4 ways to stay connected with your co-workers as you self-quarantine

You make some breakfast, drink your coffee, get dressed and head to work. You get there, meet your friends, login, have another cup of coffee and begin work. Then you catch up with some of your colleagues, have lunch, update them on what’s going on professionally (or personally), get on some virtual but mostly in-person meetings, finish the work left to do and finally head home. 

Missing your daily routine? Me too. As the virus continues to spread, most companies have declared work from home and everything that I said previously is just a fond memory. Most of us are working from home for the first time (for this long) and it is hard to keep up. It maybe really difficult to actually stay connected with people you’re not working with, but want to.

So here are 4 ways you can stay connected with your co-workers.

Social media

By social media, I mostly mean Linked-in. People have a lot of time at hand and are surfing the internet like there is no tomorrow. Re-posting, re-tweeting, starting an Instagram page, a new blog (ahem!) has become chronic- like the corona virus. People are finding fun things to do to be productive. My point is, maybe your co-workers are indulging in these activities too! If you find that their posts are interesting or something that you like to spend time reading, don’t be lazy. Show some support. DM them on Linked-in and let them know what you liked about it! This can be a great conversation starter.

Virtual Fun Friday

Fun Friday Events used to be a thing in a lot of companies. These events would mostly comprise of fun activities to do with your co-workers. So why not bring that back virtually? Start Fun Friday virtual session with no ‘agenda’. Just meet up virtually and decide what to do! You could talk about what has been going on in each person’s life, talk about the books you’re reading or the movies you’re watching, play some games or even have impromptu dance/music performances!

Celebrate birthdays on Zoom call

Self isolating at home can get lonely, especially for those whose birthday is coming up. Make a list of birthdays of co-workers who are close to you (or not) and schedule a Zoom video call. Cut a cake virtually and just catch up. Give the birthday colleague some attention too!

Hit them up on Skype/Teams

I really cannot stress how simple this is. Yet professionals sometimes hesitate to do this. There may be people at work who you do not share an affable equation with, but may still want to maintain a professional bond. You cannot spam their Linked-in or invite them for your Zoom parties. So it would be best to really just reach out to them via your work Skype or Teams account. Have a look at their calendar and if they’re available, just.say.hi. But also have something relevant to talk about. You could ask them if there is anything you can help them with, or chat about the latest news. Honestly, anything other than small talk will do.

Networking is as important as it used to be. Even more so. Staying connected with your co-workers virtually may become the ‘new normal’ because I honestly don’t see most of us heading back to work anytime soon. So it would be best to make do with the resources that we have. Let us know how you try and stay connected at work!

-N