Foster the Human Connection in Remote Work — 5 Small Ideas

Are you working from home yet? If Covid-19 has taught us something it is that most jobs can be done remotely. I love the option of remote work and there’s a ton of videos and articles out there that can help you improve productivity, especially if you’re new to remote work and virtual meetings. One thing I haven’t seen a lot about is the human factor.

I like connecting with my co-workers on a more personal level, I like going to meetups and conferences to learn about the industry and I like meeting new people. How do we do that in times of corona and self-quarantine?

Here are 5 small things you can do to connect with humans around you. Even though this should go without saying, always (!) turn on your camera in a video chat, no matter if it is work or fun.

⛸ Ice Breakers In Meetings

We start every team meeting with a little ice breaker to get everyone’s mind off of other things, engage with the group, get comfortable with the tool(s) and learn something interesting about each other.

We use Mural as an online whiteboard and have a dedicated area for the ice breaker, we have used some of these prompts in the past and had a ton of fun:

1. Drop a pic/emoji here to describe a place you’d love to visit.
2. Drop a pic/emoji here to describe something unexpected about yourself.
3. Drop only emojis here to describe your favourite tv…