When the COVID-19 pandemic first disrupted workplaces in 2020, employers were forced to make decisions about remote work, communication, employee well-being and business continuity almost overnight.
At the time, one of the biggest questions was what prolonged separation would do to company culture. Could employees still feel connected to an organization when they weren't working together in the same building? Would remote work weaken collaboration? How could managers keep teams engaged when so many of the interactions that once happened naturally had disappeared?
Six years later, employers have a much clearer view of which changes were temporary and which became defining features of the post-pandemic workplace.
Remote work didn't kill company culture. But the pandemic did expose something many organizations had taken for granted: Culture cannot depend on people occupying the same physical space.
It has to show up in how leaders lead, how managers communicate, how employees are treated, how expectations are set and how work gets done.
Many post-pandemic workplace culture changes that started as emergency responses have since become lasting parts of the employee experience.
Before 2020, it was easy to associate company culture with the physical workplace.
Culture was reinforced through everyday interactions: conversations in the hallway, team lunches, meetings, celebrations, shared routines and simply being around other employees. When millions of workers abruptly began working from home, employers understandably worried about what would happen when those interactions disappeared.
The experience since then suggests that physical proximity and cultural connection are not the same thing.
Gallup's May 2026 data found virtually no difference in employees' connection to organizational culture based on where they work. Twenty percent of exclusively remote employees strongly agreed they felt connected to their organization's culture, compared with 20% of hybrid employees and 18% of fully on-site employees.
The more striking finding may be that the numbers are low across all work arrangements.
Only 20% of U.S. employees strongly agree they feel connected to their organization's culture.
That changes the question employers should be asking in the post-pandemic workplace.
Instead of “How do we preserve culture when people aren't in the office?” the better question is “What actually makes employees experience our culture, wherever they work?”
Remote work may have begun as a necessity for many organizations, but workplace flexibility outlasted the crisis.
Among employees whose jobs can be performed remotely, Gallup reports that 52% now work hybrid schedules, 26% work exclusively remotely and 22% work fully on-site. Those patterns have remained relatively stable since 2022.
That doesn't mean every business should offer remote work or that every position can accommodate it. Small and mid-sized employers have operational requirements, customer needs, staffing considerations and jobs that simply must be performed on-site.
What changed is the conversation.
Employees are more likely to view flexibility – where it is practical – as part of the overall employment experience rather than an occasional perk. Employers, meanwhile, have had several years to determine where flexibility supports the business and where greater structure is necessary.
For many organizations, post-pandemic workplace strategy is no longer about choosing between “remote” and “in office.” It's about intentionally deciding how, when and where work should happen based on the needs of the business and its employees.
That also means employers may need to revisit post-pandemic workplace policies that were originally created as temporary responses. Remote and hybrid work expectations, scheduling practices, communication standards, technology use and performance expectations should reflect how the organization operates today – not how it operated during an emergency.
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Executives may define an organization's values, but employees experience those values much closer to home.
Usually through their manager.
A company can say it values communication, development, respect, accountability or work-life balance. Whether employees actually experience those things often depends on what happens inside their individual teams.
Gallup has consistently found that managers account for 70% of the variance in team-level employee engagement. Managers also play a critical role in translating organizational culture into the day-to-day employee experience.
That role became even more visible when teams were dispersed.
Managers could no longer rely as heavily on informal office interactions to reinforce priorities, answer questions, recognize employees or notice when someone was struggling. They had to become more deliberate about how they communicated and how they showed up for their teams.
Those management practices still matter, even when employees are back in the office.
A strong culture should not depend on employees picking up cues by being in the right room at the right time. Managers need to understand the organization's values well enough to reinforce them through everyday decisions, conversations and interactions with employees.
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The sudden shift to remote work also challenged a long-standing management habit: equating visibility with productivity.
When employees were sitting within sight of their managers, it was easy to assume that being present meant work was getting done. Remote and hybrid work forced employers to become more explicit about what employees were expected to accomplish and how performance would be measured.
That tension has not completely disappeared.
Gallup reports that only 54% of managers strongly agree they trust remote employees to be productive. At the same time, only 57% of employees strongly agree they feel trusted.
That is not simply a remote-work issue. It is a performance management issue.
Whether employees are working across the hall or across town, managers need clear goals, measurable expectations and a consistent way to evaluate results. Accountability should come from whether employees are meeting expectations, not whether a manager can physically see them working.
That shift from visibility to outcomes remains one of the most important management lessons of the post-pandemic workplace.
One concern employers had in 2020 turned out to be legitimate: Many of the small interactions that build relationships at work do happen more naturally when people share a workplace.
What changed was the assumption that those relationships would simply take care of themselves.
Virtual happy hours and Zoom coffee breaks became popular early in the pandemic because businesses were trying to recreate informal office interaction online. Six years later, employers can take a more practical approach.
Connection does not require manufactured fun. It does require opportunities for employees to communicate, collaborate and understand how their work fits with the work of others.
That may happen through team meetings, one-on-one conversations, mentoring, employee recognition, cross-functional projects, in-person gatherings or simply managers making time for conversations that are not purely transactional.
The format matters less than the consistency.
Culture becomes stronger when employees understand the people around them, know how their work contributes and feel that they are part of something larger than their individual task list.
The pandemic also blurred a line employers once tried to draw more clearly between employees' work lives and personal lives.
Managers saw employees balancing work with illness, caregiving, isolation, school closures, grief and uncertainty. Even after those specific circumstances eased, employers and employees did not entirely return to viewing personal well-being as something that exists outside the workplace.
Today, managers may hear about mental health concerns, family crises, burnout and other deeply personal situations that affect an employee's ability to work.
That does not mean managers should become counselors or attempt to solve employees' personal problems. It does mean employers need managers who can recognize when an issue requires an HR response, understand appropriate boundaries and connect employees with available workplace resources.
This is one of several post-pandemic workplace trends that have changed what employers expect from frontline managers. Technical expertise alone is often not enough. Managers also need the communication skills, judgment and HR support to navigate increasingly complex employee situations.
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Perhaps the most important lesson from the pandemic is that culture is more durable than many employers feared – but only when it is real.
Employees who feel strongly connected to their organization's culture are 3.7 times as likely to be engaged at work, according to Gallup. They are also significantly less likely to experience frequent burnout or be looking for another job.
That kind of connection cannot be created by putting company values on a wall.
Employees experience culture through:
The pandemic changed where millions of people worked. Its more lasting impact may have been forcing employers to see company culture differently.
Culture isn't where employees work. It's what employees experience while they're doing the work.
Building a strong culture in the post-pandemic workplace requires more than good intentions. Managers need clear policies, practical guidance and HR support when employee expectations, workplace challenges and business realities collide.
Axcet HR Solutions gives small and mid-sized employers access to experienced HR professionals who can help strengthen workplace policies, support managers, address employee relations issues and build HR practices that align with the culture an organization wants its employees to experience.
Ready to strengthen your workplace culture? Talk with an Axcet HR expert.
Written by
Jeanette Coleman, SPHR, SHRM-SCP, is the Director of Human Resources at Axcet HR Solutions, where she has contributed her expertise for over 21 years.
As a leader in the HR industry, she holds advanced certifications as a Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) and SHRM-Senior Certified Professional (SHRM-SCP). Jeanette oversees HR strategy and operations, ensuring Axcet delivers exceptional HR services that help small and mid-sized businesses stay compliant and grow.
With a Master’s degree in Human Resource Management from Keller Graduate School and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Kansas State University, Jeanette is well-equipped to lead and support clients in navigating complex HR challenges.
Throughout her 15-year tenure as Director of Human Resources, she has been instrumental in positioning Axcet as the Midwest’s largest and premier Professional Employer Organization (PEO). Her previous roles at Axcet include Director of Employee Benefits and Senior HR Consultant, where she gained extensive experience in HR outsourcing, and employee risk management.
Jeanette’s expertise has been recognized through industry and regional publications. She co-authored the article “High-Touch in the Age of High-Tech: How PEOs Can Embrace AI Without Losing Their Humanity” (https://peoinsider.org/articles/high-touch-in-the-age-of-high-tech-how-peos-can-embrace-ai-without-losing-their-humanity/) for PEO Insider (March 2026), alongside Jo McClure, and was featured in Ingram’s Magazine in a Q&A (https://ingrams.com/article/qa-with-jeanette-coleman/) discussing generational change, technology, and workplace culture. These contributions reflect her perspective on balancing innovation with the human side of HR.
Jeanette’s leadership reflects her deep commitment to helping businesses thrive through strategic, compliance-driven HR solutions. Through her writing, she shares insights on HR strategy, compliance, and best practices to help employers confidently manage their workforce.
Published in: PEO Insider and Ingram's
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