Lonely
Welcome to the second edition of new/wrk, a newsletter focused on the massive societal shift of people working from home and the implications that this has for all of us.
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One is the loneliest number.
One is the loneliest number
One is the loneliest number
One is the loneliest number that you'll ever do
Three Dog Night
Well, that’s at least how the song goes. But it's also a trend we’re seeing as millions of us are now working from home.
This new work from home dynamic is making us lonely.
The reality when we worked in offices we used to be surrounded by coworkers. People that we were around more than the people we live with. Sure, you didn’t get along with everyone, but taking a walk to grab a bag of Skittles to snack on made it possible to have physical interactions (small and large) with other people.
Today many of us are now forced to live in a two-dimensional world of digital screens that lack emotion, nuance, non-verbal cues and the energy of being in the same room as someone.
93% of communication is non-verbal—we’ve been evolutionarily designed to rely on body language, eye contact, facial expression, and tone of voice to discern emotional signals when interacting with others. Zoom call after Zoom call is not helping this. Slack messages (even when you add a funny gif) aren’t the same as an actual conversation in a room.
So with all these important indicators absent, we fill the void with our own perceptions. Right now, those perceptions are more likely to be negative. Right now they are making us feel disconnected. They are making us lonely.
Perhaps this time away from coworkers, friends, and family will do a few things. Firstly to recognize that connections and bonds between people are extremely important. Secondly, providing a chance for all of us to look towards solutions, technologies and answers that not only bring people together, but also bring emotion back into these two-dimensional devices/worlds we’re now spending so much time in. These are the things we should be searching for and demanding from leaders.
Before we let you go until next week. Hadley and I were talking to a senior leader at a super mega large company the other day that I’ve known for years about the major shift of working from home. As we were chatting we started talking about things that bring us together at work. One area that this person and I have had in common for years is our love of the Grateful Dead (cue the eye-rolls from my wife) and it got me thinkin— I can’t even begin to tell you the number of times that small connections around like-minded things (like music) has helped break down barriers at work. How do you create emotional connections with coworkers over video and chat?
With that here are a bunch of songs about being alone working from home.
/ What we’re reading this week
It’s Not You: Working from home can be incredibly lonely
The gist: While productivity may be up so is loneliness. There are things that you can do and you should suggest to your boss. If all else fails, take a mental health day. You are beautiful and deserve it.
Money quote: “Remote work doesn’t only disrupt our routines, Boyes said. It disrupts our coping mechanisms, or the thoughts and behaviors we use to deal with stress. For example: Your old desk might have been next to the office meditation room, while your new desk is across from a broom closet that doubles as a litter box station.”
Working from home forever could make us seriously lonely
The gist: WFH is a love-hate relationship. In one sense we love the independence and increase in productivity, but on the other we run the risk of losing connections at work. “Work relationships can provide a lot of companionship and camaraderie in ways that people don't realize,”
Money quote: “Working from home is highly likely to increase the experience of loneliness for many people,” says Gail Saltz, associate professor of psychiatry at the NY Presbyterian Hospital Weill-Cornell School of medicine and host of the “Personology” podcast. “Many people live alone, and work equals their social circle and ability to socially be and bond with others.”
Mental Health Concerns Heightened Among Execs At Amazon, Apple, Google, Facebook, Microsoft
The gist: Loneliness is not just a small and medium-sized business issue. This is impacting the biggest of the big companies.
Money quote: “Feelings of loneliness rose 11%, with 64% of professionals saying they feel increasingly lonely during work-at-home orders from June 15 through June 23, compared with 53% in March.”
Work-From-Home Burnout: Dr. Sanjay Gupta's coronavirus podcast
The gist: Dr. Sanjay Gupta talks
Money quote: “Working from home has consequences not just for efficiency but for getting those creative juices flowing. We can't just pop into a colleague's office anymore to ask a question, or take a joint coffee break to discuss a new idea. The loss of those social interactions can make remote working feel both harder and lonelier”
/ Infographics of the week
Earlier this year Cigna released a study on how loneliness is impacting our personal and professional health. The interesting thing is that most of this data was just before COVID really increased. If anything these numbers will continue to increase the longer we WFH.
“We learned from our survey that loneliness is increasing across the United States and that people who are lonely are less engaged at work and feel less productive at work,” said Dr. Doug Nemecek, chief medical officer for Behavioral Health at Cigna, a global health services company that offers employer-based insurance.
Please be sure to share this newsletter with all your co-workers, friends, your leadership team and family stuck working from home.
And please send us any feedback on this newsletter, and other topics you would like to see covered. Like everyone, we could use the human contact!