Rivers Fun Remote Working tips

With many teams now adjusting to remote work, we think it is important for a business to be actively engaging with their staff as well as making an effort to keep the internal culture alive. And why not have some fun with it at the same time. So, we developed 13 Rivers Remote Working Tips just for you.

We’ve been sharing these on our Facebook page so follow us to get these as well as the other support articles we have created for our small business clients. So here goes…..

1. Pancake and PJ breakfast meetings – it’s easy to do a virtual meeting but take it up a level and invite the team to a Pancake and PJ meeting (obviously they need to DIY the pancakes and PJ’s but a fun way to start a day)
2. Have fun with remote coffee breaks – there is no reason for you to miss out on the gossip and catch ups. Just because you can’t stand around the water cooler, doesn’t mean you cant do a remote coffee break.
3. Virtual Happy Hour – Don’t let a pandemic stop you from your Friday knock off drinks. All you are doing is changing your location. You can still catch up over a beer or wine and whinge about your boss (lol). Maybe even use the time to do a check in of the highs of everyone’s week. Try and end on a positive note.
4. Share your Pet Selfies – Many of us have pets at home who are loving seeing us more often. How are they coping and adapting to your home office? Ask your team to share their home office pet selfies and grow your team to include your latest four-legged recruits. You could ever give them titles. How does a new Chief of Barketing sound?
5. Video tour of your home office – You know what everyone’s workspace looks like in your office but what about in their home office. It is fun to create a new working environment so ask your staff to share a short video of what their home office looks like. No two home offices will be the same. That we can guarantee!
6. Have fun days – FUN and having a sense of humour is key to getting through all the craziness and change that is around us now. There are a bunch of fun days you can hold with your team. Silly Hat Day, Daggy Tracksuit Day, Dress like a Nerd Day ….. get silly and creative with it. Now over to you….
7. Create fun Zoom backgrounds for virtual meetings – Zoom shares have skyrocketed and no doubt they have some happy shareholders right now. Your Zoom calls don’t have to be in front of the same backgrounds or your home office set up. Did you know you can create your own fun Zoom background using a tool like Canva or just your own photos. Pretend you are in the New York, the beach, a super funky office space….. the sky (or the world) is your limit.
8. Run team exercise or meditation sessions virtually – Exercise and mindset are vital, especially if you are not used to working from home. Schedule a regular meditation hour for staff that want to join in, have group fitness classes or take a virtual walk. Endorphins help to keep your mind focused and will make you a happier person and more productive team
9. As a team, create a spotify playlist – We love Spotify to get access to whatever music we feel like listening to in the office however have you thought about creating a team Spotify playlist? You can ask everyone to contribute 1-2 songs and your team can not only listen themselves, but you can share it with your clients
10. Online team building Bingo (or game of your choice) – Do you remember going and playing Bingo with your mum or grandma when you were a kid? Why not play virtual bingo with your co-workers. Have prizes and make it a fun team building event
11. Hold a Virtual dance party – Dancing is exercise and it is fun. Go crazy, have a theme like an 80’s dance party, get your team dressed up and just let loose. You can even have a dance off. I dare you to share the photos with us.
12. Set up Donut calls – A Donut session is not what you think. Donut is a Slack extension that, once a week, automatically pairs everyone in your company up for a non-work-related 1-on-1 call. These are fun calls that give an opportunity for remote employees to get to know people they normally wouldn’t be working with on a daily basis. (we’ll let you consume some donuts at the same time if you feel so inclined)
13. Virtual trivia contests – Who doesn’t love a good game of trivia? This is a great way to get staff from other offices or new departments working together. In zoom you can do breakout rooms for your teams and why not throw in some questions about your products and services and team members at the same time? See how much your staff really know.

We’d love to hear if you did any of them and how they went.