Loneliness and isolation in the hybrid workplace

Long before the pandemic and the rise of working from home, loneliness and isolation was something felt by a number of office-based employees. Even if they were based in modern, open-plan offices designed to help collaboration, there was often little actual face-to-face communication. The increase in hybrid working has in many instances led to workers becoming even more isolated from other team members.

A report by Buffer (State of Remote Work 2022) found an increase in the number of remote and hybrid workers struggling with loneliness, from 20% in 2020 to 24% in 2022. It also found that 52% of employees globally felt less connected to their co-workers since they started remote working. Another study from Totaljobs found 60% of employees reported feeling lonely in their professional life, citing continued home working and irregular office patterns as increasing the problem.

By its nature hybrid working can accentuate feelings of isolation and disconnection by allowing siloed cliques and networks to develop and create distinct work experiences, cultures, and groups. Employees who are back in the office full-time can become dominant as they are able to centrally control information, knowledge and responsibilities. Teamwork, which generally improves the quality of a person’s working life, simply increases the issues within teams that have always existed - composition, interdependence and differences in working hours – whilst meetings where part of the team is in the office and the other is remote can easily become unbalanced and increase feelings of disconnection.

The feelings of isolation however, are not always related to the lack of interaction with colleagues, but rather to the feeling of exclusion that they have. In a 2020 Igloo study, almost 60% of teleworkers surveyed said they didn’t have certain information because it was communicated in person with 55% reported being excluded from meetings because they weren’t physically present.

Social isolation is one of the greatest risks hybrid workers face but there are some activities and strategies that can stop employees from feeling professionally isolated:

1. Regular face-to-face interactions

Make sure colleagues often meet in person by creating opportunities for informal chats, so people can share information and get to know one another better.

2. Communicate well

Use different channels to communicate with colleagues. Be transparent, and keep everyone in the loop in terms of work and, if they are happy to do so, what’s going on in their personal lives.

3. Evolve learning and development

Set up processes that work in a hybrid setup, e.g. days when junior employees can work with their line managers in the office. If possible invest in learning platforms and tools suitable for hybrid environments to enable people to develop their knowledge and skills.

4. Improve leadership

Leaders need to know how to manage in the hybrid world, to understand and spot any potential challenges and provide a role model to their teams.

5. Enhance onboarding

An in-person onboarding process is essential.  As well as work-led and social buddies, leaders need to be involved in the process to enable new employees settle smoothly into the company and their role.

Although hybrid working is often presented as the future of work and does bring many benefits, it is becoming obvious that there are some problems in its implementation and one of these is that more people feel lonely at work than ever before. A feeling of isolation at home, a lack of genuine connection to other team members, lack of belonging within the company culture, or even lack of visibility and recognition can all contribute to a sensation of loneliness at work.

Loneliness and isolation can be an issue regardless of whether employees are in a physical or virtual working environment but if a company doesn’t make an effort to address these issues, the hybrid work model will only have a negative impact on employee cohesion and motivation.