If you've worked with us before, you'd likely recognize our office’s cozy brick walls, thriving plants, or occasional interruption of train whistles passing by. While we’ll always be bigs fans of our office space, our team enjoys the flexibility of working from home part of the week. We've even welcomed Heidi, our first fully remote employee in Minnesota.

With this shift, we've found some creative ways to still maintain our connection and collaboration, both integral parts of our culture at Knapsack.

Here are three ways we're doing just that!

1. Get creative with Slack channels

Slack is the app we use to communicate internally as a team. While there’s several channels that are work focused, we have a few that serve a different purpose.

This quarter we launched the #breakroom channel for the purpose of connecting remotely. A random, funny question is posted in this channel every Monday morning and teammates respond in a thread. This week’s question was “What’s the weirdest thing in your fridge right now?” (I told you it was random). A few of my favorites have been:

• What’s an album you recommend that has no bad songs?

• If you had a magic button on your desk to bring you whatever you wanted, what would it summon?

• What’s the worst haircut you ever had? (we even got some photos on this one)

It’s a small, but disruptive way to create some laughter and connection throughout the week, without having to be in the same room.

Another Slack channel we love is our #kudos channel. Anytime we get a awesome Google review or kind words in an email, we drop it in and make sure to (virtually) celebrate.

2. Host a monthly, virtual hangout or game

This quarter we started playing a game together over video every month. We block off an hour, bring our lunches, and jump into a Google Meet room. Our recent game of choice has been Codenames using their online version.

This provides the team with an hour to laugh, unplug, get competitive, and not think about their to-do list. Whether you play a game or just hangout and eat lunch, setting apart intentional time to connect in a remote environment is essential.

3. Create space for sharing or checking in

When our team was primarily in the office, checking in happened naturally. Now I’m finding if there isn’t time blocked off on the calendar, it may not happen. Here are few ways that we do this:

• We have a team meeting twice a month where we go over issues, ideas, etc. But before we dive into that, the first 30 minutes or so is for connecting. Everyone shares their “highs and lows” from the last week or two. It’s a great time to hear what’s been enjoyable, challenging, or stressful for each person.

• I have prescheduled one-on-ones with each team member quarterly (sometimes more). I like to ask questions like what are you enjoying most about your job, what’s been challenging, biggest pain points, and is there anything you’re hoping to change or learn?

4. BONUS: Host an annual, in-person retreat

Carve out a weekend, find an awesome location to house everyone, plan some activities, and you’re certain to create more team connection!

We had our first retreat back in 2022 at a beautiful house in the mountains. We played games, ate meals together, had our first Knapsack talent show (this was the highlight), roasted marshmallows, and told our favorite stories from work around the bonfire. It was memorable for sure.

It takes lots of planning and logistics, but I think it’s especially worth it for fully remote teams!

Well there you have it! We hope this was helpful if you’re also making the shift to a more remote environment.

We’d love to hear the ways you’re building connection from home. Drop us a comment to share! 👇