7 Tips on How to Make Friends When You Work from Home

Making an effort to have fun might seem like it’s draining some of the excitement, as spontaneity can often be both refreshing and informative. It teaches you about which co-workers will have a margarita at lunch on a Friday and which will just stay at their desk and eat a sandwich. While these days hybrid work is heavily scheduled, it doesn’t mean that you can’t pepper a bit of excitement into your workday, even if you have to plan it out. If forming friendships with your colleagues is not an option, start by reaching out to old friends or friends in other cities and see if they can connect you to anyone in the city you live in. Friends of friends are a great way to meet people because if you already have a mutual friend with a person, you probably have more in common than you think. Working remotely can feel lonely and sometimes awkward but chances are if you are working remotely and seeking friends, your colleagues probably feel the same.

This is a good opportunity not only to become useful but also to get emotional release and warmth, and meet some friends. Volunteering is a great way to meet nice people who care about others. Even these small experiments will improve your skills and increase your level of socialization when you work from home. You don’t have to go through it all alone – you can always take a friend’s help if you’re scared of meeting people on your own. Friendship is not built from one interaction; it grows gradually. According to the mere exposure effect, we unconsciously like those we are more exposed to.

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You will gain self-confidence, reduce stress and emotional tension. These simple tips will help you quickly integrate into society, make friends and valuable acquaintances when you work from home. This space is adapted specifically for freelancers and people who work from home.

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1. You can also drink coffee, grab a snack, and chat in a relaxed atmosphere during a break while discussing interests or everyday problems.
2. If you’re struggling to come up with the right words, ask your new colleague to tell you more about their role or their team.
3. Make an appointment in a crowded, trusted place to organize the most favorable environment for a joint holiday.
4. Connecting with people in smaller groups can create more opportunities for one-on-one discussions.
5. If you’ve already made one or two friends, congratulations!
6. Don’t let it dissuade you, however, from tapping into the random chat every once and a while.

Try to find common interests and contacts, find the perfect environment. Now that you have stopped talking about work, how to make friends when you work from home start sharing stories. According to a meta-analysis (which combines data from multiple studies), people like people who disclose details about themselves.

I tried lingering at a few of my meetings last week, and I am here to report that it was a great idea. Because the last person at a group mentorship meeting happened to be the hosts, I got some one-on-one face time with them that I wouldn’t ordinarily get to have. Because we had some extra, meaningful interaction about a particular issue, they explicitly solicited my advice during the next group meeting.

Between April 2020 and February 2021, Microsoft’s 2020 Work Trend Index reported that work relationships have shifted in an unfortunate direction. However, as remote work became rote, companies have become quite siloed, and even interactions with close teammates have significantly diminished. In these remote work times, some of the more natural opportunities for praise – like head nodding in a meeting or a quick “nice work! Everyone likes to be recognized for their hard work, so take a minute to send a text or an email letting someone know you noticed them.

Do things with people IRL

Volunteering is a great way to make friends when you work from home, do a good deed, and fulfill your civic duty. Talking to a barista while hanging out in a coffee shop, asking a consultant in a store to help you choose some products.

Coworking spaces are designed for remote workers who crave the community of office space. They can be a good way to build friendships as there are opportunities to engage and participate in group activities similar to a typical work environment. Besides WeWork which is in most cities, search for independent coworking spaces in your city and You’d be surprised what you find. The Croissant app is a great tool that can help you find other options. Research has shown that work colleagues typically comprise a large amount of friendship and acquaintance social circles and these work relationships can be crucial to your health and overall wellbeing. When you don’t have access to the day-to-day camaraderie you would normally get in the office with other people, meeting new people becomes harder.

Marisa Franco, Ph.D., was previously a professor at Georgia State University, where she became an academic expert on friendship. She currently works as a policy fellow at Millenium Challenge Corporation. Embrace transparency, foster a sense of belonging, form connections – and have fun along the way. Many companies have affiliate groups for people of color, women, or LGBTQ employees. They may have clubs for particular interests (like volunteering) or work-related committees that focus on specific projects or initiatives within the organization. We all love to poke fun at icebreaker activities, but they’re still around for a reason.

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We often think likable people are funny or smart or charismatic, but the secret to being likable is actually to like people. According to the theory of inferred attraction, people like people who they think like them. Co-workers will be more likely to want to be your friend if you show them you like them by doing things like greeting them warmly, speaking highly of them, and celebrating their success. Notice that Shonda had a big smile on her face when someone mentioned the latest episode of “Only Murders in the Building”? Send her a quick message asking what she thought about the cliffhanger ending.