Offices make friends for you. You see the same people every day, you moan about the same coffee, and friendships happen without anyone planning them. Working from home takes all of that away. The fix is to rebuild the two things an office gave you for free: seeing the same people often, and a reason to talk to them.
Work somewhere with people, sometimes
A coworking space, a café with a regular crowd, the library one day a week. Go on the same days, at the same times. After a few weeks, the person at the next desk becomes someone you say hello to, and then someone you have lunch with.
Put something regular in the diary
Pick one weekly thing outside work: a run club, a class, a quiz team, a volunteering shift. Weekly is the important part. Friendship needs repetition, and a weekly slot gives you that without any planning.
Use the flexibility
Working from home means you can do things other people can’t: a lunchtime swim on a Wednesday, a morning class, a coffee at three in the afternoon. Daytime activities are often smaller and friendlier, and full of other remote workers, freelancers and shift workers looking for the same thing.
Turn colleagues into people
If your team is remote, the friendly people are still there. Leave a few minutes at the start of calls for a chat. Message someone about something other than work. If anyone lives nearby, suggest a coffee in person.
Say yes more than feels natural
When you work from home, it’s easy to let a whole week go by without leaving the house. For a few months, say yes to invitations you’d normally skip. Most of them won’t lead anywhere. One or two will.
Lines to borrow
- At the coworking space: “We’ve been desk neighbors for three weeks now. Want to try the café downstairs at lunch?”
- At a daytime class: “Do you come to the Wednesday swim every week? It’s the best part of my working week.”
- Turning a colleague into a person: “Not work-related at all, but I saw you’re into bouldering. Any wall you’d recommend?”
- Meeting in person: “Turns out we live twenty minutes apart. Shall we do a coffee instead of a call next week?”
- Saying yes: “A quiz on Thursday? I’m in. I haven’t left the house since Monday.”
Practice it
The Team Chat is free to play: a message to a colleague you only know from calls, and a plan to meet in real life. The Breakout Room practices breaking the silence on a video call, The Coworking Space talking to someone you see most weeks but have never really spoken to, and The Meetup the regular groups where friendships start.