It’s 2022 and remote (or hybrid) work is here to stay. Remote working is great for many reasons, but can lead to a sense of isolation from team members. To remedy the metaphorical distance, you should consider high-quality remote team events to keep up your team morale. Virtual team building is different from in-person team building, but it can still be done effectively while having fun!
Benefits of Remote Team Events
Strengthen your team and support getting to know each other through different team-building activities. Create a strong company culture by giving your employees a chance to get to one another.
- The best teams are the ones that work well together, and in order to work well you need to get to know each other. Encouraging your team to get to know one another will help promote a positive workplace and culture.
- Working well with each other in team events will carry over into work projects because they will know and understand how to collaborate on projects.
- Doing activities will also lift your company and team morale since they will have an enjoyable time instead of just having to work each day.
Find some creative ideas below and start enhancing your company culture!
Virtual Classes
There are a variety of virtual classes available. Different companies hold classes online, or you can see if your team members have a hobby or skill that they would love to teach their coworkers! Here are some great ideas that your team can do together:
Cooking Classes
A great virtual team building event is a cooking class. A virtual cooking class will bring your team together, teach them a new skill, and leave them with a yummy meal. These classes are taught by chefs and include fun interactive recipes that will be easy to follow. You can supply your employees with a list of ingredients or even schedule a grocery delivery with everything they need straight to their homes! If you have a team member who loves to cook, you can even ask them if they would be interested in teaching the group. What a fun and unique way for you to work on team building.
Art Classes
Another great virtual class that your team will love is an art class. There are so many different art mediums that you are bound to find one that each of your team members will love to participate in. Learning from an expert and creating your own art piece will be fun for your employees. They will love to see and compare finished products with their coworkers. As their employer, you can send them a kit of the materials they will need to participate in the class. A fun package in the mail and a class, how fantastic is that?!
Dance Classes
A great and unique way to do team building is by taking a virtual dance class. You and your team can learn different styles of dance from an expert. Some of those dances include salsa, hip hop, tango, ballet, and country line dancing. Getting together remotely and dancing away stress can be so much fun and a good release from the daily grind of work. If there is a dancer in your group of employees, this could be such a fun opportunity for them to teach everyone on your team.
Remote Home Tours
You may never meet some of your remote team members face-to-face, so you may certainly never be in their homes. You can either do live tours of each other’s homes or make a video to share with your coworkers.
It is a great way to learn more about each other and see their personalities come through in decorating their home. You can get a glimpse into each other’s personal lives while doing team building.
Virtual Speakers
There are live speakers or pre-recorded speakers that you can hire to speak to your remote team. The speakers can inspire and help with creativity in the workplace. If you feel your team needs an uptick in employee morale, a speaker may be exactly what they need.
Live Speakers
If you are scheduling a virtual conference or just need to do a team-building activity, consider hiring a public speaker. With the move to remote employment over the last couple of years, there are a lot of keynote and motivational speakers that have moved to a virtual format. You can find speakers that will address whatever topic you need. If you are looking for a certain speaker, look them up on LinkedIn or on other social media platforms and connect with them that way. A good speaker can motivate your team and put energy back into your team.
Ted Talks
If you are looking for a pre-recorded talk on a specific topic, you should check out Ted Talks. There are thousands of lectures on all different subjects from different types of people. The great things about Ted Talks are that they are cheaper to use, and you don’t have to schedule a specific time to air the talk. If you feel that your team needs some motivation, then this is a great place to start.
Remote Games
A fun way to get to know your team better is to play games remotely with each other. No matter the group size, there will be a game for you.
Virtual Escape Room
A virtual escape room is a great way to have fun while also having a virtual event. Working together before the clock runs out will be fun and a thrilling experience. You can have as many coworkers join as you like and have an amazing time working together. Not only is this fun, but it is also a great team-building activity for your remote employees. It will be a unique activity for your entire team to do.
Murder Mystery
If you are looking for a fun team-building activity, a murder mystery is it! Any size group can participate in this awesome game. The players in your group can be detectives, suspects, or even just watch as their coworkers work to solve the mystery. Work together as a team to solve a murder mystery!
Typing Games
A quick but fun game is a typing game. A great way to take a small break from your work is to jump on and see if you can beat your score or your coworker’s scores in a fun typing game. Each team member can work on their own to build up their typing speed to win the game. These types of games encourage a little friendly competition but are also entertaining at the same time. Plus, they are quick, so they are a great way to give your team members some respite from the workday.
War of Wizards
This company runs an online game for teams of people called War of Wizards. With the help of a game master, you can solve puzzles and complete challenges to earn magic items together with the help of your coworkers. It is such a fun, and unique way to team build. This will be a great virtual team-building activity with collaboration and friendly competition.
Virtual Bingo
Everyone knows how to play bingo, so it is an easy and fun way to play a game together as a team. If you are holding a virtual conference, you can give each employee a bingo card before the meeting and have them look for phrases or items to get a bingo! There are a bunch of different bingo templates out there on the internet. Or you can hold an actual virtual bingo event for your remote team. Everyone loves bingo!
Fantasy Sports and March Madness
You can create a fantasy football league for those sports fanatics in your office. Each one of your remote team members can build their roster, and you can decide what the winner will receive. It is a great way to promote friendly competition and allow your team members to have fun during football season.
You can have each team member fill out a bracket for March Madness during basketball season. You can even have the team members who don’t know much about basketball participate in this one. Give everyone the names of the teams participating in March Madness and have them fill out the bracket. It will be so fun to see who can win this office competition.
Exercise Sessions
If you are looking for a great way to do some team building, then consider setting up an online exercise class with your employees. This could even become a regular occurrence at your workplace. You can plan to offer a monthly or weekly session. It is a great way to get your team out of their seats and break up the workday.
Some of the virtual exercise classes include:
- Yoga
- HIIT (high-intensity interval training)
- Kickboxing
- Strength training
There are many companies out there that offer subscription services as well. You can check out Peloton or Apple Fitness to sign up for subscription services that your employees will benefit from.
Book Club
A remote team is spending so much time in their home working that they will love the option of doing a book club. Starting a book club in your company will help your team members connect outside of the workplace. You can schedule a monthly or bi-monthly time to go over the book and discuss your likes or dislikes about it. You could even have each team member suggest a new book each month; this will help you get to know each person’s interests.
Meditation Sessions
Work can often feel stressful. Your virtual team may have deadlines that need to be met or work on a demanding project. A great way to give your team a little bit of respite from the word day is to do a meditation session. When you sign up for a virtual meditation session, you will learn how to meditate, but you will also retain its benefits for your mental and physical health.
There are subscription plans available that you can take advantage of. Signing up for a subscription will allow your team members access to meditation when they feel they need it and can also support this activity as a more regular one. You can get subscriptions through Calm and Headspace for a long or short period of time. Meditation is such a great way to encourage physical and mental health in the workplace.
Playlist
Music is a great motivator to have while working. Your remote team may have different music interests that each other is unaware of. Consider creating a playlist together on Jukebox. Each team member can add some of their favorite songs, and they can be accessed by everyone on the team. It is a great way to get to know your coworkers’ interests, and it isn’t taking any extra time out of the workday.
Tiny Campfire
A fun and unique virtual team-building activity that you can arrange is a tiny campfire. You will be sent a small candle and the supplies to make smores. Then a camp director will lead your remote workers through an activity that will include ghost stories, icebreaker games, challenges, and of course, smores! It will be a fun, different virtual team-building activity that you can do with any group size.
Tasting Sessions
A great activity you could arrange for virtual team building is taste testing! This could be a fun activity and can be done during conversation or while playing one of the games mentioned above.
Coffee
If you know there are coffee drinkers on your team, this activity is for them! You can set up a virtual coffee-tasting session and learn the difference between different brews. Prior to your scheduled tasting, you will be sent a few different types of coffee to taste. You may find a new favorite flavor!
Tea
A great virtual activity is doing a tea time where you can taste test different varieties of tea. Not only will you taste tea, but a host will lead you in a discussion about tea and its benefits. It will be a fun and relaxing activity for your distributed team. Some kits even include small cakes or cookies that your virtual team can try out as well.
Cheese and Wine
A great way to break up the workday would be with a midday snack! You can order cheese and wine-tasting kits to be sent out to your team and taste them together in a virtual meeting. Some kits have chocolates and cheese as well, the best combo!! You can have an employee walk through the items with you or set up your own discussion topics.
Virtual Happy Hour
If you want to gather your employees for a virtual meeting or a team-building activity, consider doing a virtual happy hour. Tell each of your coworkers what time to log on to your video call and have them bring their favorite beverage as well. You can have a conversation or plan questions for the group to answer.
You can even order different beverages and snacks for your team to enjoy during the happy hour. Your team will love being able to experience a new beer or wine together and hear each other’s opinions on it. Unboxing new products will be a fun way to encourage team bonding. You can offer a toast virtually that everyone can participate in; what a great way to build office morale!
Virtual Dance Party
What better way to break up a workday than to get up and dance? You can use the music playlist app, Jukebox, listed above and have each remote worker add their favorite song they like to dance to and start busting out those moves! You can add this to your next virtual meeting or make it its own activity. Better yet, you can set precedence and make it the first minute of every weekly virtual meeting. It will be something your coworkers will never forget about this job.
Start Planning Today
Remote work can be challenging because of the lack of human interaction. It can feel isolating at times. Even though you cannot see your coworkers in person, you can still plan significant remote team events.
Keys to planning successful remote team events include:
- Remember when planning events to include introverts. Some people may be nervous about doing things on camera and may need some encouragement to join.
- Make it a regular thing. Suppose team-building activities are normal (i.e., do a ‘Fun Friday’ or even make it a monthly thing). In that case, your team will look forward to it and expect an activity.
- Let your team pick and plan the activities. Your coworkers will want to engage more if they are part of the planning process.
Virtual team-building activities are a must if your employees are working remotely. Since there are so many different virtual team build activities to choose from, you will be able to find one that will suit your team members. Keeping your virtual team members connected is so important. When you plan your next virtual meeting be sure to add one of these activities. You will not regret the boost in team morale that you create from taking the time to plan an activity.
