With many people now working from home, many of the benefits of working in a typical office environment have been forgotten as we settle into a new normal. It’s natural that many of your team may be feeling unmotivated and disengaged during this scary time but, as a responsible employer, there are many ways you can maintain good working relationships during the global pandemic.
We’re experts in getting people together, and whilst you might not be able to host that epic summer party or team building day that you had planned, we still think it’s important to connect with your team outside of work commitments, giving them a sense of normality and camaraderie with their co-workers. It's important to make sure your events are inclusive, so consider a few different ideas so that there's something everyone can enjoy.
If you're looking for tips for hosting your events online, check out our blog post here.
We’ve brainstormed a few ideas to get you started:
Team Pub Quiz
Who hasn’t been inundated with requests to join in with virtual pub quizzes during this lockdown period? We know we have! BUT, it’s a great way to get everyone together virtually and have some fun online. With everyone having more time on their hands, finish your working week with a team pub quiz, making sure you have a variety of questions and topics so that everyone can participate. If you want to take it up a notch, you could even share your screen so you can host picture, film and music rounds as well.
Virtual Pizza Party
This one’s great if you work in a small team. Order your employees a pizza delivery and enjoy it on a video call together. Everyone will appreciate the small gesture and it is a great excuse to catch up virtually - no work talk allowed!
Whiteboard Pictionary
This one’s guaranteed to have you laughing! Like the classic game, players must guess what their team mates are drawing. This could be in real life on a large piece of paper or whiteboard held in front of the camera, or you could make use of Zoom’s whiteboard feature. We recommend choosing a theme for each game to make it even more tricky!
Create a fun weekly newsletter
Ask people from your company to submit content and share it in a weekly newsletter to brighten everyone’s day - no negativity allowed! You could include pictures of what your colleagues have been up to during lockdown, any good news from the company (perhaps you’ve won a new client, or reached a great target) or just share silly or funny videos that people have enjoyed throughout the week. It’s a great way to keep people connected and something they’ll look forward to receiving in their inbox.
Happy Hour
Whether your colleagues want to join in for a beer or a coffee, why not end the week with a virtual happy hour? Get as many people as possible onto your video call and make sure everyone has something to drink - it’s a great way to get to know each other outside of work hours and may cheer up colleagues who are feeling lonely. Remember to make it optional - whilst some people love being sociable, others may want to wind down for the week in other ways.
Online Book Club
Reading and discussing the same topics can really help colleagues bond and find common ground, especially when working remotely. Choose a book for everyone to read (they could even download it if they have a tablet or kindle) and set aside one lunchtime every couple of weeks to discuss what everyone did and didn’t like. Take suggestions so that everyone gets to read something they enjoy - and perhaps other colleagues will discover something new as well. This activity is particularly great for non-fiction books as everyone can share how they would apply the concepts to their own lives and careers.
Virtual Cooking Class
We bet at least one person in your team is a keen chef or baker! Why not ask them to host a virtual cooking class? Share the ingredients a week beforehand so everyone has a chance to buy everything they need, and bake along together. You’ll end up with some successes and some disasters - but it’s all part of the fun!
Team Health Challenges
Maintaining employee wellbeing when working from home is a huge challenge. Why not set an employee health activity that people can join in with if they want to? Perhaps you could all download the couch to 5K app and give each other the motivation you need to keep going. Alternatively, you could set your colleagues daily workouts that they can join in with, but make sure you accommodate all fitness levels so no-one feels left out. But it’s not all about physical health - mental health is just an important, and working from home could be taking it’s toll on many of your team. Why not hold a meditation or yoga session to boost morale.
Have you got any good ideas for getting people together? Check out our Virtual Events page for more information about how we can help!
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