These 7 fun virtual team activities can help your employees form stronger bonds

The workplace has changed significantly over the last year and a half, with many organizations now moving to fully remote work. This new setup brings with it a new way of managing workers and team building virtually, which can be even more of a challenge when most of the employees are working remotely.

Virtual team building comprises building human-to-human connections between remote employees. Establishing these bonds not only encourages team harmony, it also helps increase productivity and streamline communication. 

Here are three main benefits of virtual team building: 

1. Forge relationships

   – It is important for team members to have strong relationships with one another when working from the office. It is even more crucial when they do not meet regularly while working from home. Virtual team building helps remote workers have a better time collaborating on projects if they feel that they know who they are working with and are comfortable communicating with them.




2. Fight loneliness

   – Remote work can get isolated and depressing. If workers do not get a chance to communicate with each other (or anyone else, for that matter) because they are all working separately, they may be less engaged at work. They may also experience lower levels of productivity and job satisfaction, which can also lead to them quitting.




3. Increase productivity

   – While there are those who prefer to work alone, there are others who are more productive and get more done on a daily basis when they are engaged with their colleagues. Virtual team building exercises allow them to connect beyond just work as they get to work together, cheer each other on and become motivated to meet the finish line. This energy eventually spills into their office tasks and makes them not only achieve goals but also team goals.

7 fun virtual team building exercises

Here are seven virtual team building activities that could help create stronger and happier employees: 

Activity 1: Virtual Scrabble

– Just like the offline version of the game, virtual Scrabble helps encourage collaboration, develop creative thinking and stimulate communication. Suitable for groups of approximately 10 or more people, the game takes about 20 minutes to complete. All you need is software such as Zoom or Google Meet, a bag of Scrabble tiles, and pens and paper for the participants.

Split the participants randomly into teams and assign three or four letters chosen at random to each person. Then, ask each group to come up with as many words as they can in 10 minutes using their letters. To make the game more challenging, you can ban the use of a dictionary. 

Activity 2: Trivia

– A versatile group activity, Trivia can have any number of variations. The basic office version calls for a designated game administrator, who is the only individual who knows all the answers and who also keeps the game moving along. 

Before the activity starts, have each employee share a lesser-known fact about themselves with the administrator. Once the administrator receives all the facts, he or she emails all players the facts along with a list containing the participants’ names, without disclosing which fact belongs to which team member. 

Now, on a virtual call, participants try to match the facts with their coworkers. This allows them to learn new things about one another. 

Activity 3: Bingo

– A classic, bingo appeals to players who enjoy a little competition but not particularly high-stakes games. The game administrator can either opt for a virtually bingo, or personalize the game by creating custom office-themed cards. 

Activity 4: Virtual escape rooms

– Virtual escape rooms are a great opportunity to encourage communication, collaboration and problem-solving among team members. These activities can be conducted online via Google Meet, Zoom or other such platforms. As part of these events, players complete puzzles or solve riddles in a fixed amount of time, in a bid to escape the room. 

Activity 5: Find something in common

– This challenge encourages remote workers to learn more about each other. For this activity, assign the players into small groups and have each group identify the five most quirky or unique things they have in common. 

Activity 6: One lie and two truths

– This virtual team building game is one of the most popular virtual activities. To begin with, give each player a few minutes to come up with one lie and two truths about themselves. For instance – I can read and write in Japanese, I can drink 5 gallons of milk at once and I once hacked into my neighbor’s computer. Then, have the other participants guess which one is the lie. 

Activity 7: Healthy lifestyle challenge

– The healthy lifestyle challenge not only helps workers bond, it also puts them on track for a healthy lifestyle. Start with a challenge to drink a certain amount of water each day.