The number of employees working remotely has increased by over 2.73 million since 1998, according to statistics from Statista. Although working remotely can be hugely advantageous for employees, it also comes with its challenges. When you are working remotely, it can be difficult to build relationships with your colleagues, especially if your manager doesn’t organise meetings together. You might feel lonely or excluded at times. These are some ways to build a relationship with your colleagues in a remote setting.
Offer Help
If your workload is quiet, you could reach out to your colleagues and ask if they need help with anything. Not only does this give you a chance to break the ice, but it also shows that you are a team player, which will reflect positively on you. If you are the one who is swamped, you could always reach out to colleagues to ask for some help. It will give you the chance to connect with others.
Switch to Calls
It can be difficult to build relationships with remote colleagues when you only ever speak through messages; which is why it can be useful to switch to video calls. If there are people in the team you don’t know well, why not just send them a message saying ‘I feel like I’ve hardly spoken to you, and would love to find out a bit more about you, do you fancy a coffee break over video.’
Join Team Meetings
If you are invited to virtual meetings, make sure you attend these. It will give you the chance to meet people and also find out a bit about your colleagues. Sometimes these can feel a bit daunting, but try to contribute, even just a little.
Organise an Event
Instead of waiting for someone else to organise an event, why not do it yourself? If your colleagues live locally, it can be a great chance to meet them face to face and help to build connections.
Find Common Ground
Try to find some common ground with your colleagues wherever possible. For instance, did they say they have a dog during a meeting? Do they have kids the same age as yours? Do they never miss an episode of Love Island? These are things to look out for during interactions and can give you something to talk to them about.
Speak to Manager
If you are finding it difficult to engage with your colleagues, speak to your manager and ask them to help out. They may be able to create a project for you to work together on or they might be able to introduce you properly.
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