Loneliness: The Role of Valuing Teams and Individuals For Employee Engagement

Time certainly flies. It’s just a month since delegates enjoyed this year’s Employee Engagement Summit, and now we are slowly warming up to the 2025 event. Take a look and book your place! Also hot ‘off the presses’, and a few days ahead of Loneliness Awareness Week (12th - 18th of June), is a look at the impact of loneliness on employee engagement.  

Working remotely has a number of key benefits – including for work-life balance. I can take my children to school and collect them, and they can partake in after-school clubs. My work still gets done. However, for some the opportunity to work your own hours from any location can be daunting and at times lonely. It’s not for everyone, and yet remote working is on the up.  

Increase in remote working 

The Centre for Economic Policy Research reported in February 2024: “Senior firm leaders expect remote working to remain an important feature of the labour market: firms reported that in 2018 just under 6% of their employees worked hybrid and just under 4% of their employees worked fully remote. In 2023, these numbers had risen to 30% and just under 8%, respectively.” 

An Engage Employee Focus Group, facilitated by Thomas International, also finds that 50% of people intend to leave their organisations this year, and a further 35% of people are working mostly from home. So, if loneliness is seen as a challenge, it can be turned into an opportunity by enabling – even with technology – employees and teams to fulfil their full potential.  

Impact on employee performance 

So, it’s great to hear from Anna Eliatamby, Director of Healthy Leadership at CIC, and co-author of ‘Healing-Self Care for Leaders and their Teams’, examines why employers and their remote working and hybrid employees need to consider the impact of loneliness on employee performance. Have you ever felt like today’s not the day, and needing stimulus through social contact? No person is an island and, as humans, we need to feel connected and valued.  

Thom Dennis, CEO of Culture and Leadership Specialists at Serenity in Leadership comments in his own article, ‘Why Stopping Loneliness increases Employee Engagement’: “Loneliness can lead to decreased productivity, creativity, and performance as lonely individuals may feel less motivated and engaged in their work tasks, affecting both themselves and the organisation.” 

Tools and strategies 

Discover the tools and strategies they recommend for eliminating loneliness – including the improvement of social connections – to improve employee engagement, collaboration, and retention in this week’s newsletter.  

Read on, and don’t forget to drop me a line to contribute articles and news to Engage Employee. There’s no need to be lonely; you’re part of a blossoming community, so do reach out to us.  

By Graham Jarvis, Editor