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Is Loneliness A Workplace Epidemic?

Is Loneliness A Workplace Epidemic?
by Wayne D'Orio

A new survey details people’s isolation, but experts point out how smart companies are counteracting this trend.

Is the biggest health problem for your workforce the issue you hear the least about?

A recent online survey by Cigna found that most Americans consider themselves lonely and that this feeling is as bad for a person’s health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day.

More than half the respondents in the online poll said they always or sometimes feel like no one knows them well, while more than 40 percent said they lack companionship, their relationships are not meaningful, and they are isolated from others. The poll, The Cigna U.S. Loneliness Index, was completed earlier this year in conjunction with Ipsos.

“That so many Americans, particularly younger generations, feel such a significant lack of companionship and meaningful connection gives us a real and striking picture of how we perceive ourselves,” says Dr. Douglas Nemecek, Cigna’s chief medical officer for behavior health. Generation Z, adults aged 18 to 22, and millennials, aged 23 to 37, were the two populations likeliest to be lonely; baby boomers and the so-called Greatest Generation were the least likely to be lonely.

The report did carry good news for employers: People who are employed are among the least likely to rate themselves as lonely, ahead of those who are unemployed, students or homemakers.

“The workplace gives a sense of community and social connectedness,” says Darcy Gruttadaro, program director at The Center for Workplace Mental Health. She, and others, however cautioned that companies need to be proactive to both help connect employees to each other and to find the right work/life balance.

How Companies Can Counter Loneliness

More companies are instituting regular informal meetings, sometimes called huddles, to ensure face-to-face conversations, says Nancy W. Spangler, a senior advisor and practitioner with Greenleaf Integrative. She even knows of one company that went so far as to formalize policy stating that employees should make eye contact and speak to each other when passing in hallways. “We must make sure we have regular face-to-face communication, even if it’s virtual,” Spangler adds.

Read full article on Human Resource Executive.