Remote Working and Loneliness

Profound shifts have occurred in work practices since the millennium, partly triggered by the pandemic of the early 2020s, but also heavily impacted by technology-based working.¹ This has resulted in an increase in remote working, often from home, and mostly through digital communication.² Although such work practices can have benefits, such as increased freedom to organize time and workload and reduced strain on transport services for commuting,³ governmental policies do not completely buy into the concept. Partly, this has to do with reduced rental income accrued on the property and less ability to control the workforce by management. However, there are psychological issues not usually addressed or considered by employers but often experienced by workers, such as increased social isolation and loneliness.⁴ These emotional consequences of remote working can be exacerbated by the use of technology and place additional burdens on the mental health of remote-working staff.

Transitions from office working, with its private spaces and communal areas, to home working (often punctuated by family demands) can be taxing.⁴ (The even worse option is, of course, the open-plan horror,⁵ which is great for management, as it reduces immediate costs, but a nightmare for productivity and workers.) One often under-discussed issue is how this increase in technology-based remote working has left many dealing with a legacy of loneliness.⁶ Lack of office small-talk, spontaneous social events, or even work-related discussions, can leave gaps in the fundamental need for social connection that most feel⁶ (the same may not be true for all of those on the neurodiverse spectrum, of course).

Loneliness is a distressing feeling resulting from a lack in the quality (emotional) or quantity (social) of connections. It can be perceived as a true existential threat, and one of the five primitive responses to threat—attach (or befriend)—may be an evolved system to mitigate the challenge to life of being abandoned as an infant. It can take only one strong bond to overcome the first sort of loneliness (emotional), but the second form (social) sometimes needs more connections of sorts that are not straightforwardly provided through digital communication.

The office has little impact on emotional loneliness, but is often critical for alleviating social loneliness.⁷ Many people view the workplace as a main source of social interaction and support; even those living with family may still need peer or professional interactions with those who understand their specific work-based challenges.⁸ This social connection is managed best when both private and public space is available (and is not at all served by open-plan offices⁹).

The need for social connections at work can be disrupted and unfulfilled when shifting to remote work through technology.^7,8 In fact, the increase in remote working through technology has been associated with an increase in employee loneliness.⁸ Such social isolation can make perceived stress worse, increase the risks of anxiety and depression, and negatively affect physical health.¹⁰ Workplace loneliness also reduces self-esteem, motivation, and productivity, and results in higher absenteeism.^7,8

The digital technology facilitating remote working does not necessarily reproduce the subtlety and depth of in-person interactions that serve to reduce loneliness. Virtual meetings can be very task-focused, especially if a manager is involved, and do not often offer the informal social or even emotional connections needed to build strong trust among colleagues. These considerations lead to barriers in connections and to loneliness. Addressing this issue requires both employees and employers to do something—and there are several things to remember when working remotely and interacting digitally.

Many workplace communications that are not specific one-to-one messages can present a diet that is unremittingly positive—almost toxically so.¹¹ How many achievements, real or imagined, by the company or your colleagues can you stomach during a day? Digital communication does not have the built-in social breaks on bragging that in-person communication possesses. As such, it is a rich ground in which to sow seeds of social comparison.¹² Looking at the edited positive highlights of others' lives can be very depressing, even for the most altruistic saint, and this includes those in the workplace. The consequence is often lowered self-esteem and feeling that, in some undefined way, we do not quite measure up (this may not apply to the narcissist, who will just get very angry).

Such social comparison can be triggered by fear of missing out (FOMO).¹³ Fearing that there may be something going on to which we are not privy, or which may be vital to our health and happiness, is a sure way to encourage pointless digital interactions, which then promote a feeling of social isolation.¹⁴ The truth is that you do not need to read every e-mail or text sent in your workplace, nor do you need to attend every virtual meeting (and the ease with which virtual meetings can be set up means they expand to fill the technology!). This will only waste your time and serve to depress you as people present their workplace "Facebook selves," an idealized and positively skewed version of themselves, which only invites negative social comparison.¹⁵

Both issues can be combatted by the active, as opposed to passive, consumption of digital workplace communications.¹⁶ Be selective in what you engage with digitally, as the drivers of digital engagement, including a need for social connection, prepare the ground for social comparison and reduced self-esteem. This all fuels the need to replace the missing self-esteem with social connection, creating a rather nasty circle that promulgates more use. Instead, do what needs to be done, and mitigate any lack of needed social connection by establishing clear boundaries. With those boundaries in place, schedule regular breaks to actively pursue social activities and hobbies that will help to reduce loneliness.

Loneliness Essential Reads

The Hidden Lifespan Risk in Men

Never Alone, Never Seen

Employers also need to create a culture that acknowledges the psychological and social implications of remote work via technology. They need to be clear about how employees should regard communication technology and encourage its use for both informal social interactions and work. Even using the technology for "solo time" as well, if needed, as you cannot fail to be lonely if you are always with others¹⁷—that Solitaire link was useful, after all!

All in all, working remotely, often from home, may offer some benefits, but the potential for loneliness and isolation has not been acknowledged to the extent it could be. Recognizing the negative impacts of social isolation on well-being and actively adopting strategies to maintain beneficial social connections means that digital remote working could work.