Three Teambuilding Ideas for Remote Work

My office via Author

Many work teams are experiencing additional strain with the switch to remote work. Some have found ways to still connect during social distancing. Observing my spouse working from home, I have noted some of their strategies and others my spouse would like to implement at his job. Here are some of those ideas:

1. Start the day with a brief “How are you?” meeting

In the normal office environment, team members connect more naturally through greetings and asking how others are while in passing. The social niceties that bond the team together are harder to achieve in the remote workplace. For this reason, a brief “How are you?” meeting online will encourage the bonding ritual of greetings. Consequently, this time will improve team members’ mental health so they perform tasks better. 

To add variety to these meetings, team members can play different icebreaker activities such as Never Have I Ever. Teammates will discover new things about each other that they wouldn’t normally share at work. 

Other game ideas can be found here (some may need to be adjusted for remote work). Let’s Roam also has icebreaker games designed for remote workplaces.

2. Socially-distanced lunch

Set up a socially-distanced lunch at a park, someone’s yard, or another outdoor venue. The company can pay for the lunch or team members can bring their own lunch. Each person can sit or stand six feet apart to observe social distancing recommendations.

I highly recommend it because I have observed my husband’s team morale improve for the rest of the workday.

3. Play online games together

Prior to the pandemic, team members sometimes played games together during breaks. For now, teams can take those games temporarily online. Some good game websites include Jackbox and Roblox. Roblox is free and has many game options. For Jackbox, only one person needs to buy it for the whole group to use it. There are many other games where teams can play online that will fit any team personality.

So, try some of these ideas and see what works for your team. These can be adjusted as needed. Also, share what ideas work for your team in the comment section. Or gather ideas from the comment section.

Happy team building!

What ideas has your team used? What ideas do you think would work?