Creative Ways to Boost Morale in the Virtual Office
Remote work is great. It allows for flexibility, travel, and more efficient use of time. But the emotional aspects of office culture can get overlooked in the virtual world. Without the small connections made at the coffee machine or hallway, the workday can feel a little lonely. This is why we’ve put together a list of ways teams can keep the office community strong when working remotely.
Connectivity
Combine your personal calendar with your work one. This way employees can be in the know of non-work related events in their team members’ lives. Events such as child dance recitals or anniversaries could trigger personal messages of encouragement or congratulations. It also lets people know when team members will be unavailable, which is useful for managing communication.
Zoom
Video conferencing applications like Zoom have seen a huge tick in popularity given the global shift to working from home. The platform makes it easy to hop on a call from anywhere in the world using any device. Whether teams are fully remote by default, or if remote is the new norm, companies might opt for having more meetings with cameras on. The use of video allows team members to see the body language and facial expressions of their peers which leads to more effective and faster collaboration. According to Gigaom.com, 87% of remote users feel more connected to their team and process when using videoconferencing.
One of the great things about Zoom is how easy it is to share your screen with all attendees or participants. A cool feature to note when using the application’s screen sharing capabilities is their Whiteboard. This virtual board mimics typical whiteboards found in classrooms and offices, and, if the dual monitors feature is enabled, you can have more than one screen sharing Whiteboards at the same time. Teams can use the board for brainstorming trees or mind maps and collaboratively work through problems and generate ideas.
Slack
Slack is the most popular communication platform across industries worldwide. The chat platform covers instant messaging basics and also supports file-sharing and automatic syncing across different devices. You can message people directly, or communicate with multiple team members through using different channels that behave similarly to group chats.
The “Random channel” is a pre-created channel on the platform intended for sharing achievements or celebrations, photos, etc. When water cooler banter is on hiatus, head over to the random channel and fuel the fun, or talk about the weather (from inside).
Get Creative
Maybe you’re dispersed across multiple time zones and remote work is the norm, or perhaps virtual life is a new phenomenon that you’re adjusting to. When team lunches are out of the question, how do businesses maintain a sense of community? Video conferencing and communication apps are great for providing platforms to work together, but they can’t do all the heavy lifting.
Take a look at the activities organizations employ to build rapport and promote fun company culture. For many offices, it could be company sports teams, happy hour drinks, game nights, etc. They all have common threads of engagement and entertainment.
The challenge is to hone in on what makes these activities great and try to recreate them online. We’ve provided a few examples of how teams can boost engagement and increase morale in a virtual world.
Zoom after hours
Bring the happy hour online or get together for trivia. If using Zoom, you can use their “Breakout Rooms” feature which allows for teams to break off into their own video and discuss their answers in private. The video-chat application Houseparty can also be used for game playing. You can choose from the app’s array of built-in games such as trivia, guessing games, or drawing games, and play them with up to eight people.
Netflix Party
The streaming service’s newest feature lets groups watch their favorite movies or shows “together”. A free extension for the Google Chrome browser called Netflix Party lets you start, stop and pause a Netflix movie or show so you can watch it at the same time as your friends. There's also a chat feature that lets you discuss what's going on in the movie. You may choose to keep the viewing “on topic” and pick a documentary related to your industry or keep it light and playful with a few episodes of The Office.
Virtual Games
Processim Labs simulation games don’t require a video element and they can be played across various time zones and schedules. Take the company’s operations management simulation, for example, the game advances automatically every hour (manual advancement is also an option) and alerts players on the hour. Players decide if they want to make any adjustments to the product price, buy more machinery, hire personnel, etc. However, they are not required to make changes hourly, only if they feel it is necessary. The goal of the game is to see who can run the most profitable company through key decision-making and business strategy. The standings table lets players see how they rank against their coworkers and provides a competitive push to surpass their peers.
Just because the face-to-face element of work is off the table, that doesn’t mean it has to be all work and no play. Take advantage of the digital age and utilize all and any communication channels, and invite creativity into the virtual office.
If you’re looking to learn more about virtual business games, pay us a visit.