Keeping the Team Mojo – Remote Working
The last few years have seen a shift in working practices. Since Covid closed offices, many insurance companies (along with multiple other sectors) have decided to retain working-from-home options for their employees. This can reduce costs and allow employees greater flexibility in their working lives and work-life balance, increasing job satisfaction.
As an Insurance Recruitment Specialist, Aston Charles has seen the many ways in which this has had a positive impact on recruitment and retainment. It has allowed people to pursue job opportunities that may otherwise not have been possible and has given companies a wider pool of potential candidates.
A cost
However, at the same time, there has been a cost in the general insurance market. People may feel isolated and disconnected from their job. There may be confusion about working practices or about the way the company works. New staff may find it difficult to integrate with their colleagues. Online team meetings can be stilted and awkward, without the pre-meeting banter that one commonly expects in face-to-face group gatherings. All these issues can lead to a lack of engagement.
There is a correlation between engagement and a reduction in absenteeism, as well as a reduction in staff turnover, with some statistics showing 17% higher productivity and 21% higher profits where there are greater levels of engagement.[i]
So how to ensure that the culture of your office is one of camaraderie and “pulling together” towards the company goals?
Team building solutions – Real life
· Consider choosing one day a week as an “anchor day” when you expect the whole team to be in the office; or at least be at a face-to-face team meeting.
· Have fun together – plan team building days a couple of times a year. There are many organisations that specialise in team building, with a wide range of activities – from games and competitions, to escape rooms or sports – there is sure to be something that everyone on your team would enjoy.
· In addition to occasional team building days as part of the work schedule, offer optional social events outside of working time. This can be anything from trips to the pub, quizzes, sports teams, or online events. Try to plan a range of activities so that there is something for everyone.
Team building solutions - Online
Even if it’s impossible for the team to get together in person, there are various ways to engage teams online.
· Firstly, invest in good cameras and sound equipment – there is nothing worse for communication than sound cutting out halfway through a meeting, cameras not showing people clearly, or only viewing one or two people out of a large meeting.
· It can be helpful to instigate weekly 30-minute group chats that are non-work related. Randomly assign small groups of three or four people and allocate topics to talk about. These topics can also be randomly generated online; favourite holidays; preference for dogs or cats; the longest walk they have ever done. The object of this strategy is to recreate the type of casual conversation that might be had in a breakroom, that allows colleagues to feel comfortable around one another and therefore make work meetings more relaxed.
· Include competitions in the regular working week; such as online quizzes, or even mini work-related targets. It’s best that this is something light-hearted though - be sure it is not something that could build resentment!
· Start meetings with virtual ice breakers – a quick look online will reveal hundreds of different ideas for short activities and ice breakers such as scavenger hunts or online games. This can start off your office meetings in a more relaxed fashion, enabling the whole meeting to run more smoothly. Give voucher rewards to the winners of these games, to increase engagement!
· For longer online sessions, such as online team building days, there are activities available such as virtual escape rooms and virtual murder mysteries.
Working as a team
Once the team has greater camaraderie, it is important to look closely at how they work together. Discuss team strengths, make sure everyone fully understands their own goals - and how they can work together with other individuals to achieve those goals. Make collaboration, accountability, and reliability part of the company culture. Make sure everyone has a mentor that they can go to if they are unsure what is expected of them or how to go about things. Excellent management is critical for this to run smoothly.
Communication is also vital. If people feel like they have not been updated on significant changes, or if their ideas are going ignored because people aren’t reading their emails, then they will cease to feel part of a team.
With management and communication being so important, it may be worth hiring new people to improve these areas or sending current managers and supervisors on training sessions.
A Real Life Team
Whether your team meets around the water cooler every day, or live hundreds of miles apart, there are so many ways to work together well as a group. Get to know one another, have fun together, recognise one another’s talents and strengths and communicate effectively. This will all lead to a happy, engaged team that can work together to push the business forwards.
[i] Gallup. 2022. How to Improve Teamwork Collaboration in the Workplace. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.gallup.com/cliftonstrengths/en/278225/how-to-improve-teamwork.aspx. [Accessed 31 August 2022].