The findings from the Workplace Loneliness report by Reventure, a non-profit think tank focused on workplace issues, notes that 40% of Australians feel alone at work. Only 9% say they were OK with reaching out to their HR departments about such concerns.
“Other countries have responded to this public concern,” says Lindsay McMillan, Reventure managing director. “The United Kingdom, for example, has appointed a Minister for Loneliness and announced the first ever ‘Employer Pledge’ to tackle workplace loneliness.”
The report also finds that 36% of lonely workers reported being more sick than their non-lonely counterparts, while 38% made more mistakes than workers who did not feel alone. Forty-percent of lonely workers felt they were less productive than their colleagues who did not feel isolated.