If you lead a distributed team or have folks who work remotely, getting together for a coffee break on a regular basis is helpful for team building and feeling connected. So your time together is well spent and not a group of people staring into their computer screens, we’ve put together a few tips to help you make the most of your virtual coffee break.
Five tips for planning a remote employee coffee chat
Send coffee and a snack to your team members ahead of time
Plan to have coffee and a snack arrive the day or two before your meeting to ensure everyone gets their delivery on time. It can help team members feel connected to share the same snacks during their break. Remember to account for food allergies and dietary restrictions when choosing snacks to send out.
Allow team members time to make their coffee or beverage of choice
If your culture is meeting intensive - plan for a time when everyone has a few minutes between meetings to get their drink ready. This might be as simple as pouring a glass of Wandering Bear cold brew or grabbing a single-serve carton from your fridge!
Have an agenda
While it is good to have some time for open discussion, this can be hard to get started. Having an agenda will allow the group to ease into the conversation. Consider some non-work-related discussion time so that people can really get to know each other. This could include talking about great vacations, concerts, or what people are looking forward to for the weekend. If your team doesn’t get together much having some time for work-related updates might be beneficial but ask your team how they want to use this time and support their desires.
Plan some icebreaker activities
If you have newer team members, including time for introductions and ice breakers is important. They don’t have to be cheesy. A few fun ones could include playing the two truths and a lie game, sharing interesting facts about your hometown or asking attendees to find something in their home or office that sparks joy and sharing that with the group.
Rotate hosting duties
In order to share the work of planning and hosting virtual coffee breaks, you can rotate these responsibilities. Ask the host to plan the agenda and any icebreaker activities for the group. This will give you the opportunity to feature someone different each break and ensure that the work of putting together these meetings isn’t adding too much to any one person’s plate.
At Wandering Bear, we’re here to help you get great coffee to your employees - wherever they are working from. Contact us today to set up deliveries. We can offer our services for one-time deliveries or subscription services so you never have to worry about getting coffee to your team members before a coffee break.
