{"id":9382,"date":"2024-06-05T09:57:51","date_gmt":"2024-06-05T14:57:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bbrown.com\/?post_type=insight&p=9382"},"modified":"2024-06-05T10:19:50","modified_gmt":"2024-06-05T15:19:50","slug":"social-connection-in-the-workplace","status":"publish","type":"insight","link":"https:\/\/www.bbrown.com\/us\/insight\/social-connection-in-the-workplace\/","title":{"rendered":"The Healing Effects of Social Connection in the Workplace | How Employers Can Help"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Employee Benefits<\/p>\n

\n The Healing Effects of Social Connection in the Workplace | How Employers Can Help\n <\/h1>\n\t\n <\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n[\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”2\/3″]\n
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\n The Healing Effects of Social Connection in the Workplace | How Employers Can Help\n <\/h1>\n\t\n <\/div>[vc_column_text]After reading, listen to the TAKE A DEEPER DIVE<\/span> audio clip with co-author Jenny Coutu at the bottom of the page<\/strong><\/p>\n

In contemporary workplaces, social connection is essential for employees to thrive at work and promote overall well-being. Connectedness is defined by the quality and quantity of interactions that individuals have with their coworkers, supervisors and peers within the work environment, at home and in the community.1 <\/sup>It is a critical business issue that has the power to transform employee health, well-being, productivity and job satisfaction.<\/p>\n

Over the past few decades, trends in the United States show that companionship and engagement with friends and family have declined, and social isolation has increased.2<\/sup> When the global pandemic hit in 2020, approximately half of U.S. adults reported feelings of increased loneliness after lockdown and stay-at-home orders were enforced.3 <\/sup>Employers faced an estimated cost of $154 billion from lost productivity, and employees who reported feeling lonely missed 5.7 additional days from work than those who had not.5<\/sup><\/p>\n

Loneliness and isolation tend to be most prevalent in ethnic and racial minority groups, younger and older adults, single parents, LGBTQ+ individuals, lower wage earners, people who live in rural areas and individuals with poor physical and mental health.1 <\/sup>This is also true for those who are experiencing grief, the loss of a job, divorce, the death of a family member or other life events human resources leaders help their workers deal with regularly.<\/p>\n

As shown in the chart below, being physically separated from each other can put people in a state of physiologic stress, which, when prolonged, could become chronic and damage physical and emotional health.6<\/sup><\/p>\n

In May 2024, the U.S. Surgeon General, Vice Admiral Vivek Murthy, MD, MBA, called for a whole-of-society approach to address the epidemic of loneliness and isolation.4 <\/sup>Murthy states, \u201cGiven the profound consequences of loneliness and isolation, we have an opportunity, and an obligation, to make the same investments in addressing social connection that we have made in addressing tobacco use, obesity and the addiction crisis\u2026 It will take all of us\u2026 to work together to destigmatize loneliness and change our cultural and policy response to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Loneliness Prevalence and Health Effects<\/h3>\n