The sudden changes brought about in our work habits due to the epidemic, has resulted in work from home to become an accepted practice of work. The familiarity with remote working during the last six months has led to implementing some basic practices for managing the remote workforces.
However, most companies are continuing this practice taking ample precautions to ensure the safety of their workforce and some companies have already declared their intent in implementing this remote work concept permanently. This requires new policies, procedures and habits to support the remote workers and develop ways to connect employees similar to an in-person office environment.
Jobs requiring a high level of collaboration are more challenging as it becomes difficult or team members to informally ask questions and share notes. Such team members often report feeling isolated professionally compared to a regular office setting.
One of the main ways to ease this feeling of separation is to give opportunities for unstructured time together. This can reduce feelings of loneliness and increase spontaneous collaboration and creativity. A few techniques to promote connecting and collaborating with team members virtually are discussed below:
Virtual coworking
Use video calls to work in another's presence. This just requires a video link and an agreed-upon time. To begin with, it can be 30 minutes especially for those new to it gradually extending it depending on availability.
Certain ground rules to be agreed upon for this to succeed. Switch off the video when stepping away or while eating. Do not mute the audio so they can quickly ask questions to their colleagues while working like in an office. If the conversation is in-depth then they can use a breakout room or start a separate video link so as to not disturb others. It is up to everyone to make sure it becomes a useful experience.
The main benefit of this practice would be that it allows co-workers to focus on their work while also benefitting from the increased opportunity to discuss, collaborate with colleagues and reduce social isolation.
"Hotwalls" to connect to the office
Install a big monitor in the office at a central place with high footfalls. Remote employees can drop by to visit their colleagues who are in the office or in another remote location. This encourages casual conversations and enables remote members to connect with others especially during breaks. It gives people a chance to peek into the office and see what is going on, feel being part of something and not isolated.
Teams should agree on some basic rules like the sound levels, side conversations on the screens depending on where the wall is located.
Open office hours
Hold a weekly office hour when everyone is invited and can submit queries and anything of general interest. If offices are located in different time zones vary the timing to suit other teams also but have a fixed date and duration so that it becomes a regular feature that anyone can go to during the week. There is no specific agenda and its open for discussion with anyone.
These suggestions can be implemented without any great investment and the facilities already exist everywhere. As technology evolves we can expect more refinements and these types of unstructured virtual interactions become an important part of many workdays.
Give Your Remote Team Unstructured Time for Collaboration
by Barbara Z. Larson HBR 2020/10
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