4 virtual employee engagement activities during work from home

Office camaraderie is often the first thing to go when your team starts working remotely. Suddenly, water cooler chats and impromptu lunch outings are a thing of the past, replaced with awkward Zoom calls and virtual happy hours that feel more like a chore than a reward for hard work.

But keeping that community vibe strong is crucial if you want your employees to stay connected while working from home. After all, studies show that engaged employees are:

• Less likely to have safety incidents;
• Less likely to miss work;
• More productive;
• Landing more sales and increasing profitability;
• And more likely to stay with their company long-term.

Virtual team engagement ideas for building relationships and community

Creating a water cooler Slack channel sounds great in theory, but in practice, it’s often full of crickets. If you want to get your team talking, you have to give them something to talk about.

Here are a few virtual employee engagement activities that will actually get your team interacting:

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1. Have theme days

Theme days are a fun way to break up the monotony of virtual workdays. The options are endless, and you can tailor them to your team’s interests and personalities.

Here are a few examples:

• Crazy Hat Day: Encourage your team to break out their craziest, most outrageous hats
• Lunch Decider Day: Someone on the team is randomly selected to choose everyone’s lunch for the day
• Coolest Workspace Day: Challenge your team to find the most unique locations to set up their workstation and have everyone vote on the winner

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2. Put your mission statement into action 

One of the best ways to engage your virtual employees is to make sure they understand and believe in your company’s mission. What better way to do that than by experiencing it together?

For example, if you’re a travel company, you could plan a virtual wine tasting where everyone has to order the same wine and chat about it while on a video call. Or, if you’re a wellness company, you could do a virtual yoga class or cooking lesson.

By experiencing your company’s product or service together, you’ll not only deepen your team’s understanding of what you do, but you’ll also create shared memories and experiences that will help them feel more connected to each other.

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3. Shout out individual strengths and skills

Recognition and appreciation go far in making employees feel valued. So take some time to celebrate your team’s individual strengths and skills. Prioritizing team-building activities also creates a sense of community and working towards something bigger, together. 

Whatever you do, make sure it’s specific, sincere, and relevant to the person you’re recognizing. A generic “good job” means a lot less than “I really appreciated how you handled that difficult customer call.”

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4. Prioritize community play

When you work from home, work life and home life tend to blur together. Help your team find some much-needed balance (and avoid burnout) by making time for virtual community play.

Set aside some time each week for your team to come together and just have fun. No work talk allowed! This is a time for them to bond, relax, and recharge.

Some ideas include:

• Starting a book club
• Playing an online game (try Random Fairytales on Gomada)
• Hosting a movie night

Virtual employee engagement platforms

In addition to prioritizing some virtual employee engagement solutions, investing in a platform that supports and encourages it can make a world of difference.

Here are five of the best virtual employee engagement apps to consider:

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1. Gomada: Gomada is a team building tool that helps managers see where their remote team needs improvement and provides a step-by-step activity plan to help them get better. Gomada activities will also help keep your team engaged.
2. TinyPulse: TinyPulse helps you keep your finger on the pulse of employee engagement with regular check-ins and transparent surveys. You can then use that data to strategize ways to improve.
3. 15five: 15five offers evidence-based assessments, manager training, and regular check-ins to help you boost virtual employee engagement. When you take your team's development seriously, they feel appreciated—and are more likely to stick around.
4. Donut: Donut is a Slack integration that helps you connect virtual employees by randomly pairing them up for coffee chats, lunch dates, and more. It's a great way to encourage organic bonding and prevent virtual employees from feeling isolated.
5. Yammer: Yammer is the internal Facebook for your company. You can use it to post company news, shout out employees, host virtual groups, and more. It's a great way to keep everyone in the loop and build community (even if it's online).

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What or how you choose to engage virtually with your employees is up to you. The most important thing is that you make a concerted effort to keep your team connected, engaged, and invested in your company—no matter where they are.

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How do you stay connected while working from home?

Connecting in the virtual workspace has three key components: Positive communication, alignment with a larger picture, and cultivating fun traditions. In summary, you should prioritize prioritize opportunities to build relationships with your team.

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What are the best virtual engagement ideas for the holidays?

If you want to get your virtual team into the holiday spirit, try:

• Hosting an ugly sweater contest
• Having a holiday-themed trivia night
• Giving out virtual gifts