Who’s the Loneliest at Work?

If you follow me on LinkedIn, you know I’ve been talking a lot about loneliness in the workplace lately. If I were to ask you what group of employees are loneliest at work, who would you choose?  If your answer is remote workers, you’re wrong.

It’s true that some remote workers report feeling lonely at work, but not working in person doesn’t automatically increase the risk for loneliness. In fact, leaders are starting to figure out ways to better support remote and hybrid workers in order to mitigate feeling disconnected and isolated. (Is there room for improvement? Absolutely.)

Who are the lonely workers people aren’t talking about? The less obvious (and more silent) strugglers? They are men and senior leaders.

Let’s face the facts:

1. Men are 2x as likely as women to report feelings of loneliness in the workplace.

2. More senior leaders report feeling lonely at work than lower-level managers, including being 2x as likely to report feeling very lonely compared to other managers and individual contributors.

Loneliness and Male Workers

Are social norms to blame? Perhaps. Men may be “conditioned” to shy away from being more emotionally vulnerable. The worst part? If they are feeling a sense of isolation, they may be less likely to say something about it.

Or maybe it’s because of those societal norms that lead to more transactional (read: not as deep and nurturing) relationships among men and their co-workers. Rather than fostering genuine, supportive connections, men may be more prone to focus on interactions that contribute to “getting the job done” rather than building relationships with those around them.

Loneliness and Senior Leaders

This may be an unintentional consequence of traditional hierarchical structure. Being viewed as an authority figure may make it hard for employees and peers to seek out genuine connections with them and can lead leaders to feel as though there’s no one they can go to for support.

Or maybe it’s the pressure to “be the best.” The fear of being viewed as weak or unfit for the job (hello, imposter syndrome) may push senior leaders toward keeping their concerns and vulnerabilities to themselves, leading to a heightened sense of isolation.

The Bottom Line

The truth is that anyone is susceptible to feeling lonely within an unsupportive or highly competitive workplace culture: Men, women, senior leaders, mid-management, new employees, veteran employees, remote workers, etc.

For more insight into the types of employees who are most lonely at work, check out the data breakdown from Perceptyx’s most recent Employee Experience Survey. 

Consider hosting one-on-one check-ins, making time for meaningful team-building experiences, and creating a culture of belonging to establish more meaningful connections and mitigate loneliness across all members of your team.