How To Replace Small Talk When Working Remotely

People working from home tend to feel lonely since they don’t get to meet people around the coffee machine, the washrooms, or bump into colleagues you would never talk to in the hallways.

We have the resources, we have the support of our teams, we have work from home guidelines, we have full control over our projects, we can track progress, and we have remote team building activities. It seems like we are back to business with our new, more flexible workspace. But there is one thing missing, and you reminisce about it the most. 

What can your team do to bring back the element of small talk into work from home when even reaching out to their coworkers alone can seem like a difficult feat? 

Though things seem to be going great, you want your teammates to have the same level of comfort that comes with small talk. Here are a few things you can do to facilitate this:

• Set communication channels for business conversation, business casual, and just casual, so that people have a medium to communicate.
• Team building activities give them a chance to reconnect with people which enables some delightful small talk.
• Bring about interests in casual group chats so that your team knows how they can approach whoever they want to talk to. 

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Give This Memo To Your Team

To make small talk delightful for both parties, here are some pointers your team needs to follow:

• Talking to people during remote work will require a person to take the initiative.
• When you do begin to talk, always keep the conversation positive and constructive. 
• Discuss common interests such as TV shows, music, and movies. 
• Don’t start with “hello” or “good morning” these imply that you just have work to discuss.
• Other great topics of the small talk include politics, family, health, and of course the coronavirus numbers. 

Leaders, remember! All work and no play will steer your team to the unproductive lane!

Lending a hand to remote work, here at ProofHub, we are providing free access to schools all around the world until the end of the year 2020. Learn more about how you can claim this offer.

About Author:

Vartika Kashyap is the Chief Marketing Officer at ProofHub — leading project management software. From contributing to websites such as The Huffington Post, Bussiness.com, Elearning, Dzone, and The Next Web to becoming LinkedIn Top Voices in 2017 and 2018, she has recognised amazing new ways to reach the audience. She weaves stories about productivity, team building, work culture, leadership, and common workplace events. She also loves to read and travel to new places.