A remote work setup is present in business operations wherever you look. Nearly every business function besides production adapted digital technologies and systems. Over time, the benefits of remote work arrangements began looking attractive for everyone, from business owners to employees.
Organizations can save a lot of money allocated to commercial establishment rentals, office supplies, and workplace maintenance. Even office equipment procurement might not be necessary since the number of people searching for remote work setups in the job market is actively increasing. An Owl labs study shows that 56% of companies worldwide are either fully remote or pursuing remote work arrangements for specific business functions. The trend brought forth the rise of many business services with remote work setups as primary features, including offshoring and outsourcing.
Employees also realize how beneficial a remote work setup is for them. With digital technologies growing more advanced every day, people expect work-from-home setups as standards instead of exceptions. As a result, it isn’t surprising that the world reached an astounding 400% surge of employees working remotely in the past decade. The Covid-19 pandemic contributed to that number’s rise, with over 70% of workers working from home at one point. With the global crisis showing no signs of ending as of today, remote work setups turned into a significant factor in whether or not an employee will accept a job offer or not. After all, people will prioritize health and safety.
Near the end of 2021, a phenomenon where many people voluntarily resigned from their posts due to Covid-19-related factors had the business world concerned. “The Great Resignation” reached other countries outside the US. While each employee has unique reasons for quitting their jobs, the need for income remains true. As a result, those who voluntarily resigned will still actively search for job opportunities, albeit better ones from their previous companies. With the Covid-19 pandemic still ongoing, it wouldn’t be surprising if WFH setups are part of those improvements they seek.
Despite the many benefits of remote work arrangements, one significant element still makes on-site setups attractive. Most employees work with their colleagues and managers to accomplish tasks and projects. While digital and virtual tools can connect your employees, remote work setups can never replicate the collaborative environment of an office. Achieving chemistry, cohesion, and camaraderie within a team feels seamless with on-site work arrangements.
For the remote working environment, business owners and leaders might have to make an effort. With that said, camaraderie is still possible. Whether you manage remote employees or your offshore team, these steps can help build a strong relationship with them from miles away.
The Role of Social Conversations
The camaraderie between people is not quantifiable. There are no set guidelines to build the quality within your team. No workflow or SWOT analysis can ever achieve it within your team. However, the office environment can help create progress for camaraderie between people, especially when they come across each other daily.
Communication is an essential aspect of building healthy relationships. It applies to all known units of people, from families and communities to the business structure. No two people can achieve camaraderie without talking to each other.
They do not have to be necessarily about work-related matters. People can talk about personal stuff during lunch breaks, after work shifts, while crossing paths in the office hallways, and while drinking coffee in the pantry. Those environments make the physical workspace a more attractive feature.
Remote work setups take away those possibilities, slowing down the progress of building camaraderie for your team. However, slowing down the progress doesn’t mean it’s completely unachievable. Remote work environments benefited from plenty of advancements focusing on maintaining seamless communication between employees.
Camaraderie can transition from inquiring about work-related matters to asking about your team members’ days. Business leaders and employees can dedicate time to discuss personal stuff during every digital meeting. Every individual has a role to play when building team chemistry and cohesion. Those social conversations can improve the team’s overall relationship. However, it starts with ensuring that everyone feels comfortable with opening up.
The topics might have to start with business leaders or enthusiastic team members. Still, the conversations can take on lives of their own. Some might even exchange social media accounts to keep in touch after work hours.
Soon enough, your team will learn each other’s strengths and weaknesses, personalities, and work routine. Trust and understanding will improve, contributing to the team camaraderie you desire despite the limits of a remote work setup.
The Tried and Tested Method of Ice Breakers
If something breaks team camaraderie’s progress, it would be deafening silence. There is a high chance that thousands of companies hired new employees when pursuing a remote work setup.
The Covid-19 pandemic forced businesses to terminate contracts with workers to survive. At the same time, the Great Resignation left organizations relying on offshore teams to fill multiple job vacancies and business functions.
As a result, many businesses had to start from scratch, resuming operations with employees unfamiliar with each other.
Building camaraderie is challenging in a remote work environment, but having new employees work together seamlessly without seeing each other might add to the pile. Unfortunately, every meeting could end up as 100% work-related matters.
Business leaders in charge of those online discussions must take the initiative to break the silence, and ice-breakers are a great way to do that. Ice-breakers come in different forms but often lead to the same goal: establishing camaraderie. It’s no wonder why companies welcome a newly onboarded employee by asking the latter to introduce themselves to the team.
The conversations that stem from that will spread, leading to invitations to bonding activities beyond work. However, it might not take long for online meetings to become socially silent. Here are a few options business leaders and team managers can try:
It is rare to have dead air inside the office. Unfortunately, silence can happen during online meetings often. Ice-breakers don’t take up too much of employees’ time, making them welcome additions during those virtual team conferences.
Business owners can also develop long-term strategies to maintain camaraderie, not just for specific teams but for the entire workforce. Company-wide employee engagement activities allow people to share information about themselves, increasing chances of interaction between coworkers interested in whatever they have to share. Employee engagement can also boost retention rates.
For camaraderie to build up, businesses must find ways to keep workers happy with their standing in the company. Factors such as higher pay, promotions, and compensations might dictate an employee’s decision to stay, but feeling satisfied with the people they work with is an underrated element a worker usually considers.
The Transparency Factor
Building camaraderie relies heavily on a team collaborating and communicating freely. However, its foundation has always been about trust. Social conversations, informative ice-breakers, online meetings, and employee engagement activities are all routes to helping employees gain each other’s confidence, leading to better work performance and output.
Trust establishes camaraderie. Even if it takes longer for team members to open up because they don’t see each other in person, it remains achievable in remote work arrangements. However, all your efforts to establish trust can crumble with a straightforward mistake.
The world is getting scarier and less stable by the day. After going through career-threatening events brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic, employees know sudden changes happen frequently.
Business leaders and team managers must be transparent with employees. Suppose unwanted silence can hurt your team’s camaraderie. What do you think happens when you choose to stay silent about those changes?
Whether a new team member is arriving or changes in business operations will happen shortly, keeping employees informed can prevent surprises that catch them off guard. It would also benefit the team’s overall chemistry to give them a voice.
Their feedback and suggestions might even lead to improvements, all while ensuring they feel valued. Keeping people in the dark will not help anyone, even if what you are about to say is bad news.
Your team deserves to know, and knowing they can rely on you to keep them informed is trust in its essence.
Remote Work Setup: Conclusion
Camaraderie helps your team perform better and stay together. The difference in how you build a good relationship with your on-site personnel compared to your offshore team will be drastic. However, remote work setups are here to stay even when the Covid-19 pandemic ends. The Great Resignation proves that people want to be in an environment they can trust, even if it means leaving behind a stable on-site job.
Migrating operations to a remote work environment can be challenging to build from scratch, which is why iSupport Worldwide is here to help.
iSupport Worldwide is one of the leading offshoring partners in the Philippines, providing remote offshore teams for companies in the US and other parts of the globe. The company can attract employees with the most attractive qualities and have them ready and raring to work with you in as fast as 30 days! We are a company that cares for people, whether for our clients or their respective offshore teams. Our support services include strategies to help build camaraderie between you and the team, on top of the many benefits you’ll find in our customized offshoring solutions.
Building camaraderie with your remote team can be challenging but not impossible. When you partner with us, we will be with you every step of the way. Book a meeting here to find out more about our customized offshoring solutions.
You can also connect with us online to learn more tips about the ever-changing trends and shifts that can help you improve: