---
title: How to Help Employees Avoid Loneliness and Burnout
description: Employee loneliness often contributes to burnout and can result in significant consequences for businesses.
image: https://blog.madisonpg.com/hubfs/01.15.18%20blog%20banner.jpg
---
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# How to Help Employees Avoid Loneliness and Burnout
January 15, 2019
| By[Gina Jessica Smith](https://blog.madisonpg.com/author/gina-jessica-smith)
With fewer boundaries between work and recreational time, many employees are at risk of burning out. Remote work has increased by [115 percent](https://www.inc.com/marcel-schwantes/new-study-technology-is-causing-burnout-social-isolation-in-workplace-heres-how-you-can-avoid-both.html) in the past decade, creating a potentially dangerous combination of loneliness and burnout. Everyone starts the new year refreshed and energized with their resolutions, but they may not think about the eventual burnout that initiates after a while. So what should employees start doing now to prevent burnout in the future?
###### **Research Regarding Employee Burnout and Loneliness**
Today’s workers are much more likely to report being burned out with about [two-thirds](https://www.gallup.com/workplace/237059/employee-burnout-part-main-causes.aspx) of people reporting that they are exhausted due to work. Additionally, research indicates that there is a significant correlation between [feeling lonely and work exhaustion](https://www.businessinsider.com/burning-out-at-work-is-about-loneliness-not-just-exhaustion-2017-9). When people are exhausted, they often feel lonelier.
Research also indicates that loneliness reduces a person’s longevity by [70 percent](https://hbr.org/2017/06/burnout-at-work-isnt-just-about-exhaustion-its-also-about-loneliness) and increases the likelihood of a stroke or coronary heart disease by [30 percent](https://hbr.org/2017/06/burnout-at-work-isnt-just-about-exhaustion-its-also-about-loneliness). Moreover, loneliness at work is associated with a host of negative consequences for businesses and increases absenteeism, results in more workplace accidents, decreases profitability and decreases share prices.
A significant source of employee loneliness is due to an increase in remote work, according to a global study, *[Back to Human: How Great Leaders Create Connection in the Age of Isolation](https://danschawbel.com/back-to-human/)*. This study involved surveying more than 2,000 employees, one-third of which worked remotely. Only 5 percent of remote workers believed they would work for their existing company for their entire careers, compared to about one-third of traditional workers.
The study found that people craved a sense of authentic human connection with others in the workplace. According to the study, 100 top leaders of major corporations said that while technology helped make work more efficient, it also sacrificed the human connection.
###### **Ways to Decrease Employee Burnout and Loneliness**
Management can take proactive steps to decrease burnout and loneliness, including the following:
**Build Collaboration Spaces**
Many employers recognize the benefit of allowing remote work and that many of today’s workers prefer a more flexible work environment. However, remote work can be a driver of workplace loneliness. Employers can build collaboration spaces where people work together and interact face-to-face. Management can provide space and time where remote workers can connect with the larger organization, which will help make them feel more connected to others.
**Encourage Employees to Build Developmental Networks**
Help employees connect and form work clusters that they can turn to for task advice or emotional support. Workers can be divided into teams based on the type of work they do. New hires can be connected with coaches and peers that can help them fit into the new work environment. Management can promote the use of these teams by allowing time for them to get together and sharing contact information between team members.
**Encourage Collaborative Work**
Team projects can help members of different departments interact and promote creativity and support in the workplace. Teams can be large or small. Work projects benefit from incorporating employees with different skill sets and by dividing the workload between multiple people to prevent burnout.
**Start a Mentorship Program**
New employees may feel intimidated entering a new work environment. A mentorship program can give the new hire a person to go to for work advice and guidance when onboarding. These relationships are often very important to workers. These programs also help people develop confidence in the workplace and in their positions.
**Promote a Workplace Culture of Inclusion**
[Research](https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/83259/Cameron,%2520Mora,%2520%26%2520Leutscher%2520-%2520Effects%2520of%2520Positive%2520Practices%2520on%2520Organizational%2520Performance%2520-%2520Revised%2520Submission.pdf?sequence=1) indicates that workplaces that are known for positive characteristics such as respect, honesty, care, support, and empathy contribute to a higher employee performance in the overall organization. Work leaders can help create a friendly work atmosphere by encouraging people to work together and to embrace inclusion. They can also take proactive steps against workplace bullying.
**Celebrate Collective Successes**
Members of an organization need to feel that they are part of something and that they are recognized. Celebrating collective successes helps create a sense of belonging and increases employees’ attachment to the workplace. Group achievements can also build solidarity in teams and decrease employee burnout.
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