Tips for Building Camaraderie While Working Remotely

At Bottle Rocket, we are proud to call each other not only teammates, but also friends. While working remotely, it is often hard to build and maintain relationships that usually happen inside the walls of the office. We asked some of our Rocketeers how they are relying on technology to build camaraderie while working from home and these are some of our favorites:

“I love it when everyone picks a fun background for our Zoom video meetings – it gives everyone something to discuss while waiting for the meeting to start.”

“Our team has been holding our morning standups via Zoom with the video on. It’s great to see everyone in their own environments. We also have a 15-minute optional ‘teatime’ in the afternoon for those that need a break and want to catchup. We talk about both project-related items and just general chatter to break up the day.”

“We opted as a team to have live Zoom stand ups on Fridays instead of in Slack because being together is better than not.”

“LUNCH. This video thing has made it possible to actually stop for a few minutes and have lunch with people from other teams or just check in on other co-workers. It’s been pretty incredible.”

“We can’t forget using “giphys” in Slack to help us maintain a sense of humor in these dark times.”

“We held a team happy hour via a video call. We try to have a team bonding activity once a month, so we opted to still have it over video. Everyone grabbed their favorite cocktail or beverage and we all joined together to laugh and catch up.”

“We have different Slack channels for people with different interests and being able to talk about things that interest us outside of work bonds us to our coworkers. I’m a part of #fun-happyplace channel where people show photos of their animals and also a #whoruntheworld channel for the women of the office to share products and things they are loving. I enjoy getting my coworkers’ opinions on brands and tips throughout the week.”

“My coworker and I do an at-home workout over lunch. Holding each other accountable to workout while at home really helps me clear my mind and take on my tasks for the rest of the day. We send each other pictures of the workout we’re doing and send a selfie after we have completed the workout.”

“I love to share interesting articles I’ve read with my coworkers. Having a lively discussion about a topic that interests me is a great way to share knowledge and also interact with my friends at the office.”