You are not alone: Gallup reports 20% of workers are lonely

Becky Norman

HRZone

Managing Editor

You are not alone: Gallup reports 20% of workers are lonely

New Gallup data shows that workplace loneliness is on the rise and likely impacting the wellbeing, engagement and performance levels of employees. Some organisations may see this as an excuse to jump on the ‘return to office’ bandwagon, but confronting this issue will require a far more culture-enriching, data-informed approach.

By Becky Norman

Work today is not only contributing to rising stress and anxiety levels, it’s also making us feel lonely. As Gallup shows in its latest State of the Global Workplace report, 20% of employees experience daily loneliness, with fully remote workers reporting higher levels of loneliness (25%) than on-site workers (16%).

Organisations today are already struggling to make their wellbeing interventions have a meaningful impact on the mental and physical health of employees. Adding loneliness into the mix of messy issues to contend with may feel a step too far for some employers. But ignoring the problem will not only contribute to poor health among affected employees, it will also prevent your business from reaping the benefits of a highly cohesive, thriving workforce.

So how can you combat loneliness at work and overcome this barrier to social connection, belonging and good mental health? Some may assume that the most obvious route is to get back to fully on-site or in-office working. But this isn’t necessarily getting to the heart of the issue and could do more harm than good.

To help you confront workplace loneliness effectively, here are some expert-approved steps you can take.

Address poor engagement levels

Gallup’s data shows that remote workers are the lonely hearts among our organisation, but remember that being alone doesn’t equate to loneliness. “While it can be easy for us to attribute a rise in workplace loneliness to an increase in the numbers of employees working away from their colleagues, the reality is that loneliness at work is often more about feeling disconnected than it is about being alone,” says Gething Nadin, Chief Innovation Officer, Benefex, and Culture Pioneer Awards judge.

Indeed, Gallup’s research shows a correlation between loneliness at work and poor engagement, with engaged employees 64% less likely to be lonely than those who are not engaged.

“Any effort to combat workplace loneliness should begin by ensuring your people are not only connected to each other, but that their work, your mission and your values are all in tune with each other,” Nadin says. “While it may be challenging to bridge the physical distances that now exist between most employees, we can far more easily work to get our people more connected to the organisation. Boosting employee engagement will go some way to improving feelings of loneliness among the workforce.”

Loneliness is not just an unfortunate life experience, it has clear links with poor mental and physical health outcomes.

Focus on high-quality connection and operational cohesion

Community building is key to tackling loneliness and fostering a sense of belonging among colleagues. But surface-level strategies will not suffice, Charlie O’Brien, Head of People at Breathe points out: “Community is not made from within one building, nor is it a quick exchange of information over slack. Community is a feeling and a set of relationships that people need to maintain common needs”.

You may not be able to change the physical distance among geographically dispersed employees (nor should you consider this your go-to strategy), but you can manage operational cohesion between your remote teams. “If your employees are feeling operationally distant, for example the tools, policies or procedures don’t contribute to successful collaboration, then this is something that needs to be assessed and improved,” O’Brien highlights.

Take a data-informed, strategic approach

Loneliness is not just an unfortunate life experience, it has clear links with poor mental and physical health outcomes. Last year, the World Health Organization (WHO)’s US surgeon general stated that its mortality effects are equivalent to smoking 15 cigarettes a day.

Given the significant health threat of loneliness, clinical psychologist and director of Ultimate Resilience Dr Joanna Burrell urges employers to take a strategic approach to combating this problem. She suggests a three-pronged approach:

1. Data and insights

Start with a brief staff survey to identify the demographics of people affected by loneliness across your workforce, including their roles and work locations. You can then use this data to build targeted initiatives that will positively impact those in need.

2. Empower managers to act as culture champions

Equip your managers with the skills required to bolster team cohesion, wellbeing and encourage prosocial behaviours among employees. “Prosocial behaviours are voluntary acts aimed at benefiting others – appreciation, interest, inclusion or kindness. They are known to reduce feelings of disconnection and, importantly, help to build trust, which is the cornerstone of strong relationships.” Burrell states.

3. Encourage curiosity and shared interests

As part of your community building strategy, allow space and time for employees to be curious about one another’s lives and find common ground. “Research in Robert M. Sapolsky’s book Behave shows that the brain gives out a shot of the ‘love’ hormone, oxytocin, when we identify a shared interest or experience with another person. The hormone’s release is accompanied by feelings of affection, deepening the relationship bond,” says Burrell.

One-fifth of your workforce could be experiencing loneliness and holding your teams back from reaching their full potential.

Tackling loneliness in practice

One organisation actively addressing the issue of rising employee loneliness is WRAP, sustainability NGO and winner of the 2023 Culture Pioneer Wellbeing Award. The company acknowledges that their hybrid working setup could contribute to feelings of loneliness and act as a barrier to belonging, and has consequently taken preventative steps.

“Aside from working with our people managers to encourage teams to come together to collaborate, one of the measures we are currently investigating to combat loneliness is how we can create a virtual office environment,” says Claire Shrewsbury, Director of Insights & Innovation and Chair of WRAP’s FREDIE network. In this environment “colleagues can drop in and out of a Teams-type meeting, using breakout rooms to chat with colleagues, as required.”

Another way WRAP is striving to boost connection and belonging is through its many affinity groups. Affinity groups are networks of colleagues with shared interests, experiences or characteristics, who come together to connect and bond. WRAP’s Mental Health Support Group in particular helps tackle social disconnection with its regular virtual ‘Tea & Talk’ sessions.

Ensuring new starters feel well integrated across the organisation is also important for WRAP, with ‘buddies’ allocated to encourage cross-WRAP relationship building. Additionally, the organisation factors in the manager’s role in preventing loneliness, with upskilling sessions rolled out to help managers promote wellbeing within their teams and signpost support where needed.

While every organisation is unique, these connection-crafting initiatives from WRAP can serve as inspiration, particularly for businesses that offer hybrid working.

Final takeaways on workplace loneliness

One-fifth of your workforce could be experiencing loneliness and holding your teams back from reaching their full potential. It’s therefore important to dig into how prevalent this feeling is within your organisation and take necessary action. Here are some final takeaways:

Start with internal data: Conduct a wellbeing survey to uncover which specific cohorts are experiencing loneliness to help tailor your approach and maximise positive impact.
Reflect on your mission and values: Are these well communicated across your teams? Do they genuinely reflect your ways of working or is there misalignment that needs addressing? Tackling this could be key to any poor connection issues bubbling up.
Equip your managers to be culture guardians: Ensure your managers are creating a team culture that supports meaningful recognition, psychological safety, bonding moments and a sense of fun and experimentation.
Consider technology as an enabler: For remote and hybrid work scenarios, experiment with digital connection tools and virtual office environments. Appoint a particularly curious, learning-hungry team to experiment with the technology and feedback on effectiveness before selecting and scaling.