Is loneliness impacting retention and productivity?

“That’s not my problem. I am sorry my employee feels lonely, but I don’t know what I can do about it?” Many employers might take that position. Isn’t loneliness an issue related to their personal life? Shouldn’t they address that problem on their own, outside of work?

Work is often the largest activity in an employee’s life, when considered from the viewpoint of an average day. If the employee spends eight hours at work, an additional hour getting to and from work and eight hours sleeping, that only leaves six hours of personal time, accounting for 25% of their day. Work and transportation account for 42% of their day. If some employees are lonely at work, you need to be concerned.

Why? Because loneliness at work affects the employee’s performance at work. Research shows lonely employees are 4.5 times more likely to have productivity issues and 1.5 times more likely to be disengaged from other employees. If your employees are expected to work as a team, that team might have some weak links.

What can cause the feeling of loneliness? It might be caused by working on a certain project where you are a “team of one.” It’s your project, not a group effort. Loneliness can develop when individuals operate from multiple locations. The pandemic “work from home” culture is a good example. Sometimes you can flashback to your high school days, that time when you felt you were not part of the “in crowd” and withdraw.

A good example of an industry based around remote work is the annuity or mutual fund industry. These products are often sold through financial advisors. Firms hire a large team of product wholesalers who cover territories across the country. They spend their time visiting offices of firms where advisors have the firm’s offerings on their approved products list. They need to compete for attention, day after day. This can be a lonely job.

These firms hold quarterly or annual wholesaler meetings in a convention format. Regional meetings might be quarterly and the annual meeting is the national event. It brings people together and creates a feeling of camaraderie. It’s one way of addressing the remote work issue.

Related: Unveiling the human side of the worker loneliness crisis

Let us suppose you are an employer where everyone works in one building over several floors. There are plenty of employees. How can you proactively address loneliness?

1. See and be seen. You might volunteer at a cultural organization where the rules are set “by the board.” These mysterious folks are never seen at events, but their influence is felt. Managers should be walking the floor, be visible and interact with people.
2. Be real. Managers need to take an interest in their employees. There are different layers of management, but each manager should have a connection with their direct reports. They need to show an interest in each person’s expectations and desire for a career path. They also need to know people on a personal level.
3. The importance of the water cooler. The “getting to know you” example above might be accomplished through periodic scheduled meetings in the manager’s office. There needs to be casual, unscheduled interaction. One of my spin class friends, a marketing manager at a medical supply company, decided to keep a record of conversations held when everyone returned to the office. In one day he counted a dozen unofficial encounters where he interacted with people and exchanged ideas, often near the water cooler. He explained this level of personal contact would not have happened on Zoom calls.
4. Recognize the contributions of individuals. In my spare time, I am the chair of the membership committee at a local nonprofit. When we have meetings every couple of months, I want to maximize attendance among the other committee members who are also volunteers. When the meeting minutes are distributed after the meeting, I try to ensure every attendee is recognized in the context of an idea or comment they added during the meeting. Employee of the month recognition is another way this can be achieved.
5. Bring together working groups. We have all heard about solos at work and the problems they can cause. The people in sales don’t talk to the people in production. You can address loneliness by organizing working groups to address a project. The participants are sourced from several departments. Few people know each other, so new relationships can develop.
6. Fun outside of work. We keep in touch with a young woman who works in a clothing store in a major city in the Far East. The company is based in Canada. Everyone works very hard, dealing with customers on the sales floor. Periodically, the firm draws employees from another store to staff the sales floor. This allows for them to bring all their employees off site for a day of fun activities. This might involve team sports and other competitive activities. People who might not interact otherwise are brought together. Plenty of food is shared at the meal together.
7. Sending birthday cards. Recently my wife and I attended a donor recognition event at a local hospital. One of the event speakers was tasked with addressing loneliness in the professional medical community. She mentioned a simple, but effective proactive step is to mail every employee a birthday card. It’s a simple form of attention that recognizes them as a person.

Loneliness has direct and indirect costs in the workplace. It can lead to turnover. It is an issue managers can compassionately address.

Bryce Sanders is president of Perceptive Business Solutions Inc. He provides HNW client acquisition training for the financial services industry. His book, “Captivating the Wealthy Investor” is available on Amazon.