Pizzica how to make friends when you work from home has had plenty of conversations with fellow team members that started because of something she or they noticed about their background. That’s hard to recreate in a video chat, but making those connections isn’t impossible. Set your view to gallery mode, and watch your fellow team members. Let’s say you heard a coworker Megan mention in the all-staff meeting that she was late because she was putting her kindergarten son on the school bus for the first time. After the meeting, send her a message telling her you know exactly how that feels – you just dropped your three-year-old off at her first day of daycare.
Plugged in, but not connected
- Pizzica has had plenty of conversations with fellow team members that started because of something she or they noticed about their background.
- You may not have a budget for small gifts, and that’s okay.
- “If a meeting ended five minutes early and you would have debriefed with a colleague, reach out and see if you can hop on a quick call,” she says.
- Often, you’ll notice that your work Slack is used for non-problematic small talk featuring memes, inside jokes, or gossip vaguely related to the office.
What that means is that, just like on Tinder, nothing happens and therefore nothing keeps happening. Even if making the first move feels kind of awkward, try to remember that it will probably feel really nice for the other party if you do. “Most people are flattered when a colleague wants to get to know them better, Cook says. This gives those in your group who crave social interaction something to look forward to and it also helps establish some of time markers that we need as humans to stay happy and healthy. I don’t know about you, but I have had to be really strategic about creating a personal rhythm since the beginning of the pandemic. If you organize an outing that occurs at regular intervals, you’ll be doing everyone a favor.
Use existing communication channels
Just try one with open signups, and you don’t have to worry about a team. The league will put you on one, giving you the unique opportunity to meet people with different backgrounds and interests. Talk in a pleasant environment over a glass of protein shake making new friends when you work from home. Regular exercise will help you feel much better, stronger, and stronger.
Share more of yourself.
You may not have to go to an office every day, but you can still go to lunch, grab a coffee, or head to a happy hour with local colleagues—or schedule time to do the same if you happen to be visiting. “Meeting up with people in-person helps a lot, especially for extroverts,” Duffy says. This could be a channel to share tips for keeping those houseplants alive, swap recipes and dinner ideas, or talk about the books people are reading.
Schedule an informal meeting just to chat.
Connecting with people in smaller groups can create more opportunities for one-on-one discussions. Think there may be other folks in your organization looking for outdoor volunteer opportunities? Start a Slack channel and invite anyone who’s interested to join. Companies across the United States are delaying their back-to-the-office dates. And a recent McKinsey report says that percent of the workforces in advanced economies could work from home between three and five days a week without a loss of productivity. Lots of companies have social channels, alumni channels, and community channels on Slack or Microsoft Teams.
Microsoft’s 2020 Work Trend Index showed that as the pandemic progressed, people discarded their broader networks and relied more on the people in their immediate social circles. To branch back out and meet some friendly faces, you can easily venture outside the office using the office friends you’ve already made. Many different circumstances lead us to want to find and build new friendships.
On a scheduled in-person day, make a plan with your new office friend to check out a new French fry shop in your area, or a brunch place down the block. Check the schedule and see who else is working that day, and if your coworker thinks you’d all click, ask if they’d like to come along. The same thing applies if the roles are reversed, and you’re the one who’s introducing the newbie to potential office friends. Don’t set your sights higher than a three- or four-person hangout, as that could make others in the office feel excluded, especially if you’re working on a team that rarely goes in-person. This has taken a toll on workers, whose profound loneliness is evident not only in the data but the numerous self-reports emerging from media sources of all kinds.
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