Remote Working and Loneliness |
Profound shifts have occurred in work practices since the millennium, partly triggered by the pandemic of the early 2020s, but also heavily impacted by technology-based working.1 This has resulted in an increase in remote working, often from home, and mostly through digital communication.2 Although such work practices can have benefits, such as increased freedom to organize time and workload and reduced strain on transport services for commuting,3 governmental policies do not completely buy into the concept. Partly, this has to do with reduced rental income accrued on the property and less ability to control the workforce by management. However, there are psychological issues not usually addressed or considered by employers but often experienced by workers, such as increased social isolation and loneliness.4 These emotional consequences of remote working can be exacerbated by the use of technology and place additional burdens on the mental health of remote-working staff.
Transitions from office working, with its private spaces and communal areas, to home working (often punctuated by family demands) can be taxing.4 (The even worse option is, of course, the open-plan horror,5 which is great for management, as it reduces immediate costs, but a nightmare for productivity and workers.) One often under-discussed issue is how this increase in technology-based remote working has left many dealing with a legacy of loneliness.6 Lack of office small-talk, spontaneous social events, or even work-related discussions, can leave gaps in the fundamental need for social connection that most feel6 (the same may not be true for all of those on the neurodiverse spectrum, of course).
Loneliness is a distressing feeling resulting from a lack in the quality (emotional) or quantity (social) of connections. It can be perceived as a true existential threat, and one of the five primitive responses to threat—attach (or befriend)—may be an evolved system to mitigate the challenge to life of being abandoned as an infant. It can take only one strong bond to overcome the first sort of loneliness (emotional), but the second form (social) sometimes needs more connections of sorts that are not straightforwardly provided through digital communication.
The office has little impact on emotional loneliness, but is often critical for alleviating social loneliness.7 Many people view the workplace as a main source of social interaction and support; even those living with family may still need peer or professional interactions with those who understand their specific work-based challenges.8 This social connection is managed best when both private and public space........