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Working remotely has its perks, but it has one major downside, it’s harder to build strong relationships with colleagues. Here are some ways you can build sturdy relationships with your colleagues – from your manager to your teammate.

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Schedule catchups

Have a coffee every morning at 10? Why not see if someone else has a coffee at the same time and book in a 15-minute coffee catchup? This doesn’t have to be a daily meeting, but perhaps every Monday morning to fill each other in on what you got up to on the weekend. Creating time and space to focus on socialising will encourage connection and friendship.

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Video or talk on the phone

Instead of messaging or emailing a question or request, why not pick up the phone or video call? Talking makes it more personal and can sometimes allow you to have a clearer conversation. Social chat will most likely naturally happen when talking to them one on one as well.

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Start meetings with small talk

Often small talk is dreaded, and a lot of us don’t want to be in a meeting for longer than we have to. But taking the first five minutes of a meeting to see how everyone is and how their days are going can help create connectedness and potentially allow for people who might not make much effort to socialise to feel comfortable to do so.

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Have a space for informal chats

This might be group message with your team where you can discuss what you did on the weekend or shows you’re watching. Creating a dedicated space for socialising will encourage everyone to interact.

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Work online together

If you and another colleague are both working from home, considering working together while on a video call. This will simulate sitting next to each other in the office and talking between and during your tasks. As an added bonus, you might find this especially helpful if you’re working on something that they can help you with.

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Working remotely no longer needs to be synonymous with working alone. There are so many ways for us to contact and build relationships with our colleagues. It will take some extra effort and time, but the payoff of feeling connected and included will be well worth it.