6.1 Informal communication
When you are building relationships with colleagues, it is often the non-work conversations where you share information about what you did at the weekend, or a film you’ve recently enjoyed, etc. that create a more informal link between you. This is more difficult when you are working remotely as you don’t have those moments during your lunch break or when walking to the car park/train station/bus stop etc.
One way to create those informal links is to allow time for a non-work conversation during each interaction you have. If your employer has lots of staff working remotely, they might even have a virtual coffee meeting once a week where everyone gets together for a chat with no pressure to discuss work. Don’t dismiss this as a waste of time. As an intern, it could be a particularly useful way of building your network. If you’re unsure how to contribute, introduce yourself and then listen to others for a while so you can get a feel for typical topics for discussion.
One recent virtual intern shares another good example:
I used to meet some of my co-workers face-to-face over coffee once a month and we also had a Christmas lunch. It was a good way to get to know them and spend some time together outside work.