Whether imposed or flexible, teleworking can be a difficult experience for employees. Teleworkers may feel isolated from their colleagues and superiors. This major risk has consequences for employees’ well-being and commitment to the company.

Facilitating communication

Isolated teleworking inevitably means poor communication. When teleworking, the communication tools deployed must be simple and easy to use, so that employees pick them up quickly. However, this is sometimes not enough.

A simple instant messenger is easy to use, but doesn’t allow you to recreate qualitative interactions. Generally, exchanges are short and limited to questions and answers. Communication is therefore insufficient. Over the long term, the links between employees become weaker.

Full remote: why are team buildind essential?

Making the most of videoconferencing

The deployment of videoconferencing tools in companies is now essential for teleworking teams. However, these solutions are still under-utilised. Many employees deactivate their webcams during online meetings and lose the opportunity to interact more effectively with the person they are speaking to. This type of practice leads to a feeling of isolation when teleworking.

The importance of non-verbal communication

Non-verbal communication can provide information about a colleague’s emotional or physical state and enable the conversation to be adapted. Body language (facial expressions, movements, posture, etc.) can indicate agitation, apathy or dissatisfaction. The gaze may be shifty or fixed, indicating interest and attention. All these elements contribute to enriching communication and getting the most out of it.

6 questions to ask yourself before starting a videoconference

Setting up rituals

On the other hand, holding a series of videoconference meetings throughout the day can quickly become exhausting for employees and, above all, counter-productive. What’s more, these meetings generally leave little room for informal communication. This does nothing to reduce the feeling of isolation among employees.

To maintain a good team dynamic, certain rituals need to be put in place, such as weekly meetings or short “daily meetings”. These encourage exchanges without taking up too much of the working day. Other, more informal and fun activities can be devised to strengthen team cohesion (online games, challenges, video afterwork, etc.).

The aim is to strengthen links between teams while maintaining autonomy and productivity.

The virtual open-space to avoid feelings of isolation and strengthen team spirit

Each discussion group is represented by a different colour.

The teleworker is just like being in the office:

• they can easily share their screen,
• hold a meeting
• have an informal chat with a colleague
• or concentrate on their work while seeing their colleagues.

All this without feeling isolated.

Finally, TixeoFusion also facilitates the exchange of information between all participants, via the integrated instant chat module.

Thanks to the virtual open-space, teleworking employees can easily chat with different teams, which also strengthens cross-functional collaboration.

Integrating new teleworkers

In teleworking, the arrival of a new employee must be well prepared in order to facilitate their integration into the company.

On the first day, everything must be done to ensure that the newcomer feels welcome and can get to know the teams in place. Support during the first few weeks is crucial to help them take charge of their new role and their place in the organisation. Regular exchanges should be arranged to identify any difficulties at an early stage. A rapid and successful integration of a teleworking employee will limit the risks of isolation.

Raising team awareness

Organisations need to react before a teleworker becomes truly isolated. There are various warning signs: loss of motivation, lack of involvement in meetings, fewer exchanges, etc.

Awareness-raising measures can be put in place within the organisation to prevent isolation while teleworking. In addition, managers need to be trained in these issues so that they can react quickly and support their staff. Regular feedback with their teams is also recommended to detect this type of malaise.

Monitoring workload and respecting the right to disconnect

Finally, the feeling of isolation when teleworking can also be felt when an employee is overloaded with work. When teleworking, it’s easier to stay at your desk for a few extra hours to finish a task. However, this hyper-connection can have harmful effects on the employee’s health and personal life, and can lead to a feeling of isolation.

Here again, the manager must ensure that the employee’s workload is consistent and that they can disconnect completely after their working day to devote themselves to their family life and leisure activities.

Corporate seminars or team building allow teams to meet face-to-face in a new environment for one or more days, to revitalise the group.

Seminars strengthen team cohesion

Often spread over several cities or countries, fully remote teams only exchange information via videoconferencing and the vast majority of them never meet in person.

However, even if video collaboration tools have a multitude of features to facilitate teamwork, face-to-face meetings remain essential. Indeed, certain informal interactions or team meetings require the physical gathering of employees in order to encourage exchanges and create links.

During team building, certain team strategy games can even help to analyse group dynamics and identify improvements collectively. The result: a boost in individual motivation and collective energy.

The choice of venue must also be guided by practicality criteria: it is recommended to choose a place close to all amenities and to facilitate the organisation of the team as much as possible (carpooling, various reservations…), especially if the team building is an adventure.

Team building enhance the company’s culture

By definition, team building must create an event and therefore be rich in activities. It is in the company’s interest to choose them carefully as they will also enhance its internal culture.

Sports activities will work on team spirit and perseverance, while fun activities will encourage employees to let go and encourage moments of exchange. Cultural or creative activities will boost the creativity of the teams and the spirit of innovation.

Team building for the onboarding of employees

When a new employee joins a 100% teleworking team, integration can be long and difficult. Company seminars, organised regularly throughout the year, are a way of introducing newcomers and ensuring that they can meet and talk to each other.

Establishing rituals and building loyalty among employees

Team building is a good way of valuing employees by placing them at the heart of the event. It can be interesting to set up rituals such as welcoming newcomers, celebrating the seniority of an employee or the implementation of a project.

Tixeo has been in full remote for 7 years now and organises quarterly seminars for its teams. As Renaud Ghia, President of Tixeo, explains in his interview on the HelloworkPlace website: “We make sure that the date of taking up the post [of newcomers] is close to the next team building event so that they don’t have to wait three months before physically seeing their colleagues! For us, video is for work, face-to-face is for having a good time.”

Company seminars therefore have many benefits for 100% telework collaboration: they maximise the knowledge of the teams, renew the collective dynamic and increase employee loyalty.