Monthly Archives: November 2021

In another survey, conducted in 2021, 21% of employees said they are more creative when working alongside friends. There are many different circumstances that lead us to the point of wanting to find and build new friendships. Moving cities, a big break-up, or as is common in the last couple of years, switching to remote work. Any of these are bound to make us feel the need to get out there and make new friends.

Slack, Zoom, and other online collaboration tools have made working from home a more social affair than ever. If you’re lucky enough to have an employer who organizes virtual parties or happy hours, make every effort to attend. Just talking about it can open up the opportunity to socialize and make a friend at the virtual office. Co-working spaces can be a great place to make new connections and meet other remote workers in real life.

Let Your Backgrounds Do Some of the Talking

Keeping remote friendships alive is hard, but with a little effort on both sides, it can still feel like you’re feet apart instead of miles. If everyone is relentlessly positive, it’s difficult for people to share other emotions, like stress, fear, boredom, or loneliness. Turn yourself into a safe space for friends to discuss their emotions, good and bad. When we talk to someone online — even if it’s via an informal chat app — it’s tempting to say what you need to and no more. That’s because when it comes to written communication in the workplace, we’re taught to keep things short and sweet. Don’t make extra work or add to people’s already out-of-control inboxes.

If you can, make an effort to go into the office on a semi-regular basis since this is a good opportunity to foster more meaningful relationships. You’ll chat with more people, meet your colleagues face-to-face, and have access to communal working areas. Friendship is not built from one interaction; it grows gradually. According to the mere exposure effect, we unconsciously like those we are more exposed to.

Go outside your network

Set up a virtual coffee break, lunch break, or happy hour with them, but don’t ask for an hour, ask for minutes maximum. You could help them imagine what it must be like in your shoes by joking about the challenges of learning about your new organization from afar. So far, that’s meant coffees, social gatherings, and games over Zoom.

When we emerge from the pandemic, remote work will remain the norm for many, so we’ll need to face these questions head-on. Here’s how to make sure distance how to make friends when you work from home isn’t a barrier when it comes to remote friendships. Embrace transparency, foster a sense of belonging, form connections – and have fun along the way.

Try a Co-Working Space

When we’re sad or anxious, or any other difficult emotion, we don’t want someone to tell us to cheer up or give us advice —we want someone to just be there. It’s so tempting to pretend everything is going well, but the truth is, what people really respond to is vulnerabilities. We are all slightly odd and struggling with things, and when we’re vulnerable around someone else, it helps them feel slightly less alone.

It’s also meant finding ways to express yourself asynchronously in places like Slack—be it through perfectly timed GIFs, unexpected pet photos, or links to bad tweets. Set a goal to keep in touch with one old friend weekly, whether through a phone call, https://remotemode.net/ text, email, social media or meeting in person. If you work remotely and find yourself feeling isolated or lonely, reaching out to old friends can be helpful. Even if you haven’t spoken in a while, they’ll likely be happy to hear from you and catch up.