Hybrid Work Needs Branding

Remote work gives us more freedom than ever before. I can take a walk in the middle of the day; I’m home when my kids arrive from school.

As I talk to people in my network about hybrid and remote work, however, they tell me they struggle with two issues that they believe the pandemic exacerbated: trust and retention. It’s really hard to trust people when you don’t work—or perhaps never have worked—face-to-face. All the rituals that happen around an office—rehashing the weekend, eating lunch together, and communicating non-verbally—are gone. 

When you don’t have trust, attrition follows. Instead, disengaged and skeptical employees have little loyalty. In every business, employees experience situations where they don’t agree with or understand management’s actions. If they trust management, they assume good intent. But without trust, they get frustrated, and—over time—leave. 

Here’s where a strong brand positioning and messaging can help. 

Brand strategy aligns and inspires from the inside to shape a holistic experience on the outside. It is a lens for decision-making about what a brand should and should not do and shapes the experiences people have with a brand.

Positioning and messaging—key components of brand strategy—require a company to succinctly describe who they are, what they do, why they matter, and what they can expect from them. The process demands alignment and clarity. This leads to trust.

The reason for doing all this work is not just to engage customers and prospects; it’s for all stakeholders, including investors and partners. A strong brand can help you recruit and define how you behave, not to mention make people feel proud of the company. And when employees feel proud, they make good decisions, treat their colleagues well, and act with integrity.