How to become friends with colleagues who work remotely?

One way I've found that I make friends with my remote colleagues is through some social Slack channels we set up — I'm thinking #music (for sharing music of course!), #yum (for sharing recipes and chatting about food), and #watercooler (where anything goes), just to name a few.

I also really like that we set up a #kudos channel for giving fellow team members a shoutout. It's nice to send someone appreciation publicly and always feels good whenever it happens to you. Also cool is how folks like to pile on the love with emojis whenever someone sends out a message like this — usually lots of ❤️ and 😀 left as reactions on the comment.

Lone remote colleague here. For me it's all about phone calls. When you're in the office together you have random non work related chats all day, don't feel bad doing it on the phone! Whether its a work geared call or youre just thinking about them and ask if they have some time to chat- can always fit in a little time to get to know them

Also, if they post things in slack, try to interact with them over it. Shares an article? "Thats cool, I like xyz."

I feel like this is such a struggle right now! I actually made a blog post recently about the struggles of connecting with people through networking events.

Let's Talk: Current Challenges of Networking

Sara Cunningham ・ Jul 16 ・ 1 min read

#discuss #career #beginners #productivity

During my internship, I contacted a lot of people on the team thru Slack and Teams. From there I set up some time to speak with them 1 on 1 via Zoom. I think that was the most important thing because we spoke directly to each other outside of work and meetings.

I once read a list of remote working tips that said to always try to include a non-work related anecdote when you have a call with a co-worker. Usually when you have a call with a co-worker, it's for a work reason, so you just only talk about work. But including a non-work related convo helps replicate the feeling of casual chatting at the office. It helps you learn about each other as people and not just as employees.