CULTURE

How APO Group Builds Connection, Context and Trust in a Remote Workplace

2 hours ago EDITOR

By Loanette Boshoff, Chief People Officer at APO Group

As remote work becomes increasingly common, organizations face a challenge that traditional offices often solve naturally: how to build connection, share context and create trust among employees who rarely meet in person.

For APO Group, a fully remote organization operating across 17 countries, the answer is to build workplace culture deliberately.

The company’s employees represent 52 nationalities and speak 33 languages, working across Africa, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. According to Chief People Officer Loanette Boshoff, this diversity and geographical spread require deliberate efforts to ensure employees remain connected and understand how their work contributes to the wider business.

Building connection across borders

APO Group uses monthly town halls to make employees and their work more visible across the organization. The sessions provide opportunities to celebrate achievements, profile colleagues and allow departments to share their work.

This helps employees understand what colleagues in other countries and departments are doing and how their work contributes to the company.

The approach also has implications for clients. A request from Casablanca, for example, may require a response from a colleague in Cape Town within the same day. Boshoff argues that effective collaboration depends not only on processes but also on whether employees already understand and trust each other’s work.

Giving employees context

The company also shares business performance and client achievements during its town halls, helping employees understand how their individual responsibilities fit into the broader organization.

Its quarterly magazine, Connect, provides further insight into how different departments operate, the tools they use and the lessons they have learned.

Building trust through feedback

APO Group seeks to strengthen trust by regularly discussing both performance and behaviour. Employees participate in monthly performance discussions, while twice a year they are asked about their experience of working for the company.

Boshoff says the company acts on the feedback it receives, giving employee input a visible outcome. The company currently reports an employee Net Promoter Score of +54.

Keeping culture visible

APO Group has also appointed Tracy Walakira, an Account Director, as its Cultural Ambassador. Her role includes keeping the company’s culture and values visible in everyday work, from onboarding new employees to helping colleagues remain connected across countries and teams.

The company also named its intranet Frank, after François Mognard, who spent 12 years leading finance and operations as APO Group expanded from a start-up into a pan-African consultancy.

Mognard became known among colleagues as someone they could approach for answers and guidance. Although he has since moved on to new opportunities, the company retained his name on the intranet as a reminder of his contribution to its culture.

Investing in people

APO Group says every employee has a growth path supported through training and mentoring. New employees begin through the same onboarding academy and are introduced to the company’s five values from their first day.

For Boshoff, the broader goal is to create an environment where more employees develop the knowledge, support and confidence to become people their colleagues can rely on.

She argues that every organization already has individuals who naturally help others, share knowledge and notice when colleagues are being left out. The challenge, she says, is recognizing those people and creating the conditions for others to grow into similar roles.