The pandemic has been a game changer in how employees work and interact with one another. The sudden shift to remote work has minimized opportunities for building personal relationships and interacting with each other. During and after the pandemic, organizations have started investing on improving employee engagement to boost productivity and to improve Team Spirit.
Virtual team bonding has been one of the most sought-after ways of improving employee engagement. Using activities like escape room virtual team building organizations have been successful in order to improve team spirit and motivating employees to wear multiple hats. As the pandemic has brought a lot of uncertainty, workforce versatility has been a priority for survival. While employees are leaving stressful jobs and switching to more flexible ones, employers are looking for employees with multiple skills.
This gap has also led to a labour shortage as evidenced by the 10.4 million job vacancies in USA according to the US labour department. Post pandemic, millennials are also walking about from mundane jobs. This high turnover has also been attributed to stressful work environments and burnout. Therefore, making work more fun and engaging is more important than ever.
Here are a few ways in which virtual team bonding can improve team spirit and workforce versatility:
Ways in which virtual team bonding can improve team spirit and workforce versatility
Motivates and inspires employees
Employee morale and motivation is the foundation of building productive teams. When morale is low employees are more interested in themselves and personal objectives rather than team objectives. On the contrary when employees are motivated, they are willing to go beyond the call of duty and contribute to the organization.
Employee motivation is built on trust, integrity, and their relationship with the management. Team building activities help in nurturing these aspects. It is also the most fun way to boost morale and makes employees happier. Some examples of activities that motivate employees are virtual treasure hunts, volunteering activities, building something together, survival hunts etc.
Improves collaboration
Collaboration is not limited to shared resources and objectives. True spirit of collaboration and teamwork is when employees share a camaraderie and bond with each other. When team members share a personal rapport with each other they trust and motivate each other. Team bonding activities help in building this rapport and camaraderie with each other.
In a remote work environment where employees have minimal opportunities to interact with one another, team building activities help in breaking the ice and building relationships. Activities like escape rooms, scavenger hunts, puzzle games help in improving collaboration and leadership skills.
Improves mental health of employees
The pandemic has impacted employee mental health drastically. Although remote work was expected to improve mental health, employees soon reported feeling disconnected and isolated. Therefore, organizations started emphasizing remote team building activities to connect better with remote and diverse teams.
When employees relate to the organization, the leadership, and their team members they are more likely to feel a sense of belonging and trust. This improves employee mental health and boosts productivity. Virtual team building activities also help in making work more fun and enjoyable rather than stressful. Some examples of activities that improve mental health are virtual ice-breakers, virtual puzzle games, virtual board games, virtual mindfulness sessions etc.
Fosters innovation and creativity
Workforce versatility thrives on innovation and creativity. When employees think and act innovatively, they are more likely to come up with out of the box solutions that are beyond their comfort zones.
Moreover, with business models changing fast than ever today and operating in uncertain economies require employees to constantly upskill themselves creatively while wearing multiple hats. Organizing virtual team bonding activities like virtual escape rooms, puzzles, virtual board games foster problem solving, decision making, and brainstorming skills.
Embraces a positive work culture
The impact of a positive work culture on productivity and team spirit is often underestimated. Teams that work in a positive environment are more likely to be engaged and productive than those in silos or conflict-ridden environments.
Virtual team building activities help in building a positive work culture and emphasize team spirit. These activities act as a bridge for the management to interact with team members and empathise with them. Building relationships is key to building a positive organizational culture. Some examples of activities that help in building a positive organization culture are virtual team lunches, virtual movie nights, virtual adventures etc.
Team bonding activities are pivotal to motivating employees and building and improve team spirit in a remote work setting. However, they must be organized regularly to emphasize the organization’s commitment to employee well-being.
Virtual activities also need a higher level of commitment from organization’s to be effective. Organizing intriguing and engaging activities helps in ensuring that participation in these activities is more fun and voluntary rather than forceful. When employees are personally interested in participating in these activities, they are more likely to be successful in building bonds and boosting morale.
