'Disconnected' | 7 in 10 office workers demand action against loneliness

Nearly three quarters of workers (73%) believe their employers should take action to mitigate against the loneliness they experience while flexible working, new research has revealed.

In a survey conducted by Survation, Silicon Reef reached out to over 1,009 people in the UK in February and found that employees see it as the responsibility of their leaders to take action to support them with the challenges of remote/flexible working, including mental health challenges. 44% of those surveyed said this support should come in the form of opportunities for mental health breaks and support, while 41% thought more social media interaction with employees would be helpful. 19% think that big applications like the metaverse could help them.

Although flexible working offers tangible benefits in terms of time and cost-savings for employees, one of the much-documented drawbacks is that it can be lonely. Work is the place where people traditionally do most of their social interacting – as much as 70%, according to some sources – and it’s simply not possible to replicate an office environment at home, no matter how good today’s technology may be.

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A survey by Nespresso found that nearly 20% of all employees said that flexible working contributed to feelings of loneliness – and loneliness is linked to relationship damage, depression, sedentary behaviour and even substance abuse problems.