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Effective remote collaboration depends on having explicit discussions about empathy and team norms. Start the conversation with your teammates.

Video Transcript: Empathy in the Workplace

One third of boomers consider having kids in the background of video calls to be a violation of remote work etiquette. Gen X isn’t far behind with 30% of them agreeing, compared to 22% of millennials and 11% of Gen Zers.

Since more and more of us are working from home these days, it’s important to recognize that we’re all facing different challenges. The person who sat next to you in the office might be facing a completely different at-home reality than you’re facing.

How do we practice empathy in the remote workplace?

It starts with how we react to moments in everyday remote work life. We know that younger workers are challenged with separating their physical work environment from home life while older workers are struggling with feeling disconnected. There’s also a gender divide when it comes to work life balance. And there are many other factors at play contributing to your colleagues’ different experiences and adaptation to our remote work circumstances.

Proactively acknowledge that your colleagues may be facing new challenges. Genuinely ask people how they’re feeling. Try to understand their perspective and offer your support. Your recognition helps to build mutual empathy and create a healthy work environment. Even if you didn’t have a close rapport with your colleagues when you worked together in the office, it isn’t too late to start now.

Demonstrating compassion and empathy even digitally can go a long way. One area where you can practice more kindness is in your emails. With a thoughtful opening and closing to your emails, your communication can remain professional while conveying warmth and support. Whether or not you’re a manager, if you can adjust your behavior to fit your colleagues’ preferences, your flexibility will make you a pleasure to work with.

Ask how a colleague prefers to conduct a meeting. If they choose a phone call over a video conference and there’s no real need to chat over video, then go with it. When you do have specific preferences, be consistent. If you feel it’s important to conduct weekly team meetings as a video conference so that everyone can connect face-to-face, keep that structure predictable.

With so many of us needing to adjust to unfamiliar and erratic circumstances during these challenging times, it’s best to keep to a stable and consistent pattern wherever possible. Your empathy promotes trust, respect, and loyalty with your colleagues. Following these tips will make you a better co-worker overall and make you more enjoyable to work with.

Whether you’re working remotely now or planning to be back in a physical office sometime soon.

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These extra video calls are leading to meeting fatigue and it’s draining employees’ energy. Video calls are important and have their place, but they also force us to focus more on conversations in order to absorb information. This video offers managers tips for helping their employees fight video meeting fatigue.

Other videos in this series:

• Course introduction
• Interpreting nonverbal communication cues
• Communicating the importance of time off
• Promoting wellness and self-care 

Video Transcription: Managing Remote Teams’ Mental Health | Reducing Virtual Meeting Overload

[Narrator] Are you dreading another video work meeting? Do you wish you could just call in to a meeting like the good old days? Are you tired at the end of the day from attending multiple video calls?
Well, you might be experiencing video conferencing fatigue. Yes, it’s a thing. A real thing.

These days, we’ve not only been video conferencing for work, but also for maintaining connections with family and friends. That’s a lot of video chatting!

Employee: I just got off my 3rd video meeting today. The thing that gets me about these video calls is maintaining constant eye contact. And you need to overly express yourself so the person can see your reactions. If you look away, it looks like you aren’t paying attention. It’s exhausting to pay that close attention on video calls multiple times a day!

[Narrator] Meeting overload was around even before the coronavirus pandemic. Over one-quarter (26%) of professionals think meetings are unproductive or unnecessary, with nearly half (48%) of managers saying there are more meetings than required in a week.

So what can managers do to help their teams ease the pain of video conferencing fatigue?

[Manager] I know most of you have been participating in many video meetings these days. I wanted to talk to you about some tips I have for managing video conferencing fatigue.

• Avoid multitasking and stay present. It’s easy to get distracted by instant messaging or emails but staying present will limit the amount of energy used during the calls. Multitasking can cost you as much as 40 percent of your productive time!
• Take breaks! On long calls, while you are listening, turn off your camera at times to give your eyes a break from trying to read everyone’s facial expressions.
• Take the meeting on a walk using your phone instead! Walking meetings are known to improve creativity, and probably reduce stress!

[Narrator] Do what you can to support video breaks to help reduce video conferencing fatigue. Encourage your employees to make the best decision for their mental health!

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During any kind of stressful time, and now when people may feel lucky to have a job, employees might find it more difficult to request time away. But it’s important to take a break. Time away improves mental clarity, productivity, and focus. When your employees are recharged, it leads to better outcomes for them and better outcomes for the company.

Other videos in this series:

• Course introduction
• Interpreting nonverbal communication cues
• Reducing virtual meeting overload
• Promoting wellness and self-care 

Video Transcription: Managing Remote Teams’ Mental Health | Encouraging PTO to Recharge

[Narrator] Paid Time Off or PTO gives people time to relax and recharge, leading to a more enjoyable and productive work environment for everyone. In these unprecedented times, however, taking time off may not seem like a priority or it may even feel like a huge ask.
Since our offices are now in our homes and kids are being homeschooled, leaving work behind is more challenging than ever. In fact, one in five Americans feel their company shames employees who take allotted vacation time.

So, what can managers do to support their teams in taking PTO?

Lead by example! Leadership can encourage employees to be intentional about their self-care while working remotely and take time off to unplug and recharge. Whether it’s to work on a home project, read a book, or go for a long walk, even small breaks from work can make a significant difference in your energy and stress levels.

[CEO] Here at BusCorpCo, we’re firm believers in the importance of taking PTO, especially during these stressful times. It’s important to recognize the need to take a break from work, even if it’s just for a day. Our PTO policy is in place for this very reason.

Personally, I’m going to take 2 days off next week to unplug and recharge. Even though we are unable to take a regular vacation right now, I plan to sleep in, exercise, and read during my time off, if my kids let me. Work with your managers to get your PTO scheduled and don’t forget to plan for the remainder of the year. Your managers will be setting up 1:1s to review your PTO schedule soon.

[Manager] You’ve been working so hard lately, you deserve some time off!” I noticed you haven’t used any PTO this year. I want to make sure you feel comfortable taking time off and know how to request it.

[Narrator] Your organization has a PTO policy for a reason. Positive reinforcement is the key to letting people know they can use their PTO.

As a manager, take note of employees who don’t take time off and let them know it’s ok to do so.

Let’s make the most of things and allow vacation days to serve their purpose – to refresh employees and provide a space to get away from the stress of day-to-day work. Let your teams know it’s more important now than ever before to rest and recover.

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Video Transcription: Excelling at Work From Home

Working from home has its perks, but it also has its challenges. Let’s go over some tips to ensure you excel at working from home.

• Keeping a normal routine is key to staying productive while working at home. Try to wake up around the same time each morning, get ready for the day even if you don’t plan on leaving home.
• Take normal breaks and a lunch just like you would in the office.
• Make yourself available at the same time as your teammates. This is especially important when working on projects that require collaboration and open lines of communication.
• Having digital face-to-face communication with co-workers helps people feel connected with their team and the work they do together.
• It’s also good to keep weekly one-on-one meetings to check-in and connect on work and life.
• Create a space for normal conversation with your teammates whether it be in a Slack channel or a weekly meeting via video call. Having digital water cooler conversations can boost camaraderie and even generate great ideas.
• Perhaps one of the most important things to have is a way for everyone to submit work, receive feedback, and get approvals. Long email chains are not the place for this. Instead, use one of the many task management applications available to track and streamline the work your team is doing.
• Each person on your team was hired for a reason—because they’re good at what they do. Trusting that they will accomplish tasks on their own while working from home is crucial to a productive work-from-home environment.

While the tips in this video are not an end-all solution, they are a great start to forming productive habits and excelling at working from home.

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Video Transcription: How to Stay Sane During Home Isolation

Humans are social creatures. So, as you might be realizing, staying indoors for an extended period of time can lead to boredom and stir craziness. Here are some ways you can maintain your sanity during home isolation. Do something creative. Painting, drawing playing an instrument, you have so many options here.

Keep a routine. Whether based around your work schedule meals or something else, the structure is helpful. Use this time to learn something new. You’ll have a sense of accomplishment taking on a new endeavor. Stay connected with friends and family by having virtual hangouts. Just because you’re stuck at home doesn’t mean you can’t socialize. Practice self-care. Exercise, meditate, eat healthy foods. Carve out time to do what makes you feel good.

Complete all those home projects you’ve been putting on the back burner. It’ll feel good checking these items off your list. This is also an excellent time to organize virtual files. By all means, stay up to date with the news, but stick to reliable sources and don’t go overboard. Limit your intake as it can get pretty overwhelming.

Finally, if necessary, seek help from a licensed mental health professional. This can be a difficult time, And it’s important to focus on your overall well-being as best as you can.

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Be sure to save this video to your account for the next time you need to visualize a virtual chat or video call.

Video Transcript: Remote Team Communication

It’s easy to strike up a casual conversation at the office, and it’s in moments like this where employees build personal connections. But when these moments aren’t possible, teams have to leverage technology in creative ways to inspire a culture of connection and develop an engaged workforce.

How can co-workers stay connected while working remotely?

When it makes sense, use video rather than email, messaging apps, or phone calls to have more engaging conversations. It’s much easier to connect when you can see someone’s face.

Consider beginning with an icebreaker to get the ball rolling. Such questions can lead to real conversations, building trust and empathy, and strengthening relationships between colleagues.

Schedule optional virtual morning coffee breaks, lunch sessions, or happy hours so co-workers have space to chit-chat about issues unrelated to work.

A weekly or monthly wellness session offers a nice, healthy way for people to connect.

Messaging apps are excellent for virtual community building. Create separate channels, so non-work topics don’t clash with the more official channels.

Start a water cooler channel for co-workers to post casual questions or comments at any time. Try asking a question of the day. It’s fun to see people’s responses, and these often inspire spinoff conversations.

A shout-out channel allows employees to call out colleagues’ accomplishments. Community recognition is important. Create a space for birthdays, family celebrations, and personal milestones, and encourage employees to share photos of their celebrations. An end-of-the-day, company-wide trivia game can be a great way to cultivate friendly competition.

Not everyone has to participate in each activity every time, but employees will appreciate having these options available to them. Even when colleagues are miles apart, you can still foster a culture of connection.

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Video Transcription: Remote Team Training. Tips for Remote Managers

Managing requires a skill set all its own. And managing remotely is no exception. Challenges can range from a lack of face-to-face interaction, to trust issues, and in some cases, to employees feeling their manager is out of touch with their needs. Let’s go over some tips on how to be a great remote manager.

Make yourself available at the same time as your direct reports. This is extremely important as it allows you to have an open line of communication and enables you to ask and answer questions regarding tasks and projects without delay. The last thing you want is for your team to feel like giving or receiving information about a project is harder than it should be.

Different ways of communicating are necessary as there is no one size fits all solution. Time-sensitive questions or casual conversations are better suited for messaging applications where people can respond quickly and effortlessly. Email is better for sending larger chunks of information all at once, where it can be easier to archive or search for the information later. And lastly, more important or sensitive conversations are best over video calls which feel more personal than text or audio-only conversations.

Having digital face-to-face communication with your team is also important as feelings of loneliness and social isolation from their organization are some of the most common complaints of remote workers. To help counter that as a manager, you should hold weekly video calls with your direct reports, whether it be one on ones, or a team call to check-in and connect on both work and life.

Each person on your team was likely hired for being talented at what they do. As it is important to set expectations about when and how work should be done, allowing them to accomplish tasks on their own without constantly checking on progress is crucial to building a strong and trusting relationship with your direct reports.

It’s important as a manager that you offer encouragement and emotional support. If you see that someone is struggling with their work or even acting differently, don’t be afraid to reach out. Even asking a simple question like, “how is this remote work situation working out for you?” can reveal a lot of information to help you better support your team members.

The tips in this video are a great starting point for people managing a remote team. But the most important thing to do is try different solutions and find out what works best for you and your team.

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