Remote working has become an integral part of modern working bringing with it many new challenges in terms of employee engagement. The biggest hurdle that companies are facing in this respect is that of establishing a sense of connectivity between team members. When employees work at the same place, they get countless opportunities to interact and socialize with one another. However, employees working from home rarely get such opportunities making it difficult to develop a sense of connectivity between the individual members of a virtual team. That is why companies today need to focus on team building activities for their remote employees, more than ever.
Need For Companies To Invest In Remote Team Building
With the individual members of the teams scattered across multiple locations, making them all work in a coordinated manner can be quite difficult. The lack of connectivity also indicates the lack of team spirit between co-workers and impacts business productivity and profitability. Moreover, it deepens the feeling of isolation and the sense of being alienated from their organization and co-workers among the remote employees. This can result in enhancing their sense of insecurity and also reduce their performance efficiency. Thankfully, this challenge can be overcome by organizations by implementing the below-discussed tips for team building with work from home employees.
Present Team Members With Customized Merchandize
Sending customized merchandise, such as featuring different types of company identifiers to every member of the virtual team is an effective way to build a sense of team spirit. Organizations can seek the services of companies offering custom t-shirt printing and other items to build a kit for distribution among individual team members. Receiving such items helps in assuring the employees that they are still an integral part of the business family and are cared for and valued in the same manner as other team members.
Organize Online Gaming To Increase Employee Interaction
Gamification has emerged as one of the most effective ways to enhance employee engagement. Applying this concept to enhance the sense of team spirit among remote employees is sure to provide the desired results. Companies can consider the idea of organizing online gaming sessions for their virtual teams. Such sessions can provide opportunities for remote working employees to work in a coordinated manner to solve problems and overcome challenges for fulfilling specific objectives. These sessions can thus make it easier for the employees to communicate with each other and gain a better understanding of the way of working and the perspective of their fellow team members.
Spare Time For Knowledge Sharing Sessions
Organizations need to understand that just because the employees are working from home, they cannot be expected to give up the habit of taking short breaks. However, the one thing that companies can do is to turn these breaks into interactive sessions for the team members. The employees should be encouraged to share interesting information that may or may not be related to their work during these breaks. Care should be taken that every tea member gets an opportunity to share something and it is even advisable to nominate the employees who would be speaking during the next break. This can help individual team members to open up and communicate with their coworkers about diverse issues without feeling shy or afraid of being laughed at.
Arrange Team Health Challenges And Contests
With the growing focus on employee health and well-being organizing health challenges and contests between team members can prove to be a great team-building activity. It is even a better idea to ask the tea members to participate in such challenges and contests wearing their customized t-shirts. Companies can even consider searching for t-shirt printing near me to get customized t-shirts made especially for such contests. Apart from encouraging remote working employees to pay attention to their overall wellness and fitness, such contests also help in promoting a sense of healthy competition between them which further promotes team–building.
Encourage The Team Members To Share Aspects Of Personal Life
One of the key aspects of team-building is that the individual members of the team are aware of some basic aspects of the personal life of their co-workers. To this end, team managers and supervisors should encourage individual members of virtual teams to share the various aspects of their personal lives. It is also advisable to hold family sessions where the employees get the opportunity to introduce the members of their family to their co-workers. Such family interactions act as ice-breakers and even help in establishing a strong bond of friendship between the team members.
Set Up A Virtual Book/ Movie Clubs
Setting up virtual clubs where the team members can share information about the books, movies, or other common interests. The team members should be encouraged to select a specific book or movie and hold a healthy discussion about its various aspects. This can prove to be a fun and exciting way to initiate conversation between team members.
