Work-from-home loneliness

Work-from-home loneliness as lethal as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. According to a study by Mercer, 94% of employees say their productivity is the same or higher that it was pre-pandemic, meanwhile a US-based study found a massive 35% increase in employee output when working remotely. But at what cost?

A recent study by health insurer Cigna, has indicated that the isolation many feel when working remotely can have a significant long term impact on productivity and mental health (as lethal as smoking 15 cigarettes a day). Meanwhile we are moving into the next phase of the COVID hybrid working revolution, where it is predicted that 50% of workers will still find themselves predominantly home-based.

As employers, if we aren’t already concerned, then we need to be. How do we build that lost social connectivity in our teams? How do we recreate those ad hoc interactions that allow individuals to develop the camaraderie and connectivity needed to better stamp their unique identity onto those bland digital profiles?

Offices are not just about meetings, so neither should the technology we have adopted to replace them. A corporate wellness strategy that ensures long term digital productivity in the blended workspace environment needs to stretch that technology beyond the meeting - developing new routines and tools that extend our digital lives across the old social and personal interactions that we miss so much.

One of our clients recently spoke of how by organising specifically ‘social’ online sessions, employees felt more able to share their stolen insights of the home lives of their colleagues. They may have seen a background pet or a set of golf clubs, or had to interrupt because of a school run. Whilst in the meeting environment, this was seen as an embarrassment or inconvenience – yet when drawn across to the social environment, it quickly became a new layer of commonality and connection. Building social relevance and connection around a colleague’s real life and interests, where previously there was none.

So as we consider the #futureofworking, remember that, as employers, we need to proactively put the social back into our lonely digital workspaces and business-only routines. Our long term digital productivity may depend upon it.