AS we head towards the end of the year with no real sign of the pandemic being over, many employees are still working from home.
And while we have managed to transfer that familiar groove from our work chair to the one in our new ‘office’, this still represents a significant amount of time where the normal human contact we get every day at work is absent.
Fear not, however, as it’s possible to hold all sorts of online activities to keep employees connected. This can make them feel less isolated and potentially help, even in a small way, toward creating more positive mental health among your workforce and a sense of togetherness.
The following is not an exhaustive list (and I have to thank my very creative HR team in Belfast for some of the suggestions) but hopefully it will inspire you to get more active with your remote workers and remember that engagement is not just an office based concept.
FUN ACTIVITIES:
• Treasure Hunt: where one person can act as the games master and send the contestants off round their own houses to collect various disparate items and try to be first to bring them back to show on camera.
• Book clubs (you can even make these work-related books)
• Karaoke (if you’re brave enough)
• Games: there are lots of online games available, including most of the classics. Failing that you can make your own quizzes.
• Cookery demonstrations: introducing food from different cultures, or basic 15-minute meals for those not blessed with culinary skills for example.
HEALTH AND WELL-BEING:
• Yoga / pilates / exercise classes
• Fitness competitions. There are plenty of apps that let you compete as a team or on your own, against others
• Healthy eating initiatives (which could also form part of your cookery demonstrations)
WORK-RELATED:
• Fix it days/improvement sessions: where you can set time aside for people to look at processes and problems with a fresh eye and a clear diary, trying to fix some of the more niggling things that you never seem to have time for.
• Let folks create and deliver these own in-house TED talks
• There are also plenty of online L&D programs to help develop new skills (or refine existing ones)
SOCIAL:
• Virtual coffee mornings/after work drinks: just time to chill out with others and shoot the breeze, nothing important, just catching up on those water cooler moments you might have missed or last night’s TV.
• Specialist groups: if you have a niche hobby or pastime; there may be a few others in your work that share the same passion. Perhaps you a love dogs, or 70s disco music. Whatever it is, you’ll probably find at least a handful of people with similar interests.
• Random match calls: connecting two people who work in different teams/areas, so they can meet someone new and gain an insight into what other areas get up to.
I’m not saying that all of these need to be done as soon as possible (or at all), or that they need to be done in the way described. Some may not fit your requirements, appeal to your workforce or be found in your budget.
But at least you can use them as a starting point, to challenge yourself to come up with better and at the very least you’ll have got the creative juices flowing. Whatever it is, just do something.
Barry Shannon (bshannon@cayan.com) is human resources director at TSYS Cayan in Belfast.
