Virtual Water Cooler Talk: Making Social Connections in the Remote Workplace
You're never too far from your colleagues and employees in an actual office.
Employees often gather around office water coolers to chat, engage in water cooler talk, and share quick updates. These water cooler moments create opportunities for informal conversation, foster camaraderie, and strengthen company culture. Recreating these moments is essential for remote workers, hybrid teams, and fully remote setups to encourage employee engagement, boost productivity, and cultivate community.
Are you looking for the solution? It all comes down to one unique and modern concept: the virtual water cooler.
It's a 21st-century solution to the real-life water cooler, where co-workers naturally engage in casual conversations about everything from the latest viral news to the newest must-binge series on Netflix. This option allows your team members to connect informally. The difference, naturally, is that it's all online - perfect for remote and hybrid teams.
What is a Virtual Water Cooler?
A virtual water cooler is the online equivalent of the water cooler chat. It provides team members a casual, informal space to interact, discuss fun topics, or take a break from work. These spaces allow employees to connect personally, share ideas, and engage in informal discussions without the constraints of formal meetings.
Whether it’s a dedicated Microsoft Teams channel, a Zoom break room, or an intranet chat, virtual water coolers are essential for fostering company culture, team bonding, and employee morale. They help employees foster relationships, share knowledge, and feel included in the workplace culture, even from a distance.
It’s essentially a digital version of a break room, providing remote workers a chance to mix, mingle, chat, and relax throughout the day. There’s even an opportunity for games! It’s the anti-meeting: a casual workplace space where people can feel free to be themselves, without the constraints of work rules.
Virtual water coolers benefit businesses in countless ways. The team-building activities you incorporate into your digital water cooler, from building rapport to strengthening relationships, can completely transform your remote workplace.
Nothing is mandatory about them and that’s their beauty. There’s a free-for-all quality that makes them especially appealing. Your team can pull up a virtual seat anytime and chill at the water cooler for as long (or little) as they’d like.
A different kind of bonding can occur in this type of environment, helping those bonds between employees grow stronger as a result. You can even consider it a valuable tool in appealing to quality applicants and strengthening employee retention.
Don’t confuse your virtual water cooler with your larger team-building efforts, though they're equally important. One is always present whenever employees want to take a few minutes to chill with their co-workers. Team-building is a more concentrated, scheduled effort that could include anything from fundraisers to retreats with the group.
Why Are Virtual Water Coolers Important for a Remote Team?
A wise man once said stop, collaborate, and listen. That's the kind of dynamic that takes any healthy workplace to the next level. Everyone's connected, everyone's fully engaged, and everyone is fueled to create, to share, and to focus on the common goal. That's exciting - and you can recreate those vibes just as easily in the remote workplace when you offer your team the chance to connect.
This is where the virtual water cooler really shines. It's an opportunity for interpersonal relationships to flourish. After all, connecting behind the screen slightly differs from rolling up to a co-workers desk when the mood strikes. You want to be so much more for your employees than the company. You want to build a culture, which often stems from supportive opportunities like these. It just requires a little extra effort in the virtual world.
We know that well: Goosechase has been remote since its inception in 2011, so we’ve got a lock on creating the happiest digital workforces around! People will flock to your company with the same zeal when it becomes clear that you value cultivating a solid remote culture.
Benefits of Office Water Cooler Talk
Engaging in chit-chat around the office water cooler strengthens internal communication, helps employees connect personally, and fosters a positive work environment. These benefits of water cooler talk can boost employee engagement, encourage better collaboration, and lead to greater productivity even in remote work settings.
They improve Employee Engagement
Employees communicate more efficiently on the clock when connected and engaged informally at the virtual water cooler. This relaxed environment inspires personal-level connections, casual chats about conversation topics like playlists, weekend plans, or hobbies, and even non-work-related issues. Water cooler talk encourages informal chats, strengthens team-building, and fosters a sense of belonging, helping employees feel included and motivated.
Think of it this way: conventional water coolers are just a part of the office furniture. They’re valuable, but don’t stand out because they’re simply vehicles for conversation. The true value of these moments lies in the engagement that drives better collaboration, encourages catch-ups, and makes employee connection crucial to the bottom line.
In a remote or hybrid work environment, you must take extra steps to create shared spaces for spontaneous conversations and informal chats that allow everyone to relax and open up. The virtual water cooler does more than inspire a fun catch-up, it provides opportunities to connect, share inclusive topics, and foster a thriving company culture.
It can inspire new ideas, encourage people to share their feelings and concerns, and reinforce a sense of camaraderie. Those are all key to fostering a happy and emotionally healthy workforce that’s ready to show up and do their work. Here are more employee engagement ideas.
They encourage teamwork
Water cooler conversations create opportunities for team bonding, knowledge sharing, and building employee trust. These water cooler and non-work-related topics foster casual interactions, inspire great ideas, and encourage simply spending time together. Mini bonding sessions at a virtual water cooler strengthen camaraderie, increase motivation, and often spark creative ideas while helping employees connect personally.
Think of it as a break room for informal meetings. Sure, you can shoot the breeze as you discuss the cool trip you took over the weekend, but don't discount its value from a professional perspective. These water cooler moments also help foster a culture of collaboration and support, making fully remote teams feel more included and engaged.
Those mini bonding sessions in the virtual setting increase employee trust, promote better employee retention, and create highly engaged employees. With that camaraderie comes even more motivation to get the job done. You might be surprised at the innovations born from the digital water cooler. Once employees start talking together, there's no telling where the conversation might lead and what that might mean for your company.
They boost productivity
Even a short water cooler chat provides a break from work, helping employees return refreshed. Casual workplace conversations in a virtual water cooler setting can improve morale, well-being, and overall productivity.
They foster Company Culture
A virtual water cooler supports workplace culture, improves employee retention, and helps employees feel connected in remote and hybrid teams. Employees connect personally, naturally build friendships, and enjoy a sense of community.
How to Create a Virtual Water Cooler?
Video conferencing software or a group chat program can build your online hangout. While chatting is a good first step, you can foster much deeper connections between remote employees by using video as your primary source of communication.
With video conferencing, you can create break rooms where everyone can meet at different times to catch up, whenever they want, wherever they want. Whether on their coffee break, eating lunch, or just wanting to take a breather after a tough phone call or a challenging deadline, they can find peace in this virtual space.
The beauty of this option is that it's easily accessible from anywhere. Clacking away at the keyboard in the coffee shop, flying around town getting things done. Whatever’s going on, they can tap into the virtual water cooler and quickly connect with everyone else who's present.
Want to go the chat route? That works, too! You can create dedicated rooms for your team to connect, maybe a virtual #water-cooler channel, or several mini channels devoted to different topics. They can pop in whenever they want for a casual hang or to talk about anything, work or otherwise.
Here are some of our team's most active Slack channels; catch us popping in and out of these all day!
Our team is especially active in #Food, #Pets, and #Travel Slack channels
If you think about it, Twitter (or X if you prefer) hosts the ultimate virtual water cooler. Conversation is digestible and always just a keyboard stroke away. People pop in and out all day, checking and commenting on whatever topics interest them. This screengrab of one of the first iterations of Twitter, back then "Twttr, says it all, "If you have a cell and can txt, you'll never be bored again...EVER!"
Activities You Can Create for a Virtual Water Cooler
So how do you set up a virtual water cooler? Building relationships is a big part of making memorable water cooler moments. Remember, this isn’t a one-time thing: it’s an ongoing, always-open spot, like the 24-hour café you called your second home during your college days. If you need some help shaking up the conversation now and then, here are some ideas to consider:
- Proud pet parents: How about a virtual pet channel where everyone’s furry family gets the bragging rights they deserve? That’s sure to start a few virtual water cooler chats! Make it a contest to show off the most creative picture possible.
- Getting to know you: If your employees are dotted all over the place, odds are they don’t really know each other. Use Goosechase to make getting to know one another an adventure! Keep it fresh, fun, and silly. No seriousness allowed at the virtual water cooler!
- Fun activities include giving your co-workers a tour of your neighborhood, showing off the most creative lunch of the day, or competing for “funniest novelty mug”. It’s all about making some fresh memories off the clock.
- Let your Goosechase Experience run throughout the month, so your team is compelled to come back to check out new Missions whenever they’re released. That’s a great way to support constant engagement and it means everyone can participate when they’re available.
More than a name: Let's get to know each other!
Get your team members mixing and mingling with this getting-to-know-you Goosechase Experience!
- Test your knowledge: How well do your people keep up with current events? Or historical events, for that matter? Make this online trivia game a blast by mixing up the subjects so everyone has a fair shot. Include general knowledge, sports, music and entertainment to keep it fun. Our team gets competitive over (aptly named!) Water Cooler Trivia every Monday.
- Water cooler events: Time to get a little silly! Or crazy. Or wacky. Or downright goofy. No holds barred. Anything goes at the virtual water cooler precisely because there are no rules and zero employee participation requirements.
- But, making it fun makes it more appealing for everyone! Whether it’s a quirky cooking challenge (make a meal with whatever you have in your fridge) or a surprise Goosechase Experience with some Missions that encourage them to get their move on, there are plenty of ways to make yours a water cooler to remember. Check out our list of fun ideas for your next work event.
- Ask personal questions: Get to know your coworkers better with a virtual activity you'll be cracking jokes about at team meetings to come. Asking (workplace-friendly!) “truth or dare” or “would you rather?” type questions are definitely bound to make things interesting. Of course, no one’s required to take part — that’s just another advantage of virtual water cooler activities. People participate as they please.
Companies worldwide rely on Goosechase to take their collaborative goals to the next level. Our platform makes it incredibly simple to make any bonding vision a reality. You can create a lively, engaging, and fun water cooler for your employees. Develop fun games, contests, and ongoing events from scratch or use our Goosechase Experience and Mission templates. Invite your team members, and you’ll be surprised how many people join in! It’s sure to transform your remote team into a solid, engaged group that loves to connect regularly.
Bottom line: You can cultivate the ultimate remote experience by incorporating a virtual water cooler. It supports a healthy and vibrant company culture and encourages casual conversations, spontaneous connections, and the best kinds of bonds between employees.
What is Goosechase?
At Goosechase, experience is everything. Originally inspired by scavenger hunts, Goosechase is an online platform that enables organizations and schools to engage, activate, and educate their communities through delightful interactive experiences. Sign up and try creating a free recreational Experience, or check out our Pricing!
