Alone and Bored: How to Maintain Human Connection While Working from Home

A computer, phones, stable internet connection, collaboration tools, and other technical requirements are what makes you stay productive when working from home. However, it is important to factor in the boredom and loneliness that set in after the novelty of telecommuting has waned. This is because technology cannot completely replace human interaction. After a while, you will start missing the hustle and bustle of the street, the early morning rush hour and even the noise in your favorite café. This might affect your focus and level of productivity negatively.

How then do you stay connected with people while working remotely? What are the ways of maintaining human contact from the comfort of your home?

Use Collaboration Tools

Collaboration tools are to enhance teamwork in an organization. When you have a project that requires you to work alone or in a group, you can send messages or use emojis on the collaboration platform to check in on your colleagues. While discussing work-related matters; you can occasionally use video conferencing instead of email to maintain interpersonal relationships between you and your team members.

Contrarily, you might get sucked into chit-chatting for long during a video call. Therefore, to maintain a balance, try setting a time aside for the video conferencing and stick with it. More face time means more interaction and the bonus of getting your message across by adding hand and face gestures.

Schedule Regular Meetings

As a manager, constantly checking on the progress of the employees under you sometimes require a quick meeting or asking them to quickly show up in your office. This is important in both traditional and remote work setting. However, if your employees are working remotely you can fix certain periods to come together and interact online to discuss the issues and exchange ideas.

Also as a team member, constant sharing of your progress with your managers, asking questions when stuck and offering solutions when necessary can go a long way in maintaining human relations. In order not to be a bother or interrupt, you can schedule a time convenient for both you and your boss before you put a video call through.

Set Goals with Others

You can be alone but not be working alone. When you work with others, it gives you a sense of community and togetherness. If you set a target with a friend or colleague, the possibility of achieving it is higher compared with personal goals. There is competition and team spirit, which boosts your morale. It might not only be work-related goals alone, but you can also join online communities of like-minded individuals to reach a particular objective.

Your goal might be something like a long-term dream or a short-term aspiration. You can decide to finally finish that book, lose that extra pound or quit that bad habit. Whatever you decide, doing it with others makes the hurdle easy to overcome.

Share on Social Media

Social media can be a great distraction and a great way to unwind from the long hours of talking to yourself. A quick login to your Facebook, Twitter or Instagram will take you to a whole new world. Sharing photos and videos on social media is also a great way of staying in touch with your loved ones. Letting your hair down once in a while reinvigorates you and gives you something to look forward to as you work.

It does not have to be photos and videos alone, you can share and read articles about your interests, and find a network that suits your needs. You can make it point to share the stress that comes from your work with your network or celebrate your wins.

Final Thoughts

Working remotely might be fun while you are just beginning but eventually, the loneliness gets to you and you may start feeling like calling it quit. However, there are endless possibilities for ways to maintain human relations and keeping your sanity intact.

You can create methods of reaching out to your employees as a manager that will not add to the pressure of work. As an employee, working outside of the traditional office set up requires you to stay connected to your team members and colleagues. More importantly, creating a sense of bonding that lets you work together without friction.

Originally published at https://nextplane.net on April 6, 2020.