Every department at a workplace depends on significant interaction – it reinforces connections, fabricates trust, and supports an individual’s wellbeing. The entirety of your employees should be something other than coworkers, wherein every employee is supportive of each other in a positive way.

Yet, making such a bond can be particularly hard when they haven’t really interacted with each other face to face. Hence, in times like these when a pandemic is jarring the world, it is significant to have group building games for working from home as a team building exercise.

Why Work from Home Socializing Is Important

Work from Home employees are confronted with an extensive challenge such as, they aren’t a part of any direct face to face communication like a typical office worker is used to. Research has demonstrated that work from home employees have more vulnerable relationships with colleagues than the individuals who work at an office space. Furthermore, this isn’t as surprising when numbers suggest 65% of distant workers haven’t had a group gathering meeting.

As a manager focus should be on remote groups to take part in regular group socializing. This will assist in building a real human connection with work from home employees and construct trust and consideration. In addition, it will allow the employees that are working from home to feel connected with the organization’s culture – just by being included, making them feel esteemed and a significantly important part of the organization.

How do gamers connect?

Two researchers in 2006 looked at over 5,800 messages sent while playing an online multiplayer game and examined whether these messages were socio-emotional or just task-oriented. Socio-emotional messages are ones which build connections, like “Thanks for the help,” “Yeah, I agree with you,” or “Wow, that was funny.” Task-oriented messages are focused on the game itself, like “How do you open this door?” or “Practice some more.” They found that there were 3.2 times more socio-emotional messages than task-oriented ones. Also, these emotion-based messages were 2.6 times more likely to be positive. Which means a vast majority of the messages people send while playing games are used to interact with others in a positive way.

Online Game is a safe place

Evidence suggests that online games can be a safe place to experiment in regards to social interactions for vulnerable people. Which include:

• People with autism spectrum disorders or any speaking disorder,
• People with insecurities
• Shy people,
• People with depressive symptoms
• People with social anxiety

Online games and other online spaces are “safe” for these individuals because these allow the gamers to communicate when and how they please, with little or no pressure to respond immediately and not requiring them to be in the same physical space with others.

Successful conversations require a wide variety of skills that many take for granted. These include reading body language, understanding tone of voice, maintaining eye contact, and rapidly understanding and responding to information that is being shared with an individual. Online games can allow players to communicate with each other and make connections at their current ability level even when they are not emotionally or physically able to leave their homes. This can help build employee connections even during times like these when social distancing is the new norm.

According to a report called “Online Gaming is a Life Skill” conducted by All India Gaming Federation, gamers displayed a better mentality towards their online gaming partners in contrast with their genuine work connections. 56% of gamers said they were almost certain to be straightforward with their gaming partners than with their work associates (51%). The thing that matters was more notable among Gen Z (5%) versus those over the age of 45 (2%).
This compares to an examination directed by Norton. The Norton study expressed that 81% of respondents said that online multiplayer games had improved their teamwork skills, while 71% felt that gaming had improved their cognitive ability. During times like these when communication with remote workers is key, there is proof to propose that online games can be a protected spot to explore different avenues regarding social interactions for vulnerable individuals.

Credits: JCFS Chicago