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Remote work is here to stay. While many of us are working from home out of necessity right now, 73 percent of Americans want to continue doing so once the pandemic ends, including 32 percent who want to work remotely full-time.
However, remote work can have downsides: 60 percent of employees from various industries have experienced worse social relations and 45 percent have felt lonelier during the pandemic. Disconnection not only jeopardizes their well-being, but also is bad for business. Lonely employees are less productive, less engaged, and more likely to quit. As a result, they may cost the U.S. economy $406 billion per year.
So how can leaders respond to this trend and create a culture of connection for remote teams? Drawing insights from having studied loneliness at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health and led corporate seminars on this topic, here are five suggestions.
1. Create a Virtual Water Cooler
One rewarding aspect of the physical workplace is that it facilitates spontaneous interactions. When you grab a snack in the communal kitchen or walk down the hallway on your way to a meeting, you run into colleagues and engage in casual conversations. These may seem trivial, but cumulatively they contribute to a sense of camaraderie and community.
To structure this from afar, set up a virtual water cooler where employees can pop in to a video call for a few minutes when they want to chat outside of formal meetings. Or schedule a remote cafeteria for an hour each day so coworkers have the option to eat lunch together. These could be as simple as a Zoom room, or you could try platforms like Donut and Icebreaker.
2. Check in by Being Human
Studies have shown that openly sharing creates a safe space for others to do the same and helps bring you closer together. As a manager speaking to your direct reports, or as a colleague checking in with a peer, you can connect more authentically by first sharing your own challenges with the pandemic and remote work. Then acknowledge that the circumstances may be difficult for them too, and let them know that you are there for support. If they want to reciprocate, listen with empathy. If not, that’s OK too. Ensure that everyone on your team knows what resources, such as mental health benefits, are available.
3. Reinforce Your Shared Purpose
Individual relationships are an important source of social well-being, but so is belonging to a larger community that shares your values and objectives. Our jobs provide meaning through the goals we are working toward at an individual level and the mission we aim to achieve at the collective level.
Regularly anchor your team’s work in that sense of purpose. One way to do this across the company is to organize a virtual fireside chat series featuring team members across levels who share their vision and personal motivation for doing the work. Another way to do this in your department or project team is to reminisce together by playing a game of “Name That Memory.” Invite team members to submit photos of past milestones and events, compile them into a slide deck, and host a virtual gathering to look through them and reflect on the progress you’ve made.
4. Revamp Volunteer Opportunities
Volunteering can be an effective way to stave off loneliness because it enables bonding with others through a shared experience, reinvigorating our sense of meaning, and keeping us socially engaged.
While remote, invite people to share information about a cause they are passionate about, or a nonprofit organization they are involved in, during monthly inspiration sessions. Launch or update an internal mentor-matching program to empower one-on-one relationships. Or incentivize employees to dedicate a certain number of work hours to support local community improvement efforts.
5. Disconnect to Reconnect
Our jobs cannot—and should not—be our only source of social well-being. Without the physical separation of our work and home lives, it’s crucial to create mental separation and enforce boundaries. Encourage employees to disconnect from work at the end of each day to reconnect with themselves and their loved ones. Doing so will better enable them to pick up where they left off the next morning with renewed focus, energy, and productivity.
It’s one thing for employees to hear you say this; it’s another for them to believe that it’s culturally acceptable. As a leader at your organization, you need to model the behavior for others to follow. If you must keep working outside business hours, schedule your emails to send the following work day so that others don’t feel pressure to do the same.
To adapt to remote work trends and boost employee satisfaction, engagement, and retention in 2021 and beyond, employers should invest in programs and virtual events that strengthen team bonds. Start with these ideas, see what suits your company culture, and let me know the results!
Summary of Suggestions:
- Set up a virtual water cooler or remote cafeteria for spontaneous interactions and casual conversations outside of meetings
- Be honest about your own struggles to bond with direct reports or colleagues
- Ensure that your team is informed about any mental health resources available to them
- Host virtual fireside chats where employees share their personal motivation and passion for their work
- Play “Name That Memory": everyone submits team photos, you compile them into slides, and your team looks through them together, reminiscing and celebrating progress
- Organize monthly inspiration sessions where employees share a cause or nonprofit they are passionate about
- Launch or revive an internal mentor-matching program
- Invite employees to dedicate a certain number of work hours each year to volunteering
- Encourage employees to draw boundaries between work and personal life by unplugging at the end of each day
- Model this behavior and respect boundaries by scheduling your emails to send during business hours
