How to design out loneliness from your workplace

Across the UK, loneliness is an increasing problem in our cities, it is a universal feeling and does not discriminate. There are health implications linked with loneliness; studies show that strong social connections can help us to live longer.

Why we need to talk about loneliness in the workplace.

We spend one third of our life working but 60% of people feel lonely at work and 1.2 million office workers suffer from chronic loneliness (chronic loneliness is a harmful as having 15 cigarettes a day!) The problem hurts happiness and productivity, costing employers between £2–3.7 billion every year (that’s in the UK alone!)

Aside from the above, here are 5 reasons why we need to build a culture of care into our workplace communities:

• When we have a high sense of belonging, at work, we take 75% fewer sick days. Loneliness plays an important role in our health and wellbeing agenda.
• We perform better, are happier and more loyal to a company when we feel we belong. Belonging is a human need and a feeling we should have in all areas of life.
• We can spend all day with people and feel lonely. The pace of work and collaboration culture isn’t fulfilling our need for closeness and community. We must give ourselves space, out of work, to connect with family and other friends.
• We feel the negative effects of online relationships and tech overload. We need to be aware of how we can support each other remotely and be aware that online connections cannot substitute for offline ones.
• We see a rise in gig culture and transient workers. It’s become normal to move between roles, companies, cities and countries. Starting a new job or joining a new team, and returning from long term leave, are all transition periods that can trigger feelings of vulnerability.

Joining forces to tackle workplace loneliness

Earlier this year, as part of the Loneliness Lab, a group of passionate employees from Lendlease, Buro Happold and the British Red Cross came together to explore how to tackle loneliness in the workplace, with a particular focus on the role of office design.

To understand this, the team began running workshops, asking questions about what works well and not-so-well for employees in offices. From traditional fixed, agile, multi-site to co-working, freelance and virtual worker spaces they explored expectations of friendships at work, design blockers and enablers for building meaningful connections with people.

What we’ve found out so far

The workshop conversations highlighted how classic board rooms, narrow kitchens and bad acoustics block connection, while areas such as standing desks, tech-free areas and bike storage help connect people.

• Tech-free spaces and outdoor areas, where people feel engaged with others and their surroundings.
• Standing desks, good for talking to people at eye-level.
• Bike spaces, people linger for longer in places like bike storage, with opportunities to talk about common interests.

The quality of the relationship is very important. Not everyone expects to make friends at work, but some people find their main friendships and social support through working. The team found that the needs and expectations of relationships at work is unique to each person, much like loneliness.

There are 4 relationship types people expect to build at work:

1. Meeting people, building up your networks.
2. Social relationships, a friendship bond that goes beyond work.
3. Business relationships, trust with the people you work closely with.
4. Belonging, feeling valued and accepted as part of your team.

Permission was an overarching theme that linked the spaces and relationships in the research. We don’t always feel comfortable using spaces if it’s not clear how we are allowed to use it. Permission can be both direct (signposting rules) and indirect (understood behaviours). Either way, if a place is welcoming and we feel a sense of empowerment we are likely to be happier and more social. There are also some common misconceptions that big spaces will bring people together and individual spaces can cause negative isolation. However, smaller spaces can be good for creating community at work, avoiding that feeling of being lonely in a crowd. Workspaces need to allow people to reconnect to themselves, build one to one relationships and nurture a sense of belonging.

Clearer signposting around the workplace would encourage the use of large multi-use spaces, break out areas, communal kitchens and lobbies in ways that work for employees who are feeling isolated.

Things we learned from the survey.

Alongside the workshops, the team commissioned some research, led by Workplace Unlimited. The survey uncovered insights on the optimum number of work relationships and how the size and type of an office can affect loneliness.

• larger corporations have lonelier offices. Offices with less than 300 people reported less lonely than those in larger organisations.
• People in shared and open plan offices feel the most connected. People in private offices and remote workers felt the most lonely.
• The more people you know and trust at work, the less you feel lonely. The average number of close friends people had at work was 6.

The average number of colleagues people know and recognise was 62, but we found no correlation between the number you know and feeling less lonely.

Recommendations.

From the findings, we can share five key experiences that build connection. These should be considered when making changes to workplace design:

• Feeling ‘part of something’. Initiatives to help visitors know they belong.
• Making friends ‘while you wait’. Creating excuses for people to linger, like making tea.
• Identifying shared interests. Spaces that allow people to show their ‘outside-work’ selves.
• Building individual bonds. Spaces that allow impromptu private conversations.
• Encouraging chance connections. Initiatives that nudge people to speak between, or in shared spaces.

Sharing ideas at the workplace breakfast event,IQL, where we shared the insights and workshopped ideas.

The team questioned how workplace design can create these experiences more often. Aiming to build friendlier working environments where employees will be able to form meaningful relationships with their colleagues.

When you think about how much time we spend at work — one third of our waking lives — it’s clear that these changes are vital and will help eradicate the feelings of loneliness at work which affect three in five employees.

Alison Webb, Head of Workplace, Lendlease said:

“Workplaces are badly designed for making friends at work, and we are aiming to change that through collective action. We’ve sparked the conversation by identifying key areas that design can make a difference to, and now we’re looking to start implementing those changes in workplaces nationwide. To do that we’re looking for partners in our movement to make workplaces less lonely.”

How you can get involved

It’s quite a job and we need your help to implement these changes, big or small.

We’re looking for 30 business/organisations who can commit to testing some of the ideas. We hope to start the testing phase in late January.

Interested? Fill in our form and we’ll send you more in January. We’d love you to join us!