Staying Connected During Disconnected Times

For so many, working remotely is uncharted territory. How will we stay on track? How can we decrease anxiety during times of uncertainty? How do we stay connected as a team from different parts of the city or country? There’s no definitive answer, but communication is key!

Face-to-face communication is ideal – even if it happens virtually. There are many virtual communication platforms available. Here are just a few of them:

At Affinity, we have used GoToMeeting primarily, but we also use Microsoft Teams/Skype and Zoom occasionally.

Most of the Affinity team works remotely and has for many years. COVID-19 has forced the rest of our team into making us an entirely remote workforce. To meet the challenge of connecting even while working apart, we have come up with some creative, yet effective, ways to stay connected here at Affinity.

 

Virtual Lunches:

Many employees connect on a personal and professional level over lunch. Once a week (or more) meet virtually as a team or company during lunchtime. This could be a casual time just to catch-up face-to-face to bring back the normalcy of being in the workplace. These could also be used as “working lunches” and a time to collaborate as a team or group. Every Tuesday, Affinity has a virtual lunch. We swap stories and share information – and eat!

Virtual Happy Hours:

Fridays at 4:00 pm the Affinity team meets virtually as a company to raise a glass to the end of the workweek and in anticipation of the weekend. Adult beverages are optional. Virtual happy hours are a time for lighthearted conversation and can be a fun and unique boost to morale.

Virtual Town Hall Meeting:

Virtual town hall meetings help to build a sense of community, trust and transparency with your employees across many locations by giving them a chance to hear the latest company updates, keeping everyone on the same page. In light of the COVID-19 crisis, the Affinity Leadership Team led a Virtual town hall meeting to share internal updates and resources, as well as to discuss how we, as a company, will stay connected during this time.

Wellness Initiative: 

A wellness initiative is a great way to encourage wellness among employees, and you don’t have to be in the same office to make it work. Use interactive challenges that your team can do from home, and you can even reward those who complete the challenges! We began monthly virtual wellness initiatives at the beginning of 2020 with great success - over half of our employees complete at least 1 out of 3 wellness challenges every month! So far we’ve used a different health theme each month, kicked off by an internal newsletter with plenty of information, resources and challenges to complete. We keep track via monthly surveys and reward participants with Bonus.ly points! Fun hashtags like #anappleaday and #stepitup complete the theme.

"The More You Know" Training Sessions:

Affinity operates with a “culture of learning” approach. To that end, we offer monthly internal training sessions about all sorts of topics that are valuable to our team such as travel tips, mental health and product-specific sessions. Most recently, Affinity Partner Paul Unger shared his important tips for staying productive through daily planning techniques.

 

These are just a few examples of how Affinity is continuing to connect with every team member to encourage togetherness even in times of separation. There are many other ways such as team huddles every morning, scheduled and regular one-on-one calls and using a company-wide IM system to frequently chat with co-workers.

We’d love to hear about how your team is connecting these days – or to help you with more suggestions. Just contact one of the work-from-anywhere experts at Affinity and we’ll be happy to help. Contact us at 877-676-5492, or request a consultation.  

 


Sara Shew

Written by Sara Shew

Sara Shew brings her enthusiasm and talent for individual attention to the Client Engagement Team. Sara’s main focus is Affinity University and training solutions – not only meeting the needs of Affinity Insight subscribers, but also providing training solutions to help our clients exceed their continuing education goals. Coming from the events industry, Sara loves delighting our clients and building long-term relationships so as to better provide more value to their firm through training, consulting, and performing at the highest levels of service delivery.

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