With teams being geographically dispersed thanks to remote working, a poll of 1,000 workers—conducted by Silicon Reef, has discovered that a third of workers had experienced feelings of loneliness when working flexibly. Workers aged between 18 – 36 were almost twice as likely as those aged 55 or above to experience isolated feelings. Unsurprisingly, 73 per cent of these pre-pandemic office workers believe that their employers need to do more to address this issue.
In addition to feelings of loneliness, respondents also reported feeling unmotivated when working away from the office with 48 per cent feeling disconnected from their colleagues. However, a quarter of those polled stated that they had not had any negative experiences from working remotely.
Alex Graves, CEO of Silicon Reef commented, “Loneliness has become a huge workplace issue with the increase in flexible and hybrid working. Many people feel lonely when not in the office and the vast majority think action needs to be taken. Happiness in the workplace is better for everyone: employees, customers and [business] leaders as research has indicated that happier workers are more productive.”
Survey respondents also called on their employers to provide more opportunities for mental health breaks and to provide better mental health support. Four in ten of those polled would like to see more online social interactions and around third responded that they would like their employer to provide more ad hoc opportunities for communication.
The research suggests that HR could look at ways of leveraging company resources to facilitate staff communication. Instant message services as well as HRIS features, eliminate barriers to communication and make it easier for staff members to connect. Non-work-based communication could also be promoted through ad hoc meetings, or online social events to help cultivate organisational culture as well as giving employees the chance to establish meaningful connections with their coworkers.
Paul Arkwright
Publisher
