With the world turned upside down by the Coronavirus pandemic, businesses everywhere have been forced to rethink just about everything – how they run their business, maintaining clients in the face of economic standstill, keeping employees safe while still staying afloat.
But for companies fortunate enough to continue operating remotely, they face an entirely different challenge – keeping up morale while employees are all working from home. It might not seem earth-shattering, but a connected, united, and engaged workforce is key to staying creative, innovative, and passionate. The invisible, untouchable je ne sais quoi that is office culture is what fuels every great idea, project and company. So how do we keep employees engaged while working in their jammies? The answer is virtual team building.
No matter what your business, team building is a powerful tool to keep your employees happy and inspired. So, with everyone at home, you just need to do it virtually. Here’s how:
Hold Daily Briefings
Whatever kind of organization you’re in, a daily video briefing is a must. The meeting has several important functions: it gathers the team together, helps everyone stay aware of what’s happening in the company, and makes everyone feel informed, involved and ready to start the day.
One-On-Ones
Schedule weekly or monthly one-on-one meetings with your employees, to touch base and address any concerns they have. Ask them what is working well, where they are feeling challenged, and how you can support them. A little extra attention will make everyone feel noticed – which is always important for morale.
Pairing Projects
If you work in a project-based environment, why not try random team-ups, to get people working together who wouldn’t normally do so? Pairing random team members up is a great way for different people to connect with each other.
Celebrate the Wins
Employees need to feel appreciated at what they do, to do it well. Set up a channel in your company’s slack (or other office communication platform), dedicated to celebrating the work of individuals in your team. (Just make sure you don’t leave anyone out.)
Go to Lunch
Just because you’re all working from home together, doesn’t mean you can’t all have lunch every day! Set up a daily lunch meeting, to catch everyone up on everything not related to work.
Get Creative
To build non-work-related morale, have fun with your employees! There are several creative and challenging ways to keep your people feeling good, here’s just a few of our favorite:
Virtual movie night:
Watch parties are a great way to connect your employees after hours. Just pick a movie everyone likes and get watching!
Online book club:
If your employees are the bookish kind, get them reading and discussing a popular book.
Remote bingo:
This is a fun one. Set up an online bingo game filled with real-life working from home possibilities, (sent a gif to a coworker, LOL’d literally, ordered something unnecessary from Amazon).
Recipe roundup:
Exchange recipes in the group, sending pictures for those who actually try and create each meal.
Whatever technique you try, keeping your employees engaged with virtual team building activities is always a good idea. Because If we have to work from home (at least for the time being), we might as well enjoy it.
