Community at a Distance

Our CEO reminded the team that working from home does not mean being alone or suffering in silence during our monthly company meeting earlier this week.

Before working from home became the norm, it was much simpler to see the frustration a co-worker was dealing with and suggest immediate solutions. Now, team members might choose to struggle with issues in the relative silence of their home office, never daring to reach out. At the same time, team leads and managers might not identify that a part of their group struggles because they no longer have direct in-office visibility. And with things unseen, problems go unnoticed. It can be much easier to look over at a coworker who just sighed loudly when the latest bugfix didn’t stick than trying to pick up on the deeper issue behind sudden slow progress at a task.

Since 2020, many companies have tried to crack how best to keep team spirit, community, and open communication alive when we can no longer share the same physical space. We at Hardsuit Labs are no different in that endeavor.

While a whole new entertainment industry sector has established itself in the last two years to create and sell services for team building and community exercises, the fun a team has does not have to rely on an open wallet.

We have already taken steps, and many of these are from teams within the larger studio.

Some groups opted to have Teams open throughout the day so that team members could hang out and see one another. It helps with picking up moods and stressors. Asking for help if a problem is encountered is much easier. Further, issues can be communicated quickly without waiting on email or chat and everyone catching up to it.

Another group gets together once a week for half an hour to watch something together-apart online. While it is Bring Your Own Snacks, it still helps to relax and have fun together, even if it is only briefly. These gatherings also help the team connect, learn about the group they work with, and boost morale.

We also have a frequent status meeting that always concludes with topical fun facts or trivia questions for the team. Of course, Hardsuit Labs being who we are, these will frequently be quite nerdy. Know your audience when creating online team interactions!

A much larger group from different teams meets on Fridays for online party games, chit-chat, and discussing the week’s work. It serves as a place to gather, share some frustrations, exchange possible ideas and solutions, and relax together before the weekend starts.

There is more that can still be done, however! Here are some of the ideas that team members have shared that we hope to see in the coming weeks; or activities we had to pause and are currently not doing.

Online Escape Rooms are a thing! The fun team-building event that many teams at HSL have done in the past can be brought to each of our homes in online settings. Services go from simple free online games that are shared, to curated virtual rooms with a guide to assist the participants and moderate the experience.

How can we entertain ourselves in meetings that are geared towards fun? The answer is: Games, games, and more games. From classics like You Don’t Know Jack and Fall Guys, all the way to guilds in complex online worlds or running through shooter-style games – our Pilots make games, so enjoying time off together in games is what we’re all about. Depending on the game, these either come with teamwork and high-fives or malicious laughter as we backstab one another - you have been warned!

Then there are pen and paper role-playing games, naturally. It is almost impossible to bring a large group of nerds together without at least four campaigns across different games and genres! While not for everyone, the commitment to our characters – from changing our voices to only eating jerky and hard cheese on game night – brought the team members closer together.

Not everything has to be fast-paced action or even fun and games. Classes and courses are also an excellent means of building a sense of community.

At the pandemic's start, we invited a speaker to host a class on setting up your home office ergonomically. We were given reminders on how to sit or stand accurately at one’s desk, but also information on how to stretch out the body, hands, and fingers correctly – even exercises for the eyes to help with fatigue. We are currently investigating which new speaker we can invite to the team this year and will hopefully be able to talk about that soon.

Whatever your team building looks like, make sure to stay in touch with your team. Even simply pinging a very silent coworker in a quick message or email with a short "Hope your day goes okay!" can make a difference. And setting time aside for aven a virtual cup of coffee on webcams can help shed some stress. Try it out sometime!