Remote work has transformed the way teams collaborate, creating unique hurdles when trying to build community. We asked industry experts to share one strategy their company uses to foster a sense of community and belonging among employees in a remote or hybrid setting. Discover actionable strategies for fostering connection and engagement in distributed teams.
- Virtual Coworking Fosters Spontaneous Connections
- Associates Not Employees Shift Company Culture
- Consistent Touchpoints Build Stronger Organizational Bonds
- Monthly Peer Appreciation Deepens Trust
- Failure to Fuel Ritual Strengthens Team
- Project Buddy Swaps Break Down Silos
- Living Values Daily Cultivates Genuine Inclusion
- Gamified Meetings Energize Remote Recruitment Teams
- Virtual Coffee Breaks Unite Remote Employees
- Slack Communities Connect Coworkers Beyond Work
- Learning Circles Drive Cross-Functional Problem-Solving
- Weekly All-Hands Celebrate Wins Together
- Game Nights Build Relationships Outside Work
- Regular Check-Ins Empower Team Engagement
14 Strategies From Leaders to Build Community
Virtual Coworking Fosters Spontaneous Connections
Organizing virtual coworking sessions has become an unexpected way to cultivate community and belonging among employees. These sessions aren’t your typical check-ins or meetings. They’re informal, video-on “office hours” where team members work independently, yet together. Having the shared virtual space encourages spontaneous conversations, just like when working side-by-side at a coffee shop.
These coworking hours can spark creativity and camaraderie, reducing feelings of isolation in remote settings. People often share what they’re working on, exchange advice, or even collaborate on a small project during this time. It’s an organic way for employees to connect and build relationships outside of structured meetings. This approach nurtures a supportive culture and helps team members feel part of a connected, vibrant community.
Sinoun Chea
CEO and Founder, ShiftWeb
Associates Not Employees Shift Company Culture
The biggest tiny shift we made? No one is an “employee” in our company. Everyone’s forbidden to use that word — we’re all associates. This small lingo change has had the biggest impact on how people approach work.
People don’t feel obligated to work for someone anymore. They show up to collaborate and work together as a tribe. Plus, our morning scrums start with sharing daily quirks and funny moments, not just project updates.
We also created a special Teams channel for memes, random recipes, and pet pictures. Combined with monthly virtual pub quizzes and constant appreciation notes for wins big and small, people actually want to show up. Remote work stops feeling isolating when your “colleagues” become your actual community.
Astha Verma
CEO & Founder, WrittenlyHub
Consistent Touchpoints Build Stronger Organizational Bonds
I know it sounds cliché, but Friday unwind sessions have been surprisingly effective for us. These don’t have to be traditional drinks; we’ve conducted themed sharing sessions where team members present something they’re passionate about, from side projects to travel photography. It creates genuine connections beyond work talk.
We also send care packages to remote team members, including local coffee selections or healthy snacks. There are subscription services that handle this, and it replicates that office kitchen conversation vibe virtually.
The real foundation, though, is creating psychological safety where team members feel heard both in group settings and one-on-one with their leaders. People need to know they can share concerns confidentially and get a fair hearing. Without this trust, surface-level activities fall flat.
We actively encourage cross-team collaboration through virtual team-building events like online escape rooms, collaborative playlist building, and group gaming sessions. Getting people to interact horizontally across departments, not just vertically with management, builds stronger organizational bonds.
What I’ve found is that consistency matters more than creativity. Regular touchpoints, whether it’s a weekly coffee chat or monthly virtual cooking session, create predictable opportunities for connection. The key is making participation feel natural, not forced.
Jeremy Rodgers
Founder, Contentifai
Monthly Peer Appreciation Deepens Trust
We host monthly peer appreciation sessions where team members highlight one another’s efforts publicly and intentionally. These sessions thoughtfully build mutual respect and recognition beyond manager feedback. They meaningfully create uplifting moments that reinforce shared values and purpose. The habit reliably helps sustain morale and connection within remote teams.
The strategy has noticeably deepened trust and collaboration across departments and projects. People consistently feel seen and valued by colleagues as well as leadership. Clients notice the positive energy that radiates through our work culture daily. Belonging grows where appreciation is openly part of the company’s heartbeat.
Jason Hennessey
CEO, Hennessey Digital
Failure to Fuel Ritual Strengthens Team
One of the most effective strategies we have, which fosters community in a hybrid work environment, is our “Failure to Fuel” debrief ritual. After any project or challenge, the team comes together, virtually or in person, and we reflect on three questions: What happened? What did we learn? How will we apply it?
This is a simple, structured habit that turns setbacks into shared learning and creates a safe space where people can speak openly without fear or blame.
Leadership plays a key role here. During the debriefs, I regularly share my own failures, setting the tone from the top. Leaders who model growth and humility show their teams that it’s okay to take risks and be real. Through this, we have built a culture where curiosity, empathy, and resilience are embedded in daily work.
In companies that we’ve coached with remote teams and engage in this practice, team members feel more supported, take more initiative, and trust each other faster. When people are encouraged to be vulnerable and reflective, they bond more deeply, which helps with outcomes and strengthens connections.
Connection doesn’t happen by accident in this remote and hybrid world. It takes intentional habits that reinforce shared values and humanize our work.
Rhett Power
CEO and Co-Founder, Accountability Inc.
Project Buddy Swaps Break Down Silos
We’ve developed an approach called “Project Buddy Swaps.” This involves pairing employees from different teams who might not normally work together for short-term projects or problem-solving sessions. Each month, we mix up the pairs and tasks to encourage fresh perspectives and cross-department collaboration. This isn’t just about getting another task done; it’s about breaking down silos and helping team members understand each other’s challenges and triumphs firsthand.
This strategy builds camaraderie organically because it drives people to learn from each other while working towards common goals. The connections forged during these interactions naturally extend beyond work, fostering a genuine sense of community even in a remote setting.
Will Yang
Head of Growth & Marketing, Instrumentl
Living Values Daily Cultivates Genuine Inclusion
One thing I’ve learned in over a decade in the tech hiring business is that real inclusion starts with agreed values you can see in daily work. In our team, we don’t just write down words like “empathy” and “respect” — we expect them to show up in how we handle candidate calls, client negotiations, and even internal disagreements. For example, we choose clients who share this mindset too; if a client consistently ignores candidate feedback or disrespects timelines, we step back, even if the contract looks attractive.
This clear alignment makes people feel safe and valued because they see that our standards don’t shift for convenience. One outcome I’ve seen is that new team members adapt faster because they don’t second-guess how to act or what the company expects in tricky situations. Belonging, for us, is not a one-off event but the result of living the same principles with colleagues, clients, and candidates every day.
Ann Kuss
CEO, Outstaff Your Team
Gamified Meetings Energize Remote Recruitment Teams
For our recruitment team — whose work can often feel repetitive and monotonous — we introduced biweekly team meetings combined with gamification to keep morale high and build connections.
Every two weeks, we gather to share updates, swap stories, and recognize team wins. We’ve added lighthearted competitions like “Funniest Interview” and “Best New Hire” to reward standout moments. These mini-games keep the environment playful and help everyone feel seen and appreciated.
Not only has this brought energy to the hiring process, but it’s also strengthened team culture. Even in a remote setting, our recruiters feel more engaged, connected, and part of something larger.
Grant Morningstar
CEO, Eleven8 Event Staff
Virtual Coffee Breaks Unite Remote Employees
We are a remote company and have been that way since our foundation. For me, as the CEO, it was crucial to foster a sense of community and belonging among my employees. One of the mechanisms we use to achieve this is having regular virtual coffee breaks and peer-led interest groups that are not work-related.
Such relaxed settings allow the team to connect around shared hobbies, cultural backgrounds, or simply at random, forming trust and personal connections beyond tasks. Also, they have significantly improved team morale and ensured that collaboration comes more easily, even across time zones.
George Fironov
Co-Founder & CEO, Talmatic
Slack Communities Connect Coworkers Beyond Work
I work for a digital marketing agency. We use Slack to communicate with each other about client-related matters. However, we also use Slack to create communities based on shared interests. For example, one of our communities is for garden enthusiasts to share tips and successes. Another community allows us to submit photos of places we’ve visited or things we’ve done.
At our company, since almost all of us work remotely 100% of the time, it can be challenging to develop and maintain genuine relationships with coworkers we’ve never met in person or have not had a chance to share personal (not work-related) experiences. Thankfully, our organizational leaders recognize that the workers need these additional ways to connect and get to know each other on a more meaningful level.
Luke Enno
Content Writer, Art Unlimited
Learning Circles Drive Cross-Functional Problem-Solving
One of the most effective strategies we use — and advise clients to adopt — is fostering purposeful peer connection. In a remote environment, connection can’t be left to chance. So we intentionally design lightweight, high-impact spaces — like virtual “learning circles” — where team members come together monthly to share insights from the field, ask for feedback, or surface what’s helping or hindering their impact. It’s not about status updates — it’s about mutual learning and real-time problem-solving.
This creates belonging in a way that’s deeply tied to value creation:
- It strengthens cross-functional thinking,
- Surfaces patterns and blind spots faster,
- And builds psychological safety that encourages smarter risk-taking.
We’ve implemented similar strategies for our clients — from founder forums to functional cohort sessions — and in every case, it drives clearer thinking and better business outcomes. When people feel connected, they move faster, think bigger, and are more invested in shared success. Community isn’t just a feel-good strategy — it’s a force multiplier for performance.
Jacqueline Hazan
CEO, Hazan Consulting
Weekly All-Hands Celebrate Wins Together
We refused to let remote work turn us into strangers.
Most teammates are scattered across time zones, which makes it easy for people to feel disconnected and out of sync.
So every Friday we host “The Week That Was” (WTW). It’s a 30-minute all-hands video call where department leads share slide decks of their top wins, shout out anyone who lived our values, and open the floor to celebrate every win as a team.
Now folks from different teams see each other’s faces weekly. New hires claim WTW helped them meet colleagues they’d never crossed paths with, and everyone logs off knowing exactly what we achieved together.
I often advise companies to celebrate wins as a community. Reinforce your values and invite even the quietest voices to give shout-outs.
Alexander De Ridder
Co-Founder & CTO, SmythOS.com
Game Nights Build Relationships Outside Work
One thing I’ve found really effective for building community among remote and hybrid teams is organizing virtual game nights and monthly in-person meetups for people who live in the same city. The remote setup is efficient, but without effort, it can start to feel isolating for some employees. These optional, casual events give people a chance to connect outside of work conversations, laugh a little, and build relationships that translate into stronger collaboration during the workday.
By creating community events, people feel more connected to the company and to each other, which shows up in everything from morale to productivity. It’s not just about fun; it’s about creating a company culture in the absence of a traditional office environment, where people feel seen and part of something bigger, no matter where they’re working from.
Richard Maize
Investor, Richard Maize Enterprises
Regular Check-Ins Empower Team Engagement
We conduct regular, informal team check-ins focused on connection. These sessions are for conversation, idea sharing, and feedback. They provide the team with time to engage and stay in sync without requiring a formal agenda.
We maintain a focused and intentionally structured team, which facilitates building strong working relationships and maintaining clear ownership. Everyone understands their role and how to contribute effectively.
Importantly, anyone in the company has the opportunity to voice their opinions and challenge ideas. We want everyone to feel empowered to share their thoughts and question the status quo.
These consistent touchpoints support a culture where people feel connected, aligned, and motivated to continue building.
Alex Smereczniak
Co-Founder & CEO, Franzy
