Remote work can be isolating for employees working from home. The employee working on the laptop all day long lacks the human connection and informal chats that usually happen in offices. Lack of such human connection not only decreases productivity but also hampers team-building.
On the other hand, regular meetings with colleagues build camaraderie and contribute to team building. It gives an employee a much-needed break from work while building connections across the organization. Such breaks benefit the employee as they feel like they are part of the organization.
Virtual Coffee apps give employees an excuse to meet and build these connections even while working remotely. Not only does it make the employee more productive but they get to network across teams and departments in the organization.
There are many slack apps to conduct virtual coffee from time to time but it’s hard to find the right ones. So, here’s a curated list of 5 virtual coffee apps for slack to seamlessly host a coffee break.
These apps conduct virtual coffees right in slack for you to catch up with your colleagues.
In this post, we’ll compare and contrast the following in detail:
- Features/Capabilities
- Pricing & Available Plans
- Online Ratings (Capterra, Trustpilot, G2)
Disclaimer: VirtualCoffee By Trivia is our own app. We’ve done our best to present the information evenly because we want you to make an educated decision. That said, we are proud of our VirtualCoffee app and built it with the features and ease that we’d want (and we use it every day ourselves).
Learn more here and use VirtualCoffee by Trivia for free to join thousands of companies who use us like OLX, Quora, Shopify, NBA, and more…
VirtualCoffee
VirtualCoffee is one of the best slack apps to introduce new teammates for collaboration. It helps employees to skip the small talk and have casual conversations with colleagues.
Such a coffee break turns out to be a great way for employees to know everyone in the organization and build camaraderie. It also helps in:
- Breaking The Ice
Regular virtual coffees become an excuse for employees to meet their colleagues and break the ice. Such ice-breaker sessions make it easy and comfortable for employees to work together later on.
- Build Connections
Such meets help employees get to know each other beyond work and build connections. These connections strengthen the team and also generate a feeling of inclusion among employees.
VirtualCoffee’s Features
- Easy To Use
VirtualCoffee is super easy to use and can be set up in only a few steps.
Search “VirtualCoffee” on the Slack App Store and click “Add to Slack” or Visit VirtualCoffee Homepage and click “Add to Slack”. After that, select the channel where you want to start pairing people.
- Automate Social Interaction
Once VirtualCoffee is set up, all members of the integrated group are matched for a Virtual Coffee in a group DM every Wednesday. It automates the interaction and employees don’t have to schedule or reach out to anyone.
Along with matching you, VirtualCoffee provides ice-breaker questions related to both work and personal life. These questions kickstart the conversation and help start on a positive note.
- Shortcuts And Slash Commands
Shortcuts help you run VirtualCoffee without leaving slack and Slash Commands help you complete an action by sending a message like “/coffee [help]”.
It makes the VirtualCoffee app quick and easy to use.
- Organization-Wide Deployment
VirtualCoffee can be installed at an organization level instead of installing individually in each workspace. It makes it easy to implement VirtualCoffee for any department in the company.
What Happens When You Add VirutalCoffee On Slack?
When you add the VirtualCoffee app to slack, employees are automatically matched with colleagues every Wednesday. They are matched over a group DM with an ice-breaker that let them know each other better and builds camaraderie.
Pricing And Available Plans For VirtualCoffee
VirtualCoffee is a free slack app for any organization to build strong virtual teams.
VirtualCoffee’s Rating
VirtualCoffee is an app by Trivia. Trivia has over 60 reviews on Capterra and G2 with a rating of 4.7/5 and 4.4/5 respectively.
It is also featured in one of Product Hunt’s newsletters and got more than 300 upvotes on the first day of launch on Product Hunt.
VirtualCoffee is not just a virtual coffee app but a tool to build stronger remote teams. It breaks the ice-between employees to give them a sense of belonging and increase the overall employee engagement.
You can use virtual coffee for:
- Breaking the ice between employees(Click here to see its benefits)
- Have fun in the workplace(Check out some of the best ideas)
- Increase employee engagement(Click here to know how)
Donut
Donut is a template-oriented slack app that let you interact serendipitously for virtual coffee, peer learning, and more.
Donut’s Features
Schedule Automatically
Donut schedule the virtual coffee automatically, once the setup is done.
Pricing And Available Plans For Donut
Donut’s offers three pricing tiers to choose from:
- A free plan that provides limited features.
- The standard plan is for $49 to $399(billed annually) with additional features for a maximum of 200 users.
- A premium plan for $99 to $799(billed annually) with all features for a maximum of 200 users.
Donut’s Rating
It has a rating of 4.7/5 and 4.6/5 on G2 and Capterra respectively from a total of 19 reviews.
Catchup
Catchup is a slack app to organize and automate virtual coffees for team building and team learning.
Catchup’s Features
- Customizable Intro Message
The message that appears while matching can be customized according to you.
- Customize Group Size
You can choose the number of employees to match for a virtual coffee.
- Statistics
Give you data on paused members and the percentage of matches each week.
- Pause Inactive Members
It detects inactive members and stops matching them.
- Add Roles
You can assign roles so that an employee is matched to specific roles according to the company’s requirements.
Pricing And Available Plans For Catchup
Catchup offers three pricing options:
- Free: It matches up to 30 users at a time.
- Builder: It matches up to 100 users at a time.
- Enterprise: It matches unlimited users.
Catchup’s Rating
Cachup has no reviews on product portfolio sites like G2, Capterra, and Trustpilot.
Coffee Roulette
It is a slack app for setting up zoom meetings with your colleagues and enjoying a virtual coffee.
Coffee Roulette’s Features
Slash Commands
Slash commands on coffee roulette help you operate it without leaving slack.
Pricing And Available Plans For Coffee Roulette
It is free to use for anyone.
Coffee Roulette’s Rating
It’s not listed on G2, Capterra and Trustpilot.
RandomCoffee
Random Coffee is a virtual coffee app focused on the targeted connections between employees at an organization.
RandomCoffee’s Features
Own Matching Rules
You can decide the frequency and days for the virtual coffee across the organization.
Dashboard For Analyzing
It helps you track and analyze the effectiveness and engagement of employees for virtual coffee.
Customize Your Message
You can customize the messages sent to employees while matching for virtual coffee.
Pricing And Available Plans For RandomCoffee
RandomCoffee doesn’t offer fixed plans but you can contact their sales team for a free demo.
RandomCoffee’s Rating
There are no reviews of RandomCoffee on G2, Capterra and Trustpilot.
Remote work poses new challenges for every organization, but it is still important to build and sustain strong teams in any organization. Slack apps like VirtualCoffee are a perfect solution for better team building and creating a sense of belonging. It led to higher productivity, better retention, and ultimately a better work environment for everyone to thrive.
Click here to add VirtualCoffee for free now.
FAQs
Virtual Coffee is just a way to catch up with people while drinking coffee during a virtual meeting.
You can use any of the slack apps like VirtualCoffee mentioned here to set up virtual coffee on slack. These apps will automatically match you with someone for a virtual coffee.
With apps like VirtualCoffee, you don’t have to ask for a virtual coffee. By setting up the VirtualCoffee app on slack, you will match every Wednesday for a virtual coffee with ice-breaker questions.
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