5 Simple Ways To Preserve Team Cohesion Despite Homeworking

Homeworking, the new everyday life of companies

Homeworking constitutes the daily life of numerous workers. This can be explained by sanitary measures, but also by the growing popularity of this way of working. Being forced to homework for health reasons has influenced the perception that workers have of it. Indeed, according to the survey conducted by eBloom at the end of April 2020, 94% of workers who discovered homeworking during the confinement were then ready to integrate it into their working life. It’s been more than half a year since numerous companies have partially or totally adopted homeworking. What are the implications of this organizational change and how can companies best adapt themselves to meet them?

Team cohesion, a growing challenge

Although homeworking brings many positive aspects, an impact on team cohesion is unfortunately often perceived. According to the survey conducted by eBloom, 70% of workers attest that teamwork is better at the office. More than 65% of workers have better relationships and communication with their colleagues when they work at the office. Virtual interactions are obviously struggling to replace “corporate life”, and ensuring good team cohesion is a challenge that is now amplified by the homeworking situation. However, team cohesion plays a major role in building a strong corporate culture and a positive work experience. Companies are therefore looking for solutions to keep teams united despite the imposed distance.

How to maintain good team cohesion while homeworking?

To support you in this challenge, here are a few tips to help you!

1. Increasing call frequency. It is important to keep contact with your team. A good way to guarantee frequent interactions is to perform a daily “stand-up meeting”. The concept is really simple, every day you book 15 to 30 minutes with your team. The goal here is to go around the table and let everyone clarify his goals for the day. Beyond the value that these meetings bring in terms of work organization, it allows to have a daily check with the whole team and to ask them how they are feeling.
2. Turn the video on. With the same idea of keeping contact, being able to see each other, even through a screen, helps to bridge the gap of physical interactions. On the long term, you may feel the difference between people you have seen through video than the ones you haven’t.
3. Gathering people around a common project. To remind everyone that they belong to a company with a strong culture, it is a good idea to gather them around a common project. This requires finding an inspiring cause that will succeed in federating the team. For example, a sporting challenge to support a social/environmental cause. Choose a challenge that everyone can achieve individually but which contributes to a common goal.
4. Fun activities. Be creative, there are plenty of ways to have fun digitally. Organizing a weekly game or quiz is a good way to have fun together and to sustain relationships between people. It doesn’t need to be long, 15-30 minutes are enough. It may even be the employees who, in turn, take it upon themselves to organize the activity. This can help boost their commitment.
5. Last but not least, stay connected to your people’s feelings. To perform that, a solution is to continuously take the pulse of the employees. This can be done by regularly surveying employees on how they feel about the company. Knowing how your team feels gives you the keys to boost commitment, collective performance and team cohesion!