Even with stay-at-home orders and mandatory lockdowns in place, to say that these past couple of months has been uneventful is certainly a huge understatement. Shifting to a fully remote workforce has gained you an hour or two of time at both the top and bottom of the day only to rob you of your mental sanity and hit you with that double duty of juggling work and home life in concert with one another. As if balancing work in a virtual environment wasn’t enough, throw in being a full-time parent, part-time teacher, nanny, cook and dog walker to the list. 

With no end in sight for the Covid-19 pandemic, it comes as no surprise that this unrelenting wave of uncertainty has taken a toll on each and every one of us emotionally, physically and psychologically. Even for those who have faced change on a daily basis with their role and are known to be overcome changes of every magnitude are finding themselves jaded, fatigued and ready to yield to the devastating effects of the pandemic. 

Work as we know it will no longer be the same moving forward, and thus, it’s imperative we find ways to combat fatigue, overcome complacency and restore that energy that makes you stronger, more resilient and capable of defying the debilitating effects of the pandemic. If we lean into this problem together, we can help each other cope with stress, break through psychological barriers and emerge stronger than before. Where do you start? Here are some simple practices you can put in place to help you and your team overcome virtual solitude. 

Restore that human connection. As with any profession, we crave human connection. We thrive in a work environment that enables collaborative thinking, relationship building and connectivity with your peers. While workplace “drivebys”, hallway and sidebar conversations are typically confined to in-person, office interactions, you can still bring it to life in a virtual environment. Create opportunities that nurture and fuel peer-to-peer interaction and engagement such as group huddles, lunch and learns, and brainstorming sessions. Invite people from different parts of the organization to contribute and create meaningful conversations. Chances are you’ll come up with creative solutions for work and form relationships that go beyond your workplace inner circle. 

Bring back those ‘water cooler’ chats. While we can all agree that Zoom and virtual meetings can’t replace the long-standing tradition of water cooler chats, it can continue online in the virtual world as a means to break away from digital solitude, boost employee morale and encourage thoughtful interaction. Setting up a digital water cooler chat doesn’t need to be any different than setting up one in the office. Afternoon tea and coffee breaks are a great way to bring people together, enjoy your favorite beverage and learn an interesting thing or two about your co-worker. It’s about bringing together people to check up on each other, chat informally and share what’s going on in their day-to-day lives. 

Use virtual meeting tools to facilitate the conversation. Even before the Covid-19 pandemic, there were quite a number of virtual meeting tools available to break barriers and bring remote workers together. Several remote teams have already been using digital project management tools (Asana, Workfront, Basecamp, Trello), mobile messaging apps (Slack, Whatsapp, WeChat) and cloud-based document management and storage systems (Sharepoint, Dropbox, Google Docs) to collaborate with teams and stitch together workflow across different parts of the organization. Don’t be afraid to get creative and apply these same tools to balance out the “home office”. Warning, you may just become so productive that you find yourself with a little extra time on your hands to do the things that matter most. 

Schedule a team lunch. Every meeting doesn’t need to be about work and there’s something to be said about sitting at the table and breaking bread together. Try scheduling a team lunch. Everyone can come to the table with their own brown bag or order something and have it delivered via DoorDash or Uber Eats. The important thing is to take time out of the day, schedule lunch so you don’t forget to eat (we all know how easily we can go from one meeting to the next and forget to eat lunch!), and bond with your team. 

Host a virtual offsite. It’s easy to lose sight of company culture and maintain that same level of cohesiveness you once had in the office. Gone are the days of inter-office foosball and ping pong, cafeteria lunches, onsite gyms, biking from one campus to the next, and team offsites. While inter-office activity has come to a screeching halt, there are still ways you can maintain the spirit and integrity of the office culture and keep your employees engaged. Try setting up a virtual offsite and infuse it with team activities such as a book club, trivia session, virtual happy hour or cooking experience. A well-intentioned, virtual offsite will enable your team to interact freely with one another, restore confidence and trust, and most importantly, take a breather and get their minds off work. 

For many, 2020 has been one of the most challenging years with adverse effects to both your emotional and psychological wellbeing. While navigating the virtual and remote workforce from your home office, lean on your co-workers and team as an outlet to cope with the stress and overcome virtual fatigue and solitude. Maintaining social interaction and connectivity with your peers is an essential part of your support system and will make everyone stronger and more resilient amid growing uncertainty.