It’s no surprise that one of the hardest parts about implementing social distancing in the workplace is, well, keeping it social. A regular social hour between project milestones serves as much-needed valve to let off steam as well as strengthen social connections between team members. However, accomplishing this while unable to utilize the regular social spaces can prove to be a challenge, especially given the diverse cast most teams include. Here is the ol’ family recipe for a great workplace social hour while keeping team members safe and comfortable in their own homes.
Ingredient 1: Testing
Whatever recipe you end up using, make sure you have thoroughly tested the setup beforehand.
Nothings nips an online party in the bud faster than a derail into technical support. Get all applications and peripherals running with one or two coworkers ahead of time to make sure everything will work. You will most likely find something you did not expect. Bad connections, high latency, or complicated software could lead you to switching to something else more reliable, accessible, or do-able.
Ingredient 2: Scheduling
Create a meeting with a decided time and “place” as soon as possible. Clearly identify any peripherals that will be needed to fully participate.
As early as you can, get this meeting on those calendars. Make sure that the meeting has explicit:
- Start time
- Have a rigid start time. Follow it. Being reliable in starting on time gives validity to the meeting and shows respect for those showing up on time.
- End Time
- Have a defined end time. Respect it. A clearly defined stopping point gives a safe exit point for those who have other obligations or social apprehension in the workplace.
- Location
- Whatever application or device you are using to be social, make sure that it is clearly defined in the meeting. Room links, phone #’s, and any step-by-step instructions needed to connect and communicate.
- Required tools to participate
- This social hour will most likely take place immediately following a workday, can I turn my work PC off or will I need it for the call? Can I use my personal computer with the better webcam? Should I charge my cell phone? Make sure you clearly define anything and everything needed to participate.
Ingredient 3: Interaction
Create a point-of-interactivity to allow all team members to socialize with each other. Don’t skimp on this one!
While some post-work happy hours can consist of just talking, members who are not as socially integrated with the team may need an extra venue for banter. In socially present workplaces, we could see this being done through venues such as bowling, softball leagues, board/card games, or other sorts of highly-accessible party games. This gets harder remotely, but not impossible.
Possible Ideas:
- Trivia
- A very accessible and variable option, trivia is a big draw for those who can’t go to their weekly trivia night. Get ahold of your favorite trivia book or website and get a list of some general trivia subjects familiar to the team as a whole. Have fun! Structure the question in the format of your favorite game show and see who wins!
- Movie Night
- Decide on a movie to watch as a team, watch and enjoy together! This can be as low-tech as verbally synchronizing the play button at the start or as high tech as someone setting up a livestream for the team to tune in to. Encourage commentary!
- Remote video games
- Play a game together! Accessibility is the name of the game here. Make sure that the game chosen is playable by every member of the team.
- Debates
- While some debates can seem hostile, most can be made fun. Propose a non-political, non-controversial either-or question and require participants to pick a camp and give their reasons why (no happy mediums!). While this may not be able to fill an entire happy hour, it can be a great icebreaker to hear a team member state their case for a Yacht vs a Helicopter.
Ingredient 4: Reflect
This is the “my compliments to the chef” portion. Find out which ingredients worked and which did not.
Was someone’s connection lagging and not allowing them to play? Was the scheduled time to short/long? How did the team like the chosen game/movie? Find out which aspects should become staples and what could be altered to make the hour more socially interactive. Decide upon, write down, and communicate to the team any changes made.
Takeaway: My Personal Recipes
Getting started, here are some of the setups that I have found work very well for my remote team. Try them out for yourself!
Recipe #1: JackBox Happy Hour
Ingredients:
-
- A purchased and installed JackBox Game ($)
- A livestream setup (Twitch.tv).
- A scheduled outlook meeting with Skype enabled.
- Team members’ computers with audio and video enabled.
- Team members’ smart phones
Recipe:
- Start the chosen JackBox Game (A team favorite is Drawful).
- Livestream the main screen of the game (A free option that I use is Twitch, but other free options with many tutorials are Facebook or YouTube).
- Join the scheduled Skype meeting for voice chat.
- Make sure everyone can join the game on their phones and view the stream.
- Test with a select few beforehand to ensure setup works.
- Play!
Recipe #2: Custom Jeopardy
Ingredients:
-
- Trivia questions
- MS Excel
- Smart phone stopwatch
- A scheduled Teams meeting.
- Team members’ computers with audio and video enabled.
Recipe:
- Sort your questions into categories a la Jeopardy and have them ready off to the side (out of view).
- Join the Teams meeting and share your screen with the Excel Jeopardy board (you will be the Trebek).
- Rotate through each player and allow them to have a “turn” on the Board (to circumvent buzzing-in).
Recipe #3: Movie Night
Ingredients:
-
- An accessible movie
- A scheduled Teams meeting.
- Team members’ computers with audio and video enabled.
- Team members’ headphones
Recipe:
- Predetermine a movie that is acceptable by everyone. Ensure that everyone has equals access to the movie (we know most on the team have access to Netflix).
- Have everyone join the meeting, prep there
- Dictate and official start time (e.g. 5.0 minutes into the meeting) so that everyone is watching at the same pace.
- Establish what guidelines work for you (e.g. muted when possible if audio bleed occurs).
- Enjoy your watch party
