2021 has been the year of uncertainty, fueled by the ongoing lockdowns throughout Australia and the Delta and Omicron variants. One thing that remains constant, is the job seeker requirement for flexible working arrangements.  

As highlighted in my previous blog, 77% of respondents to people2people’s 2021 market report  said flexible working options was one of the most important things to job seekers looking for a new job opportunity. In early 2020, this was an almost unheard offering from employers, the need is now apparent with more and more offering the hybrid work from home model. 

Now with businesses slowly returning to in person work in offices in the final quarter of 2021, a new issue is starting to arise, as it becomes clear that cultural cohesion and team connections have been fractured during the ongoing lockdowns.  

As Harvard Business Review brought to light in their recent article “Rebuilding Relationships Across Teams in a Hybrid Workplace”  they referenced a study from Microsoft which suggests “cross-functional collaboration went down by 25% as interactions within groups decreased during the pandemic.” 

As recruiters, we have also noticed this downturn becoming apparent with new hires looking to make a move as early as two months in a role, as the culture isn’t what they expected. I’ve witnessed it personally, where a hiring manager identified that the incumbent wasn’t a cultural match, but with their first 2 months of training being at home in lockdown it couldn’t be identified until they returned to the office. 

So, what can be done to create a team based environment within a virtual landscape, to build relationships and solidarity required in the workplace?  

1)   I believe the need for ongoing traditions and events is critical. I know when I first started the importance of attending Friday night drinks to build relationships with other teams within the office. With time this became one of the things I looked forward to. The loss of that social interaction in the early months of my employment would have greatly hindered my feeling of belonging within the business.

2)   Virtual meetings are vital between team members. In the office team members would often be sitting with one another, exchanging ideas, concepts and initiatives. Without regularly scheduled meetings virtually, these ideas may never come to fruition and team members may start to feel a lack of purpose.

3)   Create new bonding experiences. Without the office creating forced interaction, employees’ connections will start to dwindle over time. While a new topic will naturally come up in the office, this is not the case when working from home. This is why new opportunities for interactions are so vitally important. people2people were a fine example during lockdown, doing new virtual events like trivia, wellbeing programs, games nights and cocktail making classes. Something that could bring staff together for something new and different. To give them something to discuss and bring up in the following weeks.

 What other ideas can you think of to create team bonding virtually? Please feel free to comment below.