About 8 out of 10 employees (82 percent) feel lonely at work, and some jobs are even more isolating than ever.
A new report from online gaming platform, Solitaired, ranks the roles that are most likely to leave you yearning for social interaction than others.
Per data compiled by Solitaired, the loneliest role is a Task Associate, which is a job that usually requires restocking shelves at stores. What’s more, this role can be customer or people-facing, but the social interactions are usually brief, surface level and transactional. Rounding out the rest of the list of most lonely jobs are Senior Paralegal, Manual Machinist, Field Sales Representative and Corporate Paralegal.
The report also evaluates how the pandemic and subsequent rise of remote work has significantly contributed to a loneliness epidemic in the workplace.
“The transition to remote work has been immensely challenging for businesses and their employees,” says Doug Camplejohn, the founder and CEO of Airspeed per a report from SHRM. “Employers need to create a strong culture of connection in order to engage and retain employees, or they’ll risk losing their best employees at a time when most can’t afford to do so.”
So how can loneliness at work be combatted? Per a report from Mindtools, using small opportunities to virtually catch up with colleagues can help foster deeper relationships. Apps like Sneek™ can create human connection for remote teams if you primarily work from home.
“Long before the pandemic forced physical separation of employees, workplace loneliness was growing,” organizational psychologist Constance Noonan Hadley wrote in a 2021 essay for the Harvard Business Review. “Without a new approach to facilitating relationships at work, employee isolation and disconnection will continue to grow — regardless of whether people are back in the office. The post-pandemic transition provides the perfect opportunity to put the structures and rewards in place to facilitate a more connected workforce.”