Remote working has a long list of advantages for both the company and employee with few drawbacks. One of the disadvantages of remote working for some employees is the lack of social interaction and the team building that goes along with it. Without seeing your coworkers in person and having those small opportunities to get to know each other at the water cooler, the printer, walking in and out of the building, or holiday events it may become difficult to form the relationships that are so critical to team building.
At Red Argyle we do several things to make sure employees don’t have these problems. One of my favorite is every Thursday we have a Zero Work Lunch. Its an optional time for all of us to get together and talk about our lives. Find out about a coworkers wedding plans, hear about a baby on the way, talk about pets, or celebrate a birthday. At times this is all we do, sit on a Google Hangout and have lunch with each other. Just like we’re sitting in the cafeteria shooting the breeze.
Team Building for Remote Workers With Games
Recently we starting playing games together. We tried a few out first until we settled on Minecraft. For someone that hasn’t played a video game since RollerCoaster Tycoon was THE Thing I had my doubts. Not wanting to seem video game illiterate to my coworkers that were clearly more advanced than me I had to call my husband and ask how to make my player walk (Its W if you’re wondering not the arrows). From that point Minecraft gave us a space to come together learn and do awesome things together. We built an amazing home base that I like to refer to as the Red Palace, we built a portal into the Nether, learned to farm, mine diamonds, make potions, and fight monsters. Most importantly, Minecraft gives us something in common other than work and the opportunity to hang out together virtually strengthening our relationships, and as a result our team work.
Team building for remote workers is important so that employees stay connected and feel engaged. How does your remote company promote team building?
