How to Avoid Loneliness When Working from Home
Remote work offers the flexibility we’re all craving, but it certainly has its downsides. As your team members start working remotely because of the coronavirus crisis, they’re bound to feel lonely. Your team has gotten used to working in the same room. And now that they have to work from home, they’re going to miss that human connection. In this article, we’re going to show you how to avoid loneliness when working from home.
Let’s take a look!
- An Alternative to Water Cooler Chitchat
The main benefit of offices is certainly the breaks we take during the day.
Your team members complete one portion of work, and then they go stretch their legs and chat with their colleagues for a while. This is incredibly important for regaining focus.
However, a water cooler chitchat is not an option when you’re working from home.
This is why employees who work from home often overwork themselves.
And when they want to take a break, there’s no one to talk to. All the communication channels are for work only.
How to Replace Water Cooler Chitchat in the Age of Corona
It’s important to encourage team members to talk to one another, even when they’re not talking about work.
For example, if you’re using Slack for communication, you can set up informal channels. Team members can also talk privately.
From memes to random observations, every topic should be welcome in the designated.
2. Gamifying Workplace Connections and Recognition
There’s nothing quite like getting praise for a job well done.
When you’re working at the office, this is a given. Your boss drops by to tell you that you’re doing great work.
But when you’re working from home, it often feels as though achievements slip by unnoticed.
The solution?
Gamification Improves Relationships When Working from Home
It’s easy to understand and recognize the effort of your team members when you use Spinify.
Spinify started out as a gamified sales dashboard.
However, it works wonders for keeping track of your team members’ performance and celebrating their achievements.
You can give your team members points for every task they complete.
This ultimately allows you to understand everyone’s performance at a glance.
At the same time, team members can see what everyone else is working on, increasing both transparency and knowledge-sharing.
When your team member accomplishes a notable goal, Spinify will automatically trigger a celebration, complete with music:
So even if you can’t physically be there for your team, you can celebrate their achievements.
3. Videoconferencing Facilitates Remote Work Connection
Apps like Zoom make it really easy to talk to your team face-to-face (without being in the same room).
However, it’s important to establish a work-from-home video conferencing etiquette.
Announce video meetings at least one day in advance, if you’re not holding them every day.
If you use apps like Slack for asynchronous communication, you don’t have to hold daily video meetings. But when it comes to preventing loneliness, it’s good to hold them at least once a week.
This will help your team members feel like they’re still working together.
Otherwise, they could feel alienated, especially if they’re staying at home alone.
The business may be business, but we’re all human, so be mindful, and provide your team members with the necessary social contact. It’ll keep them productive while working from home.
4. Healthy Competition Avoid Loneliness
If you want to show your team that you’re all in this together, why not set up a team competition?
You can pair up team members, and then establish goals and metrics. If you’re using Spinify, this is a piece of cake.
- Create leaderboards
- Create tiers and badges
- Pair up team members into teams
You’ll also get access to every team member’s profile with coaching tips. This way, you’ll know exactly what they need help with.
Our recommendation is to pair up team members with different strengths.
For example, Mary may be great at cold calling, while Joe excels at prospect research. Together, they can close any deal.
They won’t even feel like they’re working from home!
How Spinify Can Help You Defeat Remote Work Loneliness
Working alone can get pretty lonely. But with Spinify, your team members will feel as connected to their colleagues and avoid loneliness as ever!
Gamification makes even the most mundane tasks interesting. And in a time where we all have to work remotely, Spinify is the perfect solution to remind us that we’re all in this together.
Put those insights into practice.
Set your team up for success by improving their performance through gamification.
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