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Crushing Workplace Fear in 2021
What makes life at work even more stressful these days is the need to appear sane and happy when the entire world is being turned upside. One thing to keep in mind is to understand that almost everyone else feels pretty much the same way. Who hasn’t lost someone to Covid, substance abuse or suicide in the last year? How many homebound kids are depressed? How many parents can focus at work when they know they’ve got “homework” until midnight, helping their children with online learning? How many of us don’t have a job at all?
All the world’s a stage. In the working world, it seems we’re in a contest to see who adapts the best or who best can hide the nagging anxiety. Understanding that we all are having a common experience is in itself healing and unifying. Talking about it is even better (so long as you keep the politics out of it). If ever there was a better opportunity for a manager to create a more relaxing and fun workplace, it’s right now. Many of us have forgotten how to have fun. It’s up to leadership at all levels support a compassionate corporate culture, perhaps offering group sessions for sharing personal pandemic experiences. Nobody survived the past year unscathed, including the stiff upper lips in top management.
Remote teams are really in the same boat as office staff, even more so if they live alone. While they have freedom and flexibility, working in your pajamas can be downright depressing. Being social animals, we all get lonely in isolation, even when we are not physically, but emotionally isolated. Getting out of the emotional slump means getting social — the entire team — either face to face or by teleconferencing.
If absence makes the employee’s heart grow fonder, then a team reunion in cyberspace or at the office can reignite relationships that have been in hibernation for a year.
At Venture Up, we’ve been able to keep up the pace during isolation working on Cyberthon virtual team games that turned out to be a big hit.
Cyberthon is probably the most addictive (in a fun way) set of games we have offered since we began in 1983. During the last six months alone, Southern Company, CSG and USDA Puerto Rico have run repeat programs.
Next in line for popularity is the Escape the Case conference room team building game, a top seller since 2019. Are you ready for fun at work? Please call 888.305.1065 or send us an email at [email protected].