How to Get Your Remote Team to Meet In-Person
As you probably know well by now, we are huge advocates of remote working. The benefits that go along with working from home are a huge asset not only to employees, but to employers as well. From bumping up productivity to lowering overhead costs, we could go on and on about why remote working is the way of the future (and we often do!) — but in this article we want to focus in on something else: getting your remote team to meet in-person.
While we stand strong behind the offerings of freedom and flexibility that remote work offers, we do believe that setting up opportunities for your remote team members to meet in-person can be greatly beneficial to overall camaraderie and workflow. After all, if you know the faces, stories, and personalities of those you’re working with, you’re more likely to work more as an interdependent team than as individual parts.
So how does an employer go about bringing their team together in-person? We’ve got a few ideas.
Plan Yearly Retreats
Yearly retreats to foreign destinations are becoming more and more popular amongst remote companies, and we can completely understand why. It’s like a mini-bonding-vacation for everyone on the team.
Traveling is a tool that instantly bonds those involved, and when you add in the added practices of team-bonding exercises and in-person company meetings, you’ve got a recipe for success.
If you want to know more about yearly remote retreats, take a look at our article, What Are the Benefits of a Yearly Retreat for a Remote Team?
Provide Funding for Local Coworking Spaces
While everybody on your remote team may not be in the same city, chances are that there are some employees who are local to each other. Providing funding for enrollment at a local coworking space in these cities will help encourage these employees to make use of the shared space and put them in the same physical vicinity as their local team members.
Not sure where to start when it comes to researching coworking spaces? Check out our top picks for coworking spaces around the world or keep an eye as Croissant rolls out guest posts for us like this and this.
Encourage Coffee Shop Meetups
If two or more of your remote workers live in the same area, encourage them to meetup in-person at a communal coffee shop to talk, grab some joe, and work on a collaboration project. Assigning projects that encourage local meetups can help get this ball rolling.
Attend Conferences as a Team
Conferences are held for every field, and they are held all over the world — so why not attend a few with your remote team? The conference talks and business networking can both serve as solid devices for group bonding, as well as potentially open up some doors for future opportunities.
Schedule In-Person Meetups Between Traveling Employees
Is someone from your sales team traveling to Berlin for a big pitch? Do you have an engineer living there permanently? Link up these two employees by offering to cover a dinner in the city for them both. Ask the local engineer to pickup the sales member from the airport and show him or her around town. Have the engineer sit in on the sales meeting.
There are any number of ways to get your remote team meeting and working together when the opportunity arises, so don’t miss them.
Do you manage a remote team? What are your tips for building camaraderie and scheduling in-person meetups between employees? Tell us on Twitter!
This article was originally published on Remote.com
