Keeping a remote team feeling connected is difficult, but essential work. Here are some great virtual bonding activities you can offer your remote team.
As employers adapt to managing more remote or hybrid teams, one of the more overlooked challenges is team-building. Back in the age of Office-dwellers, we took for granted how much a shared physical space contributed to a feeling of belonging among team members. But according to Upwork’s 2021 Future of Work Report, over 40 million workers are expected to be working remotely in the next 5 years, so managers can’t rely on those serendipitous encounters in the hallway anymore.
Besides boosting team morale, collaboration, and fighting loneliness, virtual team-building can even increase team productivity. So here’s to a future with more engaging, intentional gatherings, even if they’re virtual. Below are a few fun activities we think could make for some great team-building times.
Hosted Activities
Coursehorse
Activities:
- Scavenger hunts
- Trivia nights
- Escape rooms
- Murder mystery
Group size: Up to 15 people
Time commitment: 1 – 1.25 hours
Elevant
Activities:
- Scavenger hunts
- Trivia nights
- Escape rooms
- Murder mystery
- Game shows
- Tastings (food, wine, or cocktails)
- Wellness (movement, plants, yoga, yo chi, etc.)
- Art sessions (paint, origami, sculpture, etc.)
Group size: Up to 250 people
Time commitment: Varies
Confetti
Activities:
- Scavenger hunts
- Trivia nights
- Escape rooms
- Murder mystery
- Game shows
- Tastings (food, wine, or cocktails)
- Wellness (movement, plants, yoga, yo chi, etc.)
- Art sessions (paint, origami, sculpture, etc.)
Group size: Up to 160 people
Time commitment: Varies
Sherlock Escape Rooms
Activities: Escape rooms (e.g. The Shipwreck, Cabin in the Woods, The Lost Kingdom)
Group size: Up to 8 people
Time commitment: 1 hour
Lockbox: 360 Escape Rooms
Activities:Escape rooms (e.g. Timeline, CIA, Order of Illusionists)
Group size: 10 – 15 people
Time commitment: 1 – 1.5 hours
Luco Online
Activities:Escape rooms (e.g. Basement & Barbarians, Hansel & Gretel, Monster Hunters Academy)
Group size: 2 – 8 people
Time commitment: 1 – 1.5 hours
Confundrum Escape Rooms
Activities: Escape rooms (e.g. Blackbeard’s Brig, Twisted Woods)
Group size: 2 – 8 people
Time commitment: 1 hour
Play-on-your-own Activities
Black Noir Escape
Activity: Escape room
Group size:3-5 people
Time commitment: However long it takes
Modern Genius
Activity: Escape room
Group size:3-5 people
Time commitment: However long it takes
Trapped in the Web
Activity: Escape rooms (e.g. Escape Fest, The Missing, Lockdown Breakout, Space Race)
Group size:3-5 people
Time commitment: However long it takes
Enchambered
Activity: Escape rooms (e.g. Apart in Time, Together at Heart)
Group size:32 players, but multiple people can share in the puzzle-solving fun
Time commitment: However long it takes
Lost in the Arctic
Activity: Escape rooms (e.g. Apart in Time, Together at Heart)
Group size:3-5 people
Time commitment: However long it takes
Enjoy!
