Loneliness at Work

Why is loneliness at work increasing, and how does it affect employees and organisations? Read practical solutions for hybrid work, shift work and management.

It is possible to spend the whole day in the same building, on the same production line or in the same online meeting as dozens of people and still not form a real connection with anyone. Many employees say they have no one to talk to at work, that they eat lunch alone and that they do not know whom to turn to when they are struggling. Loneliness at work is the feeling of lacking the social connections a person wants and needs in the environment where they work. This feeling is not merely an individual sadness or a personality trait; it is an organisational issue that directly affects commitment, productivity, workplace safety and staff turnover. In this article I look at how loneliness appears in working life, its causes, its effects on employees and organisations, and the concrete steps employers, HR managers and line managers can take.

What Is Loneliness at Work?

Loneliness is not the same as being alone. Some people enjoy working alone and never feel lonely. Others experience deep loneliness in the middle of a crowded team. What defines loneliness is the gap between the relationships a person has and the relationships they would like to have.

In working life, this gap can show up in several different ways:

• Emotional loneliness: Not having even one person in the team they can trust or open up to when they are struggling.
• Social loneliness: Not feeling like part of the team or the organisation; being left out at breaks, in meetings or at social events.
• Professional loneliness: Having no one who understands the work they do, speaks the same professional language or can exchange ideas with them. This is common in one-person units, among people who work alone in the field and among senior executives. For example, the only occupational health and safety (OHS) specialist or the only accountant in a small factory may find no one to discuss professional problems with, even if they are well liked in the team.

According to Gallup's State of the Global Workplace report published in 2026, 23% of employees in Turkey report feeling loneliness during a large part of the previous day (Gallup, 2026; 2025 data). This means that roughly one in four employees spends a significant part of their day feeling lonely. In this article I treat loneliness not as an individual feeling but as part of the work environment.

Why Is Loneliness at Work Increasing Today?

Hybrid and remote work

The hybrid and remote working models that became widespread after the pandemic brought important gains such as flexibility and time savings. However, corridor encounters, coffee-break chats and spontaneous conversations that begin with "have you got a minute?" have largely declined. As meetings have become more planned and task-focused, the time set aside for building relationships has shrunk. An employee who follows meetings on screen with their camera off can work for months without really getting to know their colleagues.

Shift work and solitary jobs

People who work with few colleagues on the night shift, operators responsible for a single machine in a large facility, technicians working alone in the field, drivers and security guards can spend most of their working days without social contact. Because shift work also restricts social life outside work, it feeds loneliness in two ways. For someone who works while everyone else sleeps and sleeps while everyone else gathers, both workplace friendships and family and friendships thin out over time; religious holidays, weddings and weekend get-togethers often collide with the shift rota.

A heavy workload

In the 2022 OSH Pulse survey in Europe, 46% of employees reported severe time pressure or work overload (EU-OSHA, 2022). In an environment where everyone is trying to keep up, conversation can be seen as a "waste of time", and break times can be spent in front of a screen. This makes relationships harder to build and maintain.

Poor communication and an exclusionary culture

In the same survey, 26% of employees reported poor communication or cooperation within the organisation (EU-OSHA, 2022). In environments where cliques, gossip and favouritism are common, some employees are systematically left out.

Difference and minority experience

The only woman engineer in the team, the only employee who has come from another city, the only representative of their generation, an employee with a disability or someone who speaks a different language can easily feel like an outsider, even if the others have no ill intent.

Newcomers and people who have relocated

Someone who has moved to a new city and started a new job does not yet have a social network either at work or outside it. In the first months, relationships at work are their most important source of connection. Not being accepted by the team during this period deepens loneliness and increases the risk of leaving early.

Management and promotion

When someone from the team becomes a manager, a natural distance opens up between them and their former friends. The higher you go, the fewer people there are with whom you can share the weight of decisions. I have examined this subject separately in the article on loneliness at the top.

Loneliness is not the absence of a crowd but the absence of connection. However large a team is, if no one really sees anyone else, people are lonely.

The Effects of Loneliness on Employees and the Organisation

Employees who feel lonely often show reactions such as a reduced wish to go to work, withdrawal, avoiding asking for help, pulling away from social life outside work as well, sleep problems, an inability to enjoy things and persistent restlessness. Long-lasting loneliness can occur together with depressive symptoms and anxiety. These signs do not in themselves mean a diagnosis; however, if they persist, it is helpful to have them assessed by a specialist. If a person has thoughts of harming themselves, support should be sought without delay, and in an emergency 112 (emergency services) should be called.

For the organisation, loneliness can show up in the following indicators:

• Lower engagement: The proportion of employees who are genuinely engaged with their work in Turkey is 8% (Gallup, 2026). It is hard for an employee who cannot form connections at work to become emotionally attached to the organisation.
• Staff turnover: An employee with no friends at work also has no social tie that would stop them leaving.
• Reduced knowledge sharing: An employee who feels lonely avoids asking questions, asking for help and sharing ideas.
• Safety risks: Someone who does not feel part of the team may try to work out alone something they are unsure about instead of asking. In risky work done alone, the time it takes for a problem to be noticed is also longer.
• Loss of productivity: Part of the mental energy is spent on the feeling of being excluded and the anxiety that accompanies it.

What Signs Should Managers Look For?

Loneliness rarely announces itself directly. Instead of saying "I feel lonely", employees show different behaviours:

• Spending breaks constantly alone or on the phone.
• Speaking noticeably less in meetings than before.
• Starting to skip team events, meals and celebrations.
• Completing tasks alone and late rather than asking for help.
• Never mentioning colleagues, or using phrases such as "I don't really talk to anyone here".
• More frequent leave and sick leave, arriving late or wanting to leave early.

Suppose a young planning specialist from another province joins a logistics company. In the first weeks they are enthusiastic and ask questions. But the team is a group that has worked together for years, with its own jokes and habits. No one treats them badly, but no one invites them to lunch either. By the end of the third month they ask fewer questions, they go back to their hometown at weekends and return on Monday tired, and in the sixth month they resign. At the exit interview they say, "The job was good, but I never felt I belonged there." This picture would very likely have developed differently with a simple buddy scheme.

The Employer's Area of Responsibility

Loneliness at work is not a legislative term. However, the conditions that feed loneliness are psychosocial factors that fall within the scope of occupational health and safety legislation. Article 5 of the Occupational Health and Safety Law No. 6331 requires the development of a prevention policy that covers the effects of factors relating to work organisation, working conditions and social relationships. Article 8 of the Occupational Health and Safety Risk Assessment Regulation also provides for the identification of psychosocial sources of hazard.

Among the hazard categories listed in the Ministry of Labour and Social Security's 2024 Information Guide on Psychosocial Factors are "interpersonal relationships", "organisational culture" and "work-life interaction" (ÇSGB, 2024). The ISO 45003:2021 guidance, too, treats "social factors at work" as a separate group when classifying psychosocial hazards (ISO 45003). Solitary work, prolonged isolation and a lack of support are concrete topics that can be asked about in a risk assessment.

Practical Steps for Employers and Managers

1. Make time for connection. Setting aside the first few minutes of meetings for a short, non-work check-in makes room for relationships to form. Shift handovers do not have to be only a technical briefing.
2. Assign a buddy to newcomers. In the first months, appoint a teammate who will answer the new employee's questions, introduce them to the team and be beside them at lunch. Monitor the first three months of the settling-in period regularly.
3. Plan shared days in hybrid teams. Make sure the team is in the office on the same days, and fill these days not only with individual tasks but with working together and short social moments. I have looked at the effect of this model on team relationships separately in the article on hybrid working. For remote workers, plan regular small-group calls with cameras on and a few face-to-face meetings a year.
4. Contact people who work alone regularly. Set regular points of contact for people working with few colleagues on the night shift, for technicians working alone in the field and for drivers. This matters both for safety and for social connection.
5. Notice exclusion. Watch for employees who are constantly alone at breaks, never speak in meetings or do not join team events. To understand whether this is a choice or exclusion, hold a one-to-one, non-judgemental conversation.
6. Build mixed teams. In project groups, training and improvement work, bring together people from different units, shifts and generations. Working together toward a shared goal is one of the most natural ways of building relationships.
7. Rethink shared spaces. Look at whether rest areas, the canteen and the break schedule are conducive to people getting together. If break times differ for everyone, the chance to chat disappears.
8. Make managers sensitive to this issue. Loneliness is often silent, and employees do not raise it spontaneously. The strongest-evidenced recommendation in the WHO's guidelines on mental health at work is to give managers mental health training (WHO, 2022). Noticing an employee who is struggling and talking to them is a learnable skill.
9. Provide a confidential support channel. A confidential psychological support option that employees experiencing persistent sadness, anxiety or hopelessness alongside loneliness can turn to makes it easier to address the problem before it deepens.

How Do You Get Started in Your Organisation?

1. Needs analysis: Add questions to an anonymous employee survey on belonging, having someone to trust in the team, the experience of exclusion and perceived support from the manager. Compare results by variables such as shift, unit, working model (office, hybrid, remote, field) and length of service. Also look separately at the exit interviews of employees who left early.
2. Programme: Based on the findings, prepare a plan consisting of awareness and communication training for managers, a structured induction and buddy programme for newcomers, communication arrangements for hybrid teams and, where needed, individual psychological support.
3. Measurement: Repeat the same questions after six months; monitor staff turnover, absence and engagement indicators over the first year. Look at which groups have changed and which have not.

You can see how this process can be planned with a psychologist's support on the corporate services page.

Frequently Asked Questions

Isn't loneliness at work a personal problem? Why should the organisation care?

Loneliness is experienced individually, but it is often fed by work organisation, the working model and organisational culture. It also has direct organisational consequences such as engagement, staff turnover and workplace safety. For this reason it calls for both individual support and organisational measures.

Does remote working cause loneliness?

Not always. Many people who work remotely are happy with the flexibility and can maintain strong relationships. The problem is remote working being applied without a planned communication routine. Regular one-to-one conversations, shared time within the team and occasional face-to-face meetings reduce the risk.

How should I talk to an employee who feels lonely?

Start in a calm, non-judgemental setting by sharing your observations without blame: "You seem to have been a bit withdrawn lately, how are things?" Prioritise listening and do not offer solutions straight away. If needed, think together about concrete steps that would make it easier for them to connect within the team, and remind them of sources of support.

Do team events reduce loneliness?

Events that are voluntary and take different personalities and interests into account can help. But they are not enough on their own; unless room for connection is made in the daily working routine, the effect of events held a few times a year stays limited.

• #loneliness at work
• #belonging
• #hybrid working
• #employee mental health

Yazar

Eda Erkan Alapala

Klinik Psikolog. İstanbul Kent Üniversitesi Klinik Psikoloji Tezli Yüksek Lisans mezunu; bilişsel davranışçı terapi, çocuk merkezli oyun terapisi ve çocuk-ergen psikoterapisi alanlarında eğitimlerini tamamlamıştır.

Eğitimler