GroupTogether surveyed over 1,100 professionals and found that 15% work fully in-office, while 85% are hybrid or fully remote. This means catching up with coworkers is more likely to happen through Slack or Microsoft Teams, rather than in person.
HR professionals and administrative teams looking to connect their workforces should focus on creating connection through scheduled weekly meetings, recognition via gifts, or in-person events.
The numbers behind remote work
GroupTogether isn’t the only one with this finding, and the data shows the rise of remote work, particularly after the pandemic in 2020. Gallup data shows 52% of employees have hybrid roles, 26% are fully remote, and 22% work on-site (for remote-capable jobs).
With 52% of the workforce in hybrid roles and 26% working remotely day-to-day, teams meet differently. Many teams will have members joining meetings remotely and will need to catch up online.
Management and human resources professionals need to connect teams with fewer in-person touchpoints that on-site employers often lean on. That means looking to online tools to build real relationships across a workforce that may be spread across the globe.
Why should HR teams care?
Engaging employees is an investment in retention. Turnover costs U.S. companies a staggering $2.37 trillion in 2021, and replacing a single employee can cost up to 200% of their annual salary.
Coworker friendships (and employees who enjoy their managers) tend to stick around, rather than searching for work elsewhere. Cultivating workplace relationships builds happier, more stable teams, but it also raises a question: should connection happen naturally, or should the company manage it?
In an online environment, some connections and relationships get missed because people aren’t running into each other at the office. There’s no walking past each other's desks or taking lunch together when you’re working remotely. Curated events and meetings can’t fully replicate on-site relationship building, but they can go a long way toward building stable teams with higher retention.
Leadership and HR teams weighing whether to invest in hybrid and remote team connections should treat it as a core retention strategy, not a bonus for team members to build friendships haphazardly.
How to build connection among hybrid teams
Three main strategies help hybrid or remote employees build stronger relationships.
1. Weekly, built-in meetings
Create a weekly schedule where relationship building happens naturally. Short online coffee chats to start the day on Mondays can feel casual and are quick enough not to feel like a nuisance or a forced meeting.
Weekly catch-ups can also have the same effect, with a short meeting held at the same time each week. Frame these quick meetings as team builders, not a waste of time. Each meeting should have a specific, brief scheduled slot, with a team leader to guide conversations when it’s not flowing naturally.
2. Nurturing relationships online
Connection should be a core touchpoint for every HR team looking to keep remote workers engaged. That means celebrating or sharing in life’s biggest moments.
It’s hard to fit this type of connection into a meeting agenda or into an already busy work schedule. Management or HR can easily arrange gifts that recognize employees at these important times through virtual group cards or gifts that employees actually want.
Services like GroupTogether offer group cards that are popular for retirements, birthdays, farewells, and work anniversaries. The platform also makes it easy for HR leaders to send eGift Cards in bulk to their whole team at once. Employees receive an “AnyCard,” which they can swap for 150+ retailer eGift Cards (so they aren’t left with something that gets tossed in the bin).
Other companies, like Goody, let the receiver choose their own gift items rather than a gift card.
3. Connecting in person
There’s no substitute for in-person, real-life connection, and there’s no “right way” to plan these events. Some companies host a yearly trip where the whole team meets in a tropical locale, while others take a more professional approach and attend profession-specific conferences.
Hosting an annual reset, where employees can actually reset, is one of the easiest ways to foster genuine connection among your workforce.
Not every in-person work event has to be high stakes. HR and employees can host remote work meetups in specific locations to connect with nearby coworkers. Employers can offer a quarterly or annual budget to attend these meetings and help their teams build real relationships.
Building connection in action (with expert advice)
Dr. Cam Dunson (who holds a doctorate in workplace belonging and team dynamics) recommends a two-part strategy: in-person offsites alongside informal digital touchpoints between in-person events.
"We held a highly anticipated annual general meeting for each region, with strategy sessions and training during the day, camaraderie over meals, and casual time in the evenings," Dunson said. “Affordable all-inclusive venues are ideal for these meetings."
Dunson noted that informal channels like Slack or Microsoft Teams “sustain the sense of community in between the offsites and give relationships time to form” but only when someone owns the channel's engagement. “The key to success is to have someone who owns the channel's engagement, a human (not a bot) specifically assigned to ‘bring the fun’ and moderate the channel for safety and civility.”
Now bring it all together
These tactics work best when used together. Truly strong remote and hybrid teams use a mix of all three: built-in meetings for quick, light catch-ups; recognition that shows team members they’re valued, whether for birthdays, anniversaries, or condolences; and in-person conferences or gatherings to strengthen digital relationships.
With the right strategies, you can build a company culture your team is proud of, with relationships they’d be sad to leave.
GroupTogether started in Australia in 2015 and has since expanded into the U.S., including a growing footprint in Austin, along with the UK and Canada. Co-founders Ali Linz and Julie Tylman built the platform to make it simple for a group, no matter how large or how spread out, to celebrate someone with a heartfelt group card.
