While remote working has become the new normal for many organisations, one of the biggest challenges they face is keeping their remote workers connected. A survey conducted on 3,000 remote workers found that:
- More than two thirds (67%) of workers feel disconnected from their colleagues
- Two fifths (42%) feel lonely at work
- Half (49%) admit it’s having a negative impact on how they view their job
- A third (32%) say it’s having a negative impact on their mental health
So we know it’s a massive issue and if it’s left unchecked it can have a massive impact on an organisation.
In this post, we’ll cover 6 tips for keeping remote workers connected.
How to create social connections in a remote team
1. Implement a robust onboarding process
Helping your remote team stay connected starts from the minute that they join the team. That means they need to have a thorough onboarding process where they:
- Meet their colleagues
- Become familiar with their team and organisational structure
- Have plenty of one-on-one time with their manager
- Have the right equipment to do the job
If that isn’t done then how do you expect someone to feel welcomed and valued? And if they don’t feel that then they’re never going to feel comfortable enough to socially engage with you or their teammates.
Need help with onboarding? Check out our Ultimate Guide To Onboarding Remote Employees
2. Create dedicated informal social time
As a remote team, you have to prioritise social time or it won’t happen. The little chats whilst making a coffee don’t happen when you’re in a completely different building.
That unfortunately means that you’re going to have to block out time in everyone’s calendars for something social.
This social time can be formal like doing some team building exercises or watching something like a TED Talk or it can be more informal like daily coffee catch ups. It doesn’t really matter what it is, all that matters is that:
- It’s regular
- The team is there.
3. Make checking in on colleagues a regular thing
Working at home makes it really hard to see how a colleague is doing. So if you don’t regularly check in on each other as a team you may miss them completely.
Obviously, you need to strike a balance. Too much checking in can feel like you’re pestering them and become a bit overbearing, but checking in now and again to reassure them that they’re not alone will show you care and make them feel part of the team.
A good way to check in without seeming overbearing is to note down the events or plans that they mention during any of the social time you have as a team. You can then drop them the odd message after it has happened as a nice gentle way to see how they are doing.
4. Encourage more video calls
One of the hardest things about being remote is not having any cues from other people’s body language. That is even harder when cameras are switched off for calls.
As mean as it may seem, encouraging the team to do all calls with the camera on is important for social cohesion. It allows them to be able to pick up the tone of their voice better and get a sense when they are joking or being deadly serious.
On the flip side, a lot of remote staff can have issues with their working space which means that they don’t want their cameras on. To get around this you need to make sure that:
- They feel comfortable with the team
- The business has adequately supplied them with equipment to create a comfortable environment
- And that you make it clear to them they are allowed to use backgrounds if they need to.
5. Create a channel to share praise and recognition
Who doesn’t love to be praised?
Praise is so important that 82% of employees think that it’s more important than a gift.
Praise is also one of the easiest things that you can do as well. You can easily set up channels in something like teams for peer-to-peer praise or to celebrate milestones. Then you can set about dropping little messages in there and encouraging the members of the team to share each other’s wins there as well.
6. Get your team together in-person
Video calls and chat apps are great but that doesn’t mean you should abandon all face-to-face time.
It just means that you should do it less frequently.
Face-to-face time still has massive benefits for teams. They can help them to feel seen and heard as well as help to build trust. They can also just be a rollicking good time with some mates you haven’t seen in ages.
How frequently you hold in-person events, depends on the team. For example, if you’re a global team it isn’t realistic to ask everyone to get together once a month – or even once a quarter. If you’re more local, then quarterly is realistic and maybe even desirable to the team.
Before deciding on the frequency and activity it’s worthwhile getting feedback from everyone involved to see how often they would like to get together and what they would like to do with those days.
Summary
There’s a large percentage of remote workers who feel disconnected or lonely. It’s not an exaggeration to say that it’s probably one of the biggest issues that businesses face and one that left unchecked will lead to poor staff retention.
As a business, you need to always keep your remote teams connected at the front of your mind. That means looking at everything from how you onboard a new starter to how you foster social interaction between established team members.
If you want more tips on how to build a team and keep them engaged you can check out our post on the best employee engagement activities.
