During this time of uncertainty, it’s easy to divert our attention to productivity, economic worries, and planning for future unknowns. Attempting to operate a business “as usual” without the human connection and teamwork we normally share can be demoralizing. To combat that, here are a few remote activities we are using to preserve camaraderie and culture while working remotely.
Host an online happy hour: With the wealth of video conference apps at our fingertips (we recommend Zoom, Slack, or Google Hangouts), it’s easy to set aside an hour at the end of the week for a team get together. Crack open a beer, wine, coffee or just keep hydrated with some H2O and chat about non-work related stuff. Give your co-workers a stage to show-off their remote workspaces, submit photos of your stashes and play guess who’s stockpile? or check in with any 4-legged furry colleagues.
- Host a remote game night: Being imposed with a quarantine means we can’t bust out a board game with friends or play a co-op couch video game (unless you’re lucky enough to be isolated with a partner or friend). Luckily, this crisis has come at a time where you can bring the party to the screen. Buy a party platform such as Jackbox games (Drawful 2 is free for a limited time) and screen share the game in a video chat allowing everyone to play along by phone. Why not go the extra mile and live-stream a board game and move the pieces for them as they play?
- Trivia time: Trivia is the simplest and easiest way to get everyone to participate in a group activity. All it takes is a plucky individual to come up with a set of questions and donate their time to moderate the quiz over a remote call. There are plenty of online resources available to get inspiration for rounds or sample questions. Inventive ways to spice up the game consist of sorting players into teams, with their own separate Google Doc to discuss answers silently so everyone can stay on the call together.
- Lunch date: One thing we missed the most was our Fieldtrip lunch conversations. Every day at 12:00 we would gather together to discuss all sorts of nonsense and take a break from work. This can be remedied by (you guessed it) conference call lunches. Similar to a happy hour, this is a good time to discuss the non-work related events going on and keep the human connection alive between you and your colleagues.
We post regularly about our activities at Fieldtrip on our social media. Feel free to follow along on Instagram.
