Loneliness in the workplace has increased since the COVID-19 pandemic changed the way many companies operate – with most moving to hybrid or fully remote working.
However, it all started almost five years ago (Half a decade, can you believe it?!). While some companies continue to operate remotely or hybrid, many have returned to the office.
And yet, The loneliness remains.
Brand new data from aaask shows that this problem could be even worse than you might think. The survey aaaskSurveyed 170 people (who work remotely at least some of the time) about how they currently feel at work.
Let’s take a look at some of the highlights of the data.
Loneliness doesn’t come from working from home.
This is what the data revealed 60% of people feel lonelier at work than they did 5 years ago.
To be honest, his figure wasn’t really a surprise. Given the pandemic, it’s easy to blame working from home for the rise in workplace loneliness. The solution is simply to have everyone back on site, right?
Unfortunately it’s not that simple.
This was also what the survey showed 47% of people always or often feel lonely when working from home …
… And 43% of people always or often feel lonely when working on site (in the office).
Well, this data Was surprising! It shows that remote work is not responsible for increasing loneliness. It’s clear that no matter where they are, people feel disconnected from their colleagues.
Current strategies don’t work…
We didn’t just uncover problems with our data. We explored it too Solutions to loneliness at work.
Surprisingly (compared to the stats above) Most people (78%) are largely satisfied with the methods their employers have put in place to stay connected and engaged with colleagues.
These methods include Email, virtual meetings, asynchronous communication tools and project management tools.
“At aaask we can understand that. We use all of these methods to keep our colleagues connected – including regular, automated feedback surveys – and we find this combination works well to keep everyone on the same page.”
In fact, 84% of people said they have a true friend at work – someone they can rely on for emotional support.
And while these are all great things, it’s clearly not good enough. If this were the case, almost half of all employees would not report this Despite it lonely most of the time.
The effects of loneliness
Loneliness has many harmful effects on people, both on a personal and professional level.
Actually, 76% of people said loneliness at work had had a negative impact on their mental health, and 40% said the impact had been severe.
On a professional level The biggest impact of loneliness at work is a reduction in engagement (57%).followed by a feeling of burnout (45%).
Loneliness at work has also led 43% of people to want to quit their jobreduced the overall job satisfaction of 28% of people and made 24% of people feel disconnected from their team.
In total, 73% of survey respondents agreed that loneliness at work had hindered their career growth and development.
While all businesses face these challenges to some degree, it is quite shocking that the numbers are so high.
If your team is disengaged, feels like they’re not making professional progress, and feels disconnected from each other, you can probably expect productivity and work performance to take a big hit.
So employers seem to be doing everything right…
They use tools that make people happy, and companies ensure that colleagues can build close bonds and friendships.
But loneliness at work is not improve.
What can we do?
Given the data, it seems the problem isn’t about making sure we’re using the right tools to combat loneliness – it’s about making sure we have the right ones Conversations.
Here are two ways to do just that.
1. Schedule regular one-on-one meetings.
When asked how they would most like their employer to address loneliness at work, they responded: 41% of people said they wanted more virtual check-ins.
Make sure you chat with your team regularly. These conversations should provide employees with a safe place to discuss any pain points, including workplace loneliness. And if they don’t bring it up, try asking them about it.
Then work with them to find solutions.
Pro tip: Tools like aaask can help you automate check-ins anything. You simply set a prompt, select a group of colleagues to include in the conversation, and then aaask sends it to everyone.
2. Encourage more non-work-related conversations.
If you haven’t already, encourage your employees to have conversations that aren’t about work.
Sure, you may be worried about the impact this could have on productivity. But a lack of engagement, increased burnout, and lower job satisfaction could be much worse. And the reality is that all of this is caused by loneliness at work.
Plus, people used to have these conversations anyway – at the water cooler, in the kitchen, or on the way to the bathroom. You would just restore the time employees previously spent engaging.
The conclusion
It’s clear that the sense of community in the workplace has been lost (or at least weakened).
Employers can only get this back by asking the right questions and giving their employees more opportunities to build meaningful connections with one another.