Being confronted as a team with a shared challenge is a perfect recipe for increasing connectedness between team members. In recent years, (physical) escape rooms have enjoyed great success, also as a fun variation on team building.

But what do you do when you can no longer see each other in person because of mandatory remote working during COVID times? You translate the escape room concept into the virtual world. In recent weeks, several teams have discovered that virtual escape rooms can also increase connectedness. The main drawback? The maximum number of participants is often limited to 8 players per game.

Examples: murder mystery ‘The Hoogeboom Mystery’, online escape room ‘Lost treasure’, Noxbox, …

One of the major advantages of a video call is that you do not have to travel. This makes online speed dating a very accessible way to get to know colleagues who would otherwise remain largely unfamiliar.

At HR service provider SD Worx, they approached it in exactly this way. “Each speed date took place in a group of three, where you would normally (if the matching allowed it) meet two colleagues who do not work in your office. For example, there were speed dates with colleagues from Mauritius, the UK and the Netherlands, but also with colleagues from Belgium whom you would not normally meet during your day-to-day activities.”

It was an enjoyable experience that, beyond the classic “what do you do within our company?”, often moved after just a few minutes to topics such as holidays, pets, places of residence and favourite hobbies. Each session lasted 10 minutes and they organised 5 sessions consecutively. The speed dates were an initiative as part of SD Worx’s 75th anniversary, but these speed dating sessions will probably remain, because they really do contribute to connectedness across countries and departments. Accessible and connecting, therefore.

An online drinks session to end the week or a daily online coffee chat are reliable options that require virtually no budget or staff resources. So if time and budget are limited, we can certainly recommend them.

If you want something a little more engaging, an online quiz with colleagues is definitely an option. The game element ensures that involvement naturally increases and that colleagues are drawn into a positive atmosphere. It can be a traditional knowledge quiz, but questions about colleagues or the organisation itself can also be great fun. And that way, you also learn something along the way: a double win.

Examples of tools: Kahoot is well known and widely used by organisations. But Socrative, Quizizz and Skribbl.io (a kind of online Pictionary) are also fun tools to use for this purpose. A great activity, although it is best to keep the groups relatively small. Between 5 and 10 participants is ideal.

We already mentioned it above: an online drinks session to end the week or a daily online coffee chat are reliable options that require virtually no budget or staff resources.

If you have a large number of colleagues, a quiz is not always feasible. In that case, you might consider putting more effort into the online drinks session and adding a pleasant offline dimension with food and drinks delivered to people’s homes. It requires some organisation, but it can add a very festive touch to the weekly online drinks session.

IT supplier ‘Laco’ organised a festive ‘Laco-péro’ to personally thank and celebrate all employees.

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