Conceptualising workplace loneliness: a qualitative investigation with UK workers

Abstract

Purpose: Loneliness has been identified as an important risk factor for mental health problems, and concern about its impact on workers' health and wellbeing has grown in recent years. While a body of workplace loneliness research is emerging, the degree to which existing definitions of the phenomenon reflect workers' experiences has not been investigated. This study aims to develop an evidence-based conceptualisation of workplace loneliness that can inform future research and interventions aiming to improve workers' mental health and wellbeing.

Methods: Semi-structured interviews exploring experiences of social connection, loneliness and work were conducted with a diverse sample of 31 UK-based workers. The interviews were supplemented with a social mapping task. Interview data were analysed inductively using reflexive thematic analysis. Social maps were analysed using a thematic analysis approach informed by a visual semiology framework.

Results: Three themes were identified, in which loneliness was conceptualised as disconnection from (1) colleagues, (2) one's organisation, and (3) society. Across each theme, disconnection and loneliness were experienced as an unfulfilled desire to feel that one's authentic self was understood, valued or belonged as a result of one's work or occupation.

Conclusions: Workplace loneliness comprises not only dissatisfaction with interpersonal relationships at work, but also a sense of disconnection from larger social groups and structures, particularly one's employing organisation and society as a whole. Definitions of workplace loneliness that acknowledge the role of the social and organisational context, as well as professional relationships, are needed to better reflect the lived experience of loneliness at work.

Keywords: Employment conditions; Loneliness; Psychosocial workplace exposure; Qualitative research; Work.