Tech Talk
Maintaining Connections & Well-Being, Virtually
Happy New Year, everyone!
In my previous article written during the Covid lockdown, I talked to you about staying connected with your family and friends using Zoom. While restrictions have eased in many places, most of us at AnswerNet are still working in a virtual environment or a hybrid of home and office.
As an example of this new normal, the Tech team now consists of OVER 40 people across the U.S., Canada, and India to support us in our daily business needs. But maintaining our “connections” isn’t about just technology here at AnswerNet, it’s also about staying connected and feeling supported as a team member when we’re not all face to face.
Research shows that employees who feel isolated or disconnected from work have lower performance and productivity. However, companies who place an emphasis on the mental health of their workers have the most success – both in terms of the well-being of their employees and for the productivity of their business.
So, how do we keep each other connected, engaged, and motivated at AnswerNet? Here are 3 things we do in Tech:
- Cameras On: Having your camera on during video calls helps to keep you connected in ways that chat or email just can’t.
- Extra Team Meeting Time: Our team often bonds (or not!) over our favorite sports teams. It’s a healthy way for us to talk about things other than work. Conversations that, in “normal” times, would be discussed around the “water cooler” or coffee machine. Even though we could cover all our work-related agenda items in a shorter time, we purposely extend our huddles to fit in some healthy socializing.
- Group Chats: Even though we use our group chats throughout the day for business issues, we also use them as a safe space where we can comfortably pop in and out when we feel the need to just be social.
If any of the Tech team’s communications ideas inspire you, please feel free to share them with your own team or supervisor. After all, we’re all one big AnswerNet family!
For assistance with Google Meet, Mattermost chat, or any other issue,
please email: servicedesk@answernet.com.
