Building a Virtual Team Culture: Best Practices for Staying Connected While Working Remotely
“Erin you’re on mute” …” Erin mute button”…..this has become the common joke among those of us who work remotely.
Working remotely has its many benefits – the largest being the ability to balance work and life seamlessly, allowing those with children minutes back to our day while cutting out the time spent commuting. It allows us to be home when someone is sick, or even you yourself are not feeling well.
I personally can get many items checked off my to do list throughout the day while working from home. Not that I don’t love the comradery of being around my fellow co-workers, but the constant interruptions I face daily are overwhelming as opposed to the quiet sanctuary while working from home.
However, with all the perks that working from home has, it also comes with consequences. We can find ourselves getting easily distracted or diving so deep into our work that we forget the important social piece of our job responsibilities. Maybe you go weeks before you realize you haven’t spoken to a live person.
There are many different tips and tools that some of our remote employees are using to keep themselves “in the know”. In this blog, we compiled a few to keep you on track.
After speaking with team members that are 90% remote, here are some of the most popular ways they continue to stay connected to their teams:
1. Ask a Question of the Week
Post a random question in whatever chat application you use once a week. You may keep the question short, for example, what is your favorite sport? Or, if you would like a longer more engaging question you could ask, What’s your favorite sport and why? The benefit to this is people will start to engage on their own time and start conversations. Additionally, you can learn new (and sometimes interesting) things about your team.
2. Virtual Lunches
Although it is not the same as going out to lunch with a co-worker and having a one-to-one personal conversation, virtual lunches are still better than eating alone. To mix it up a bit we recommend ordering food for the other person and have it sent to their house.
3. Company Contests
Lastly, you can still do all the fun things that you would do in the office. Events such as a best holiday sweater contest, craziest coffee mug contest, and even wacky hair day contest can spark interest and fun, even if remote.
Despite being out of the office and not having the interpersonal interactions, you are still able to make a connection with your co-workers regardless of the distance.
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