Lost Connection at work. Bad for us and business.

Did you know the world is suffering from a loneliness crisis??Maybe you don’t find this surprising as you feel lonely on a regular basis. ?Or perhaps you have lost connection in your life and crave more meaningful relationships and belonging.?

Research shows that loneliness is worse for our health than not exercising, as harmful as being an alcoholic and twice as harmful as being obese.?Statistically, loneliness is equivalent to smoking fifteen cigarette a year.?This also carries over to the workplace with 40% of office workers globally saying they feel lonely at work.?In the US almost 1 in 5 office employees feel lonely every day.?At the same time 79% of employees are disengaged at work.??In a nutshell a lot of us don’t feel like we belong at work.

Loneliness at work is not only bad for us but it is bad for business.?Research shows that business units with engaged workers have 23% higher profit compared with business units with miserable people.?More disconnected workers take more sick days, are less motivated, less committed, make more mistakes and perform less effectively at work than those who are not.

Here is a story about one of my clients that brings to life the lack of connection that is so prevalent at work. ?I met with this client often and would always prompt a moment for connection before ‘getting down to business.’?I found out her life story, what got her excited outside of work and who she was as a human.?A few months into working together I was at a meeting with her and her boss.??There was banter between us because we had grown to know each other quite well. ?I clearly remembered her boss looking up from his laptop in confusion.??He asked if we knew each other outside of work, implying that the close nature of our relationship must be personal and not just work related. ?I reflected at the time on what a shame it was that he was so stuck in the technical aspects of his job that he didn’t even know his people.?

A few months after this work wrapped up, I saw on LinkedIn that my client had resigned and moved onto a new role.?I reached out to say congratulations and it wasn’t long before she confided in me why she had left. ?She had struggled with the lack of close relationships at work and not feeling like a valued team member.?She had moved on to a similar role where she was now part of a connected team and was much happier.?

Both the research I have been exploring and my personal observations in organisations are driving me to raise awareness of the positive benefits of connection at work. ?To contribute a small ripple of change in a big ocean I am proposing a Connection Pledge.?To be part of it all you need to do is commit to creating more connection at work.?Easy right??I will help by providing regular LinkedIn posts with hints and tips on connection rituals and initiatives that you might want to experiment with.??But to start with why not ask a work colleague today “who are you as a human?”?

I would love to hear your thoughts on the Connection Pledge please join in the conversation in the comments.

#connection #workmorehuman #lonliness #betterwork