How Remote Workers Make Friends

For several decades, the Gallup Organization has administered the world’s most popular survey of employee engagement. The survey, known sometimes as the Q12, asks participants to rate how much they agree or disagree with 12 carefully worded statements. And one statement stands out as peculiar at first glance:

I have a best friend at work

When you read it, your first reaction is often “who cares?” Afterall, what does a best friend have to do with doing your best job?

But it turns out that having good friends at work predicts a lot about engagement and performance. For instance, researchers led by Jessica Methot found that connecting with coworkers for reasons beyond work-in other words building a friendship with them-significantly increased employees’ performance. Having friends that you interact with at work significantly boosts your own mood, but it also makes it easier to ask for help or get feedback on your work.

But in this new, work-from-anywhere, world, building friendships among teammates looks a lot different. You can’t just rely on sharing the same space to be the conversation starter that leads to finding shared interests. Instead, team leaders have to be much more deliberate.

So, in this article, we’ll offer five ways you can recreate that space-and those conversations-on a…