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Is your remote working culture starting to feel a little stale? It’s time to spice things up with cumin, rosemary and sage, naturally. Just kidding, probably with some office-appropriate fun. Science says that if you can motivate your team from a distance, this will increase their productivity and overall output.
So, the natural next question becomes: how can you motivate your team from a distance and build a greater sense of camaraderie? There's many great guides out there, and if your remote team is using Slack as the centralized hub for communication, it’s easiest to start there. Most teams are only scratching the surface when it comes to how they use Slack for team communication.
There’s an increasing treasure trove of fun Slack apps that you can use to bring your team closer together. Importantly, the seamless integrations help simplify setup.
In this article, we’re giving a quick rundown of our 34 favorite fun Slack apps.
Of course, we had to start with our own fun Slack app! Water Cooler Trivia is the ultimate icebreaker for your remote team. It’s a lighthearted activity that will relieve tension and get your team chatting to each other about something other than work. Taking the “fun approach” is the perfect way to spark conversations and strengthen relationships.
With our hand-built Slack integration, you can easily get started with Water Cooler Trivia.The quizzes and results will be automatically distributed directly in Slack for a weekly dose of fun. We initially developed Water Cooler Trivia as an email-based platform.As we learned through first-hand experience Slack’s power in connecting remote co-workers, we eagerly decided to build an integration. Read more about our building process and what we learned from building this Slack app.
Each trivia quiz takes only 60 seconds for team members to complete (and they can do it asynchronously - on their own time!). Once results are released, you can encourage the team to chat about the answers in a dedicated Slack channel. Set this up for 9:00am and it can improve a coworker’s morale and attitude for the entire day.
Water Cooler Trivia for Slack adds a level of comfort to your virtual workspace by making Slack feel more friendly. Our trivia quizzes can be adjusted to suit your team. Change the timing, difficulty, quiz length, categories, and even whether you want to exclude US-centric questions if you’re a global team.
In physical workplaces, we all know how important the office kitchen is to team culture. It’s where people go to chat about the latest gossip and catch up on weekend antics. This small talk is vital to creating an open team culture. Actively organizing opportunities for team members to chat improves cross-team communication.
Donut is all about getting people in one virtual channel on Slack to spark conversations on a common theme. From virtual coffee meetups to daily “donut meetings,” this app encourages people who don’t know each other on teams of all sizes to get together via direct messages and have a quick chat. Themed programs are doable as well, such as onboarding buddies and code review pals.
Who doesn’t love a fun GIF? The simple act of making someone smile can be a gamechanger. It sounds super small, we get it. But it could have the power to alter someone’s frame of mind. At the same time, spreading positivity can also make you feel good too. Gfycat is a fun Slack app for sharing your favorite GIFs with other team members.
Team leaders should try and create an environment where everyone feels as though they can share lighthearted GIFs with the rest of the team. They can do this through “leading by example”. Simply share GIFs and encourage others to do so! This helps create a team culture that doesn’t take itself too seriously and understands the importance of balancing professionalism with fun for a positive remote working environment.
Recognition in the workplace can be a major challenge for all teams, especially remote ones. Fortunately, Bonusly's Slack App puts employee recognition right where your team already works! It gives your team the ability to appreciate one another and even redeem rewards using Slack's latest API features.
When employees recognize each other, those bonuses appear in a shared channel, with a live feed of every bonus that employees can view and interact with throughout the workday. And you can add GIFs to any bonus directly through Slack, as well!
There are plenty of apps to explore on the Slack App Directory. In our incredibly biased viewpoint, your first stop should be Water Cooler Trivia. If you’re ready to enhance your remote team culture, find out more about how Water Cooler Trivia works today!
