Over the past few years, many offices have brought people back on-site, but remote and hybrid work are still going strong. For administrative staff especially, working from home can offer real benefits such as more flexibility, better work-life balance, and a boost in productivity.

Admins who work remotely, or who support remote teams, are also in a unique spot to keep people connected. They’ve always played a big part in bringing teams together, and today they can use familiar tools to help build community and strengthen workplace culture, even from a distance.

Here are some easy, practical ideas administrative professionals can put into practice to try and bring people together and strengthen community at work:

Deepen connections with check-in questions

Admins tasked with setting agendas for internal staff meetings can start meetings with check-in questions to not only “break the ice,” but also to gauge participants’ mindsets during a meeting. Traditional ice-breaker questions offer a chance to create levity in any meeting without asking participants to engage too deeply or emotionally. For teams that feel comfortable doing so, asking holistic, reflective questions allows staff to share a more personal side of themselves, which helps foster the sense of community and mutual understanding that many workplaces struggle with.

Here are a few examples to illustrate the difference:

• Traditional icebreaker questions (light and fun):

  • If you could have any superpower for a day, what would it be?

  • What’s your go-to comfort food?

  • If you could instantly travel anywhere in the world right now, where would you go?

  • What’s the last TV show, movie, or book you really enjoyed?

  • Do you prefer mornings or evenings?

  • What was your favorite childhood cartoon?

• Holistic check-in questions (deeper and reflective):

  • What’s one small win you’ve had this week, personally or professionally?

  • How are you recharging outside of work lately?

  • What’s something you’re looking forward to this month?

  • When was the last time you felt really energized at work? What contributed to it?

  • What’s one thing you’re grateful for today?

  • What’s a skill or hobby you’ve been wanting to explore?

  • How would you describe your current mindset in one word?

  • What’s a recent challenge you overcame and what did you learn from it?

Use virtual meeting polls for community-building activities

Many administrative professionals are likely familiar with polling and survey tools in their daily work, such as Zoom polls and Mentimeter. These tools can be used for easy and effective community-building activities. For example, starting an all-staff meeting with an icebreaker question using Zoom polls can help break the monotony of a standard meeting, or incorporating a simple Mentimeter word cloud with a fun question to show staff members what they have in common. Microsoft Whiteboard and similar tools can also be used for more interactive activities.

Promote social conversations using instant messaging applications

Nearly every modern workplace has some form of direct messaging service for teams to communicate in a way that is less formal than email, and administrative staff may be tasked with managing these spaces. While such services, including Slack and Zoom chat, are excellent for quick conversations about work tasks, they also provide a perfect platform for allowing staff to engage more socially and personally with each other. Some social channel suggestions include:

• food (for sharing recipes or local restaurants)
• pets (for sharing pictures of pets)
• pop-culture (for discussing everything related to TV, movies, music, etc.)
• sports (for general sports talk or setting up in-office fantasy sports pools)

Foster creativity using graphic design tools

Sometimes an email or Slack message just needs a little extra flair, or you might want to create something fun for an upcoming staff retreat. Creative visuals can go beyond simple communication—they can help people feel more connected to each other and to the organization. For example, an admin might design a playful graphic to celebrate a team milestone, create a virtual “birthday card” for a colleague, or put together a fun slideshow that showcases staff photos from a holiday event. These little touches give teams shared experiences and talking points, helping reinforce a sense of belonging.

There are plenty of easy-to-use services out there for making eye-catching graphics, posters, and videos. One of the most popular is Canva, which comes with ready-made templates for everything from holiday cards to event graphics. With a Canva Pro account, you also get tools like brand kits that make it simple to keep logos and colors consistent across all your designs.

Building Community, One Step at a Time

At the heart of it, community-building doesn’t always require elaborate programs or big initiatives—it can grow out of simple, thoughtful gestures. By using the tools already at their fingertips, administrative professionals can spark moments of connection that ripple through an organization. Whether it’s a quick poll, a lighthearted chat channel, or a well-placed check-in question, these small actions can make remote work feel a little less remote and help every colleague feel more connected.