When everyone works from a central office, blowing off steam is as simple as grabbing a coworker and walking over to the pool table, dartboard, another in-office diversion, or chatting over lunch, but when everyone is working remotely it can be a bit more challenging.

Hanging out

Working from a common office allows for casual conversation while working remotely can feel isolating, especially for the more extroverted people. One strategy we use at Infinite Red to mitigate this is to have a dedicated Zoom room, known as The Kitchen Table, where folks are encouraged to hang out for casual conversations while working. Additionally, we have optional bimonthly hour long hang outs (on Zoom) where we chat about new and exciting things happening in our personal lives.

Fun and games

Sometimes in the middle of a workday you just need a little fun and friendly competition. We’ve had so much fun playing everything from Team Fortress 2 to Rocket League that we have a dedicated Slack channel to organizing mid-day games. Simply coordinate a time, pick a game, and jump in a Slack call for the playful banter. Depending on the game you choose, this can also double as an excellent team building exercise to improve communication and team cohesion.

After hours

When your team is working remotely, you can’t just walk down to the pub at the end of the day and have a beer, but there are alternatives. We’ve had lots of fun holding movie nights and game nights every few months. Jackbox Games has a good variety of fun games that can be played in person or remotely and Netflix Party makes it easy to sync whatever you’re watching with everyone. Grab your favorite beverage, jump on Zoom, kick back, and enjoy.

Miscellaneous

Here are some other fun things to do with your team on Slack:

Photoshop contest

Pick a photo and invite everyone to Photoshop it (make sure you have permission from anyone in the photo). Add something to the scene and pass it on to the next person, or completely remaster the entire photo. Collect all the completed images and review as a team and enjoy the laughs.

Infinite Red HQ — Photoshop Challenge Final Result

Desk raid

Randomly declare a desk raid and participants take a photo of their desk in it’s current state (no cheating) and post it to the thread. Interesting discussions often arise around the various tools and decorations on people’s desks, leading people to be more informed about their coworkers workflows and responsibilities. Every so often we even include the public!

Emoji raid

Screenshot your “Frequently Used” emoji and post it to a thread to compare. Here’s mine from our last emoji raid:

I use :fact: *a lot*

Join the conversation

What fun activities does your company do? Share your ideas in the comments!