Epoch | Communicate Effectively with Remote Employees

Communicate Effectively with Remote Employees

4 Ways to Strengthen Communication Among Remote Employees 🌐

A major challenge for remote teams is maintaining a level of communication among employees that resembles working together in an office. While it may seem impossible to match the in-person experience, some fun and effective creative solutions come close. Here are four ways to facilitate better communication for your remote team, to virtually emulate the in-person experience.

Virtual Watercooler Chats 🚰

• Create a space for casual drop-in chats. Set up a virtual room, discussion board, or video chat channel to allow your employees to check in with their teammates on a whim.

• Use a platform like Slack to engage employees and name it something fun like ‘watercooler chats channel.’

Team Events and Activities 🧩

• Host events and activities for employees to encourage team bonding through socialization and games.

• You can center your event around a game, like JeopardyLabs for custom online trivia or skribbl a multiplayer drawing and guessing game.

• Crowdsource event ideas to get the team involved and excited about the event. You can start a poll in a Slack or Microsoft Teams channel to start a public discussion. Or gather information with a survey tool like Slido or SurveyMonkey.

Office Simulation 🏢

Set up a virtual office using platforms like Team Flow, Gather, or Remo to create a shared space that simulates working in an office.

• Have fun personalizing rooms for individuals and departments.

• Designate different areas for particular purposes, like office hours, lunch, games, and meetings.

• Make sure the program supports video chat for live calls.

Regular Check-ins 🗓️

• The best tool for building rapport and problem-solving with individuals on your team is one-on-one meetings. Block off recurring time in your calendar to facilitate moments of communication and connection.

• Scheduling departmental check-ins can strengthen communication and bonding amongst your team. Schedule a regular time, every week or two, for each department to come together to express challenges, ask for support and guidance from colleagues, or share a social moment.

• Go into one-on-ones and department-wide check-ins prepared with questions, observations, and feedback (always start with the positives and wins). Give your employees time to bring up whatever they want to talk about during these sessions.

Put these suggestions to the test and see what resonates with your team. Your team’s overall level of communication might be better off for it!