Solutions to the Epidemic of Loneliness

I have been listening to a new podcast that is really blowing my mind. Soul Boom is a podcast by Rainn Wilson (famously known as Dwight Schrute in The Office). Rainne has embarked on a quest to find soul in the everyday. He brings together comedians, celebrities, news anchors, and people in government to talk about everything from mindset to spirituality to big world issues. One of the episodes I recently listened to featured Rainn interviewing the U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek Murthy, about the "Epidemic of Loneliness" that is plaguing our country. We have been looking into this issue as well and have found startling connections between this epidemic and disconnection in the workplace.

In Dr. Murthy’s research, he has found direct links between social isolation and health disparities. In fact, isolation has been linked to heart disease, dementia, premature death, anxiety, and depression. The mortality rates are comparable to those of smoking and obesity! This is an epidemic that is impacting all areas of people’s lives, from young people to the elderly.

The surge in isolation has also been directly correlated to the impacts of COVID in the workplace. Once everyone left their offices and began working from home, a few things happened. On the positive side, people didn't have to commute, had more time with their families, and some reported being able to be more productive. On the negative side, people have felt disconnected, apathetic, complacent, and lonely from not having regular interactions with their coworkers. Now, introverts might be jumping up and down about not having to engage in regular in person interactions, but many people thrive in community environments. (I know I do!) Once COVID ended, many companies opted to allow their workforce to continue to work from home. The feedback we have received from leaders is that this has led many teams to disconnect even further.

Leadership Solutions for Remote Teams

Understanding the problem is one thing, but figuring out how to solve it is quite another. Many managers struggle with knowing how to engage their remote teams. However, there are solutions that can help strengthen connection in virtual team environments.

1. Check in regularly: Ensure that your team has direct and consistent access to their leader. Keeping regularly scheduled one-on-one meetings is a great way to check in and keep employees engaged. These check-ins shouldn’t just be status updates, though. They should be an opportunity for the employee to share what is working and not working in their job, and for the leader to ask curious questions to better gauge the employee’s engagement.

2. Invest in mental health resources: Most organizations today offer insurance options that include mental health support. Employee Assistance Programs, such as AllOne Health, provide resources to help employees get support when they need it. But it’s not enough to just have these programs available. Managers may need to encourage or directly offer these services if they sense someone is struggling in the work environment.

3. Provide socialization opportunities: It is easy to overlook the importance of creating social connections for remote teams. When people work in an office, there are spontaneous moments for socializing, such as lunch dates or happy hours after work. In online environments, those moments must be intentionally created. Managers should ask their teams what types of online activities they might be interested in. This could include morning coffee chats, online games, virtual happy hours, or a host of other options now available for remote teams.

4. Make meetings collaborative: Everyone has been in a remote meeting where half the participants have their cameras off and others are multitasking, leaving only a couple of people actively engaged. Ensuring that everyone has a voice, and is encouraged to use it, is essential for creating connection in remote environments.

At Ekata, we also set out to help solve this problem! When we created The VIBE Game, our intention was to reconnect people in the workplace, whether in person or remotely. We’re thrilled that our remote version is now live and can be played virtually with teams. As more and more people have played the game, we’ve seen connections between coworkers and leaders grow stronger. And we’re just getting started!

If you're curious about the epidemic of loneliness, I highly recommend listening to the episode on Soul Boom around this topic.

And if you're interested in learning more about how to build more connection among your virtual teams, check out The VIBE Game!

Written by: Kelli Oberndorf, CoFounder, Ekata

#remoteteams #thevibegame #connectedorganizations