From birthday celebrations to sharing our achievements, staying connected with our co-workers while working remotely doesn’t have to be a pain or a struggle.
Fortunately, there are some things you can do to help create and maintain strong social bonds while working from home. We’ve put together some fun and affordable ways to help you stay positive and connected with your team. We encourage you to take the time to try some or all of these ideas.
Wellness ideas
Wellness Wednesdays
Why not implement a ‘Wellness Wednesday’ challenge? Schedule 10 minutes in everyone’s calendar to go for a walk around the block, or take a mindful breathing exercise together. Check out our wellness calendar for tips and ideas.
Group yoga/fitness
We might not be able to go to the gym or attend a fitness class right now, but hosting a team yoga, fitness class or chair stretches is a great way to bring the team together and encourages healthy habits.
Team bonding ideas
Hold a baking competition
A great team bonding experience! Each team member will ensure they have the necessary ingredients they’ll need to make some yummy cupcakes or cookies. Make it fun and see who can create the best-looking cupcake. Have a virtual afternoon tea together at the end of the bake and show off your creations.
Celebrate birthdays virtually
While you can’t assemble in the kitchen to celebrate with cake, that doesn’t mean you can’t celebrate a team member’s birthday while working remotely. Whether it’s cake, cupcakes, chocolates or donuts, get a box of sweet treats delivered and schedule a video conference to celebrate together.
If your team member doesn’t have a sweet tooth, try a breakfast, morning or afternoon tea birthday celebration to keep it interesting.
Virtual happy hour
Enjoying a glass of wine (or water) over video might not be the same as pre-COVID, but it’s still a great way to socialise and maintain connections.
Get together for lunch
Even though team lunches won’t physically be in the same room, it doesn’t mean you can’t have lunch together. Organise a time to eat lunch together virtually – it’s a great way to facilitate conversations and can build and reinforce bonds between people. Having a meal with others can also boost your mood and some studies have shown that it can make you happier.
Lunch roulette
For the adventurous, try ‘lunch roulette’. Add your name to a virtual ‘hat’ and randomly select who you will meet up for a virtual lunch. You could even include co-workers from different teams to your ‘lunch roulette’ – a great way to facilitate conversations and team building between colleagues who otherwise wouldn’t interact.
Pictionary
Use the whiteboard function in Zoom or Microsoft Teams for a fun game of Pictionary. Use this random word generator to help generate words.
Just for fun
Introduce your pets
Dogs, cats, goldfish or hamsters – they’re all helping us stay positive and provide companionship while we’re at home. Introduce your pet at your next team catch-up and show off any special tricks!
Heads up!
Get the (virtual) party started with Heads Up – a classic word game where players have to describe the word on the screen to the person holding the screen to their head. You can choose from a range of categories and play with as many people as you want.
Crazy shirt day
Choose a theme, or just pop on your craziest shirt at your team meeting or virtual Friday drinks catch-up.
Virtual games night or trivia
Sometimes, there’s nothing like a game of trivia to boost morale.
Working remotely doesn’t mean working alone
Innovative ways of thinking and extra effort will be needed during this time to stay engaged and connected with our teammates. It’s the small things that make a big difference, so don’t be afraid to try out one or even all these ideas and mix it up. Together, we can make it through these tough times and get closer to each other.