Wellness at work: How to build connection on remote teams

Techniques to nurture well-being and establish connections with your team with minimal time investment.

Nurturing a sense of community outside our regular workplace gatherings to foster trust and psychological safety is a principle I’ve always valued. In my experience as a UX Designer, mentor and manager, I’ve witnessed the profound benefits of strengthening understanding in each other on a more personal level. This process of investing in genuine connection not only nurtures empathy and compassion but also becomes a platform for individuals to express themselves and be acknowledged within a secure environment. Frequently, in formal meetings, individuals may withhold their thoughts for various reasons, such as fear or a sense that their ideas lack significance. However, by fostering camaraderie, we can alleviate apprehension associated with holding back, creating a space where everyone feels valued and heard. Here are some ways I build community on our Design team:

Dedicate focused time for relationship-building

Prior to the pandemic, I would organize “Feelings Meetings” to provide a weekly platform for sharing where active listening was integral to participation. In this hour-long gathering, I would present a topic and participants had the opportunity to share stories and thoughts centered around the theme, uncovering insights that wouldn’t typically surface in regular meetings. There was one rule: There are no solutions. We have so many meetings where we are problem-solving. This was an opportunity to practice listening in a supportive space, free from the expectation of resolving each other’s issues. These sessions played a crucial role in fostering a sense of humanity among coworkers, allowing us to see each other beyond our professional roles. Some example topics include:

• What are you grateful for?
• Tell us about an “aha” moment
• What is one piece of advice you received that has helped you?

This meeting format can still work in remote-first environments, but we’ve also found success in establishing ways to build or grow connections without adding additional meetings.

Carve five minutes out from recurring meetings to connect

In the current era of remote work, we’re exploring ways to reduce the frequency of our meetings while preserving avenues for team connection. Since we have a weekly UX Design Crit, we reserve the last 5 minutes for a “Mindfulness Moment” where we rotate through each member of the team and take turns bringing an activity that allows us to connect within and with each other. Here are some examples:

• Listening to a guided meditation online
• Sharing an object in our office that brings us inspiration
• Guided chair yoga
• Sharing what we are grateful for
• Finding a recipe on Pinterest that we are going to try to make
• Picking a card from the Let’s Get Closer Team Edition deck by Intelligent Change

I aimed to broaden this connection across the entire design organization. However, the challenge was to achieve this without adding extra commitments to our already hectic schedules. It needed to be entirely optional, yet inclusive enough for anyone interested to participate. Seeking a lightweight solution, I opted for Slack, a platform everyone was already using.

Build low-lift ways to connect into existing channels

This year, I launched “Wellness Wednesday,” a new initiative where each week in Design’s Slack channel, I share a simple prompt, activity or thought-provoking piece of content. The goal is to foster our well-being, strengthen connections within our organization and empower us to enhance collaboration and business impact. Participation is entirely voluntary — all it takes is a pause in your day for a mindfulness moment, then responding with an emoji or a comment each week.

Here are some examples of Wellness Wednesday prompts:

• In one word, how are you feeling at this moment?
• Did you know pets can positively impact mental health and watching videos and images of cute animals can help reduce stress levels by up to 50%?¹ Share a photo of your pets or an animal video that made you smile. (This was a really popular one!)
• What is your favorite fall food? Better yet, share a link to a recipe!
• As we approach the end of summer, share a photo(s) from your summer experiences.
• Pause. Take your eyes off the screen. Take in a deep breath. Repeat as necessary. Click the emoji below if you did this. You should be proud of yourself!

The business impact of building connection

The American Psychological Association’s 2023 Work in America Survey found that 92% of workers said it is important to them to work for an organization that values their emotional and psychological well-being.² Discovering moments to pause throughout your day, fostering connections with your colleagues and incorporating mindfulness and wellness into your work routine are essential — and they can be simple and require minimal time and planning. I’ve implemented these practices in-person, in virtual meetings and even through messaging services. By gaining a sense of community and seeing each other as individuals, you foster mutual appreciation, leading to improved communication and collaboration.

While it’s common to wait for organizational leadership to drive such initiatives, the most successful efforts often originate from individual contributors. I encourage you to experiment with these approaches, remaining receptive to what resonates with your team. Much like the iterative nature of the design process, be open to refining and evolving until you find effective solutions. Give it a try, and may you experience positive outcomes.

I am not a medical doctor or in any other medical or health profession. The information in this blog is not medical advice but is for informational purposes only.

¹School of Biomedical Sciences News, Research study conducted by the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom in partnership with Western Australia Tourism, October 2020.
²American Psychological Association, 2023 Work in America Survey, United States, July 2023.