Whether working from home is your dream finally come true or your worst nightmare, it seems like we’ll be working from home for a while. With the light at the end of the tunnel slowly dimming, how can we keep our passion, our interest, our thirst to succeed alive while sitting on the couch in a tiny apartment? It’s not always easy, to say the least, but it’s possible. Here are some useful tips for keeping your extroverts happy while working from home.
Keep your face-to-face game on
When no one sees you, no one knows you are still in your pajamas, dancing the cha-cha with your dog. Which, while totally fine (even encouraged) for the weekend, is not the key to a productive workday.
To keep your people accountable for their time, encourage teammates to communicate where they can see each other. This will develop your sense of togetherness, help teammates to create closer bonds, make people actually brush their hair, and help make your extrovert WFH employees feel they are not alone in this cold world.
Meet new people
Office life (well, life in general) can get a bit dull sometimes if you don’t make sure your environment is dynamic. It’s completely normal to feel like you need social interaction in order to survive.
While working from home as an extrovert it’s important to keep yourself occupied with a range of creative ideas, so take care to help your extroverted employees survive and thrive.
Encourage interdepartmental projects and collaboration that will help employees get to know new people within the organization, even just for fun. You can also plan events for socially-distanced socializing, host online classes, or share links to classes not hosted by you. Be creative. Create games. Do whatever it takes to make people awake and interested. There are so many fun things you can do together that will make you feel like you are a part of something big.
Encourage setting-diversity
Remind your extrovert employees that working remotely (a cafe, open workspace if available, a bench in the park) is fine with you, as long the work is getting done. If spending time outdoors in the city isn’t possible, maybe it’s time for a getaway. There’s a no better time than the present to rent a cabin for a few days (or, uh, forever) and get to know the great, probably-COVID-free, outdoors.
Treat your extrovert employees like flowers: give them air, sun, and solid ground to grow freely upon.
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Make WFH fun
How about sending your employees gift baskets that will encourage their hobbies? Check out gardening, woodwork, paint kits, and knitting sets—a few balls of yarn, a bag of manure, and your employees will have a new special skill in no time.
Cash-free examples: host online workout or cooking classes, where employees can have a far-away-but-still-together supper club. Once a week your lunch can become an online cooking workshop, each time hosted by a different employee. Fun guaranteed, delicious results not so much.
Unite using tech platforms
What books are your people reading? What’s on their Netflix queue? If you’ve ever thought about creating a book or movie club, now’s the time.
Using bob’s Clubs feature, HR can get a birds-eye view of what their people are into. You can create clubs based on nationality, place of living or hobbies like book clubs, exercise club, what’s-your-best-cookie club—well, the sky is the limit.
So dear extroverts, introverts, and their bosses and coworkers, the new situation is not the end of the world and there are many ways to enjoy it. Use this time wisely to create deep connections from far away. WFH life can be fun!
