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The drumbeat keeps getting louder: More employers around the world are calling workers back to the office.

Even companies that previously embraced remote work are having a change of heart. Being onsite, they now say, is essential for such things as boosting productivity, fostering collaboration, and strengthening company culture. 

While some of these arguments are legitimate, employers’ increasingly tough return-to-the-office stance could backfire. Many workers have grown accustomed to working from home and aren’t ready to give it up, putting companies at risk of losing top talent.

Flexibility — the ability to work where and when you want — remains among the top three priorities for workers, according to LinkedIn’s Global Talent Trends 2023 report. Meanwhile, paid job posts on LinkedIn that mention flexibility, well-being, or culture receive nearly three times more views and more than twice as many applications, compared with two years ago.

Can companies allow their employees to continue to work remotely and remain competitive? We looked at three essential work activities — brainstorming, mentoring, and socializing — that can easily falter when employees work from home. The following are ways you can continue to do them well, even if your workers aren’t nearby.

Brainstorming

Throw a bunch of people in a room and let them bounce ideas off each other. For years, this has been the way we’ve conducted brainstorms, for good reason. It’s hard to replicate the sparks generated when individuals interact face-to-face with their peers. 

But virtual brainstorms, when done right, can be highly effective and can even provide advantages. When teams meet virtually, they can avoid production blocking, a situation where one person dominates a conversation deterring others from speaking up. Introverts or entry-level employees who are reluctant to share their ideas in person might feel more comfortable doing so online. 

To make the most of virtual brainstorms, consider some of these best practices:

1. Set an agenda. Reach out to participants ahead of time and let them know what you hope to accomplish from the brainstorm. This will give you a head start on ideation and create instant momentum for the meeting.

Outlining and sharing an agenda will also help you avoid side chats and keep participants focused on the purpose of the meeting. 

2. Choose the right collaboration tools. When people can’t jump up in a room and scribble on a whiteboard, what’s the best way to gather their ideas virtually? A digital whiteboard that allows participants to share drawings, graphs, and diagrams is helpful for meetings when you want participants to share their ideas visually.

For others, a simple Google Doc might do the trick. At GitLab, whose workforce is fully remote, all meetings are virtual, and each one has a Google Doc. GitLab prefers that team members share their thoughts via text, because it forces people to “clearly articulate proposals, designs, and ideas, with less variance in interpretations,” the company says. “Everyone in the meeting can add notes at the same time and we even finish each other’s sentences sometimes.” 

3. Use creative icebreakers. When you’re in a virtual meeting, it’s much easier to remain silent than when you’re sitting across a table from your team. That makes icebreakers even more important for remote brainstorms. 

There are unlimited options, from asking participants what TV character they most identify with to playing word association games. The goal is to break awkward silences, spur conversations, and get the innovative ideas flowing.

Mentoring

A recent survey of business leaders conducted by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York found mentoring is among the areas that suffers the most when employees work remotely. That’s a problem, given the fact that mentorships offer critical benefits for both employers and their workers. 

How can you nurture strong mentoring relationships in a distributed workforce? 

1. Offer new hires mentors on Day 1. Buffer, a software company whose employees work remotely, makes mentorships part of its onboarding process. The company implemented a “virtual buddy system,” where new hires are paired with three different types of mentors over the course of their first few months on the job. 

New employees are first connected to “culture” and “role” buddies who help them learn more about their employer, about company culture, and about their responsibilities. After 90 days, they’re then paired with “mastermind” buddies, peers who don’t work with them, but share common interests and experiences. 

“Having that sort of work best friend is really essential,” Nicole Miller, Buffer’s former director of people, told Business Insider. “Especially with being remote, it takes extra intention and attention to ensure people are staying on track and not feeling lost.” 

2. Work hard at building rapport. Establishing trust can be tough in any relationship, let alone one you’re building online. Ellen Ensher, W. Brad Johnson, and David G. Smith, three professors who focus on management and workplace issues, say mentors should reach out to their mentees, demonstrate their commitment, and show genuine care and concern.

“Ask questions that go progressively deeper into the experiences, feelings, and life or career dreams of both the mentee and mentor,” they write in the Harvard Business Review, “so you can feel a level of closeness and similarity.”

3. Hold virtual coworking sessions. It’s a given that mentor/mentee relationships grow stronger when the two parties work on projects together. 

Hybrid work expert Gleb Tsipursky recommends mentors set up weekly one-hour virtual coworking sessions with their mentees. The idea is to replicate a “shared cubicle space,” Gleb explains, where junior staffers work alongside senior staffers and ask questions on the job. 

“Sometimes mentors and mentees will just share about  themselves and chat about how things are going in work and life,” Gleb writes in a LinkedIn article. “That’s the benefit of a shared cubicle space, and virtual coworking replicates that experience, helping build bonds and integrate junior staff into company culture.”

Socializing

There’s little doubt that remote work can make employees feel alienated. In fact, the share of remote workers who said they connected to the purpose of their organizations fell to 28% from 32% in 2022 — the lowest level since before the pandemic, according to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal.

The trend means more workers are simply fulfilling their basic responsibilities, the article notes, rather than focusing on what they can do to help their teammates.

1. Eat together, even when you’re apart. Something as simple as holding regular virtual coffee breaks or lunches can help strengthen social ties. Norway-based tech company Memory holds virtual lunches for its staffers on a weekly basis. Think of other fun bonding experiences, such as virtual game events or movie nights.

Another option is to randomly pair employees in virtual coffee chats using an app. These one-on-one meetings can help workers expand their network beyond who they work with and simulate watercooler moments. 

2. Launch employee chatrooms. Create online forums where people can share personal news, trade jokes, or bond over shared interests that have nothing to do with work. Buffer has various channels that are based on employees’ interests. With the help of an app, the forums regularly ask participants questions to spark conversations.

“In our books channel we might ask, ‘What are you currently reading? What book has made the most impact on your life?’” the company says. 

3. Meet in-person sometimes. Even fully remote companies acknowledge the importance of meeting face-to-face from time to time. GitLab, for instance, convenes in-person annual summits and subsidizes travel expenses for employees who want to work together in-person. 

“In all-remote settings, these known touch points are critical for morale,” GitLab says. “Team members can plan their year around these seminal moments with a period of in-person experiences giving them fresh perspective when engaging in the future through Zoom or phone.”

Final thoughts

When it comes to replicating essential work activities virtually, there are no easy fixes. But for employers who are bucking the return-to-office trend, the hard work is worth it, for now.

Vista, a Netherlands-based design and marketing company, is sticking with the remote-first policy it adopted in 2020, even though the decision has required a major overhaul of its practices. The payoff: Vista has been able to tap larger talent pools, boost results, and enhance employee engagement, Dawn Flannigan, vice president of human resources for Vista’s parent company Cimpress, told the BBC. 

“We were presented with an opportunity to embrace a better way of working,” Dawn says, “and rethink our talent strategy.”

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