Working from Home? 8 Tips to Prevent Loneliness

Working from home has a lot of benefits. However, it has its fair share of challenges.

Namely, loneliness. 19% of remote workers surveyed in Buffer’s State of Remote Work 2019 report stated that loneliness is their biggest struggle when working remotely.

In this article, we’re going to show you 8 tips for preventing loneliness while working from home in the age of corona.

Let’s take a look!

1. Lunch Break with Friends or Colleagues

While you shouldn’t meet up with your friends during this period of social distancing, that doesn’t mean you can’t video chat with them during your lunch break.

If you’re a team manager, make sure your team members have lunch breaks.

Overworking is pretty common in remote settings, and your employees might want to wrap things up before they take a break.

However, that break never comes.

If you’re a remote worker, use your lunch break to call a friend or a coworker. If possible, FaceTime or video conference with them.

2. Schedule Video Conferences with Your Entire Team

Make video conferencing for the entire team a priority during this time.

It helps you build trust across your team. Additionally, it’s much easier to communicate when you can see your colleagues’ body language as you discuss important topics.

You should use these video conferences to:

• Catch up on work
• Brainstorm ideas
• Discuss out-of-work events

Human connection is the most important thing right now. And by scheduling video conferences for your entire team, you’ll combat loneliness, as well as establish the right foundations for the future.

3. The Importance of Casual Chats for Combating Remote Work Loneliness

Gallup’s research shows that managers can do plenty to help their remote teams deal with isolation and loneliness.

There are five conversations managers can lead to help their employees stay happy and productive:

As you can see, it’s not just progress review that matters. Casual chats and check-ins have their place on the front lines of combating loneliness:

• Ask employees how they feel
• Inquire about everyone’s circumstances
• Connect with your remote teams based on shared interests and hobbies

An easy way to implement this tactic is by starting an informal Slack channel.

Talk about the TV, hobbies, and topics unrelated to work.

4. Help Your Team Members Connect with Spinify

When your remote team members feel lonely, motivation is the first thing that suffers.

Remote working tools can help.

And when you want to combat remote work loneliness, there’s nothing like Spinify.

Spinify keeps your team connected even when everyone’s working from home.

Team members can track their own progress, as well as playfully compete with their colleagues.

With Spinify, your team members can still celebrate achievements together, learn from each other, and stay as connected as they were at the office.

5. Bond over Hobbies and Interests

Since half of the world is currently stuck at home, people are returning to their hobbies.

For example, your basketball fans can have a separate channel for discussing sports.

You should encourage employees to share what they’re doing in their free time. Do they have any new recipes? Are they taking up hobbies like painting or knitting?

All of this will help your remote workers feel less lonely.

6. Create Virtual Activities

During this time, team building can help you strengthen the relationship between your team members.

In addition to running performance-related contests with Spinify, you can also run contests for other activities.

For example, you can set up hobby contests:

• Who spends more time working on their passion projects?
• Who cooked something new?
• Who shared interesting tutorials?

You can give your team members points for these activities, as well!

7. Share Motivational Messages

If your team members are struggling to stay productive, don’t worry. Just provide them with the support they need to get through this.

Motivational messages can help.

Just as you can set up goal-oriented messages in Spinify, you can also share self-care or connection reminders.

For example, remind your team members to take a break, or share something in the casual Slack channel.

8. Emphasize Teamwork

If your team members are lone wolves, that may be making them more lonely.

Find opportunities for teamwork.

For example, you could pair up two team members with complementing strengths and weaknesses.

By working together on a task, they’ll be sharing knowledge, strengthening their relationship, and increasing their productivity.

How Spinify Can Help You Combat Remote Working Loneliness

Spinify has numerous features that will help your remote team members stay connected and feel less lonely.

From engaging contests and motivational messages, to coaching insights and performance tracking, your team will be more connected than ever before!

Start your free trial today