong, empathetic remote work culture
Raul's experience reminded me that remote teams need more than tech and tools — they need human connection. Cultivating a strong culture in remote settings involves investing personal time and empathy beyond professional interactions.
Below, I've listed core strategies I've used to build a positive, robust remote culture:
Build relationships
Work relationships arise more naturally in an office setting, but you have to work at them in remote environments. Successful remote companies should prioritize relationship-building whenever possible through virtual check-ins and in-person events — like in-person one-on-ones, team outings, lunches, and retreats.
Provide mentorship
When you hire with Howdy.com, your team is assigned an on-the-ground mentor as your in-country representative. These mentors act as an extension of your team to help reinforce your feedback, company culture, and values.
Incorporate empathy into product development
The most impactful products resonate with their users. By practicing empathy, team members can better connect with their customers' needs, desires, and pain points and use these insights to guide user-centric product development. By embracing empathy, teams can unlock a better understanding of their audience, leading to products that are accessible, intuitive, and meaningful.
Prioritize fun
"People rarely succeed unless they are having fun in what they are doing," Dale Carnegie, author of "How to Win Friends and Influence People", once quipped. Many leaders mistake workplace fun as a distraction, but plenty of research shows that it positively influences engagement, creativity, purpose, and churn rate.
Hire a diverse workforce
Promote taking lunch
Expecting employees to crank out quality work for nine straight hours is unrealistic and unhealthy. Regular breaks boost productivity, and employees who take lunch report having higher engagement based on metrics like job satisfaction and likelihood of referring others to work there. Normalizing a generous lunch break can be tricky in remote environments. Still, leaders can lead by example by creating an "at lunch" notification on Slack, verbally announcing when they take lunch, and restricting mid-day meetings.
Avoid rescheduling one-on-ones
If you schedule a one-on-one meeting with an employee, do your best to keep that commitment. Honoring that person's time demonstrates respect for that person's time and shows you value and care about their input.
Don't hire bad managers
Lousy management doesn't just impact productivity and morale — it impacts employee well-being. Bad bosses increase the risk of heart attack, high blood pressure, sleep problems, and anxiety.
The best way to protect your employees from a bad manager is to avoid hiring them in the first place. But if you notice a manager is hampering your team, be tough-minded and let them go quickly.
Explain major updates in person
Whenever I introduce a new feature or major change, I prefer to explain the concept in person to team members — even though it means taking an eight-hour flight. (Mercifully, no jet lag is involved — most Howdy offices are located in the Central Time Zone).
For me, the long journey is worth it. By collaborating on major decisions in person, I give teammates a chance to vocalize concerns and questions. A three-week project gets off on the right foot, saving me time in the long run. Perhaps most importantly, my initiative signals to employees that their input is valuable to the company.
The bottom line
Forging a strong, empathetic workplace culture in remote environments isn't easy — but it's well worth it. A positive company culture cultivates better collaboration, less stress, and greater employee satisfaction while fueling innovative solutions that resonate with customers. These are characteristics vital to any company, but indispensable for geographically dispersed teams.
