Stay Connected While Working From Home

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to reshape nearly every avenue of our lives in the United States and around the world, most employees are staying at home for good. According to ApolloTechnical, statistics on remote workers reveals that 4.7 million people work remotely half the time. And although there are many perks to working remotely, it is still important for employees to stay connected.

While working from home, it is easy to isolate yourself from everybody else. So, instead of writing multiple emails back and forth to one person throughout the day, pick up the phone and call. Not only will this save both you and the other person time, but it will allow you to feel more connected. Keeping in touch with other employees by calling on the phone will also help prevent miscommunication and negative tones that emails can sometimes provoke.

Another way to stay connected while working from home is to look forward to your weekly or daily meetings with other people. Even though this may seem inconvenient as meetings are scattered throughout your calendar, look at it as an opportunity to connect with others and to get out of your shell for the day. This also gives you the opportunity to stop hiding behind your email, and allows you to have conversations and ask questions that you may have.

If there is someone you have been wanting to get to know better, or an employee that you need to speak with, schedule a virtual lunch date with them. This allows for a casual setting to chat and to become more acquainted with different people at your company. You can use this time to talk about work related matters, or you can use it just as a way to connect with others. You could even make it a goal to have one lunch date a month with different employees that you may not know as well.

People will want to connect with you if you are easily reachable and if you make yourself available. It is easier to make connections virtually with other people if you are approachable, over the computer or phone, and if you make an effort to be available. While some remote employees login for the day, do their job, and log off, it will be much more beneficial for yourself and others if you are reachable and willing to talk.

To stay updated with what is going on in the economy and business world, it may be helpful to listen to podcasts in order to stay up to date with current events. Not only may this help you with your job, but it will also help you guide conversations with others. Even working remotely, it is important to stay educated and to continue the urge for wanting to learn and grow. Doing this and taking notes over what you learned and how it applies to your career may help you feel more important and valued to yourself and others.

Research shows that working remotely has the potential to increase symptoms of depression, anxiety, and overall isolation. Doing some of these simple things will help allow you to feel more connected at your workplace and to feel valued as an employee.