Canada - that bastion of forward thinking - is currently working on developing public health guidelines for social connection to improve population mental health, and control mental and physical health risks. Bit like your five a day, but in chit-chats rather than fruit and veg.

Does that mean Friday night pizza parties are back on the work perks list, or should even form part of your Psychosocial Risk Management plan?. (TLDR: no. For more nuance, read on).

**Artist credit:** comics created by the programmers behind **Toggl**

Let’s take a look at what the risks are around social connection, why staying connected matters and what employers can do to ensure their people are getting enough of the right sort of social connection and control the hazard of loneliness.

Loneliness: a psychosocial hazard?

The UK launched its national strategy for tackling loneliness in 2018, and produces a report every year. In 2021, Japan appointed its first Minister for Loneliness. Last week, the US surgeon general, Vivek Murthy, advised public officials to treat social isolation with the same urgency as tobacco, alcohol misuse and sedentary lifestyles.

Some research has indicated that the impact to lifespan of being socially disconnected is on par with smoking 15 cigarettes per day, and more hazardous to health than physical inactivity.

**Artist credit:** I couldn’t find the artist for this one - please **let me know** if you recognise them!

That’s in addition to the profound ripple effects of social disconnection on our schools and workplaces in lowering engagement and productivity, on increasing the risk of negative mental health outcomes and on increasing use of harmful coping mechanisms such as substance abuse.

Why do people need social connection?

It is theorised that humans have an innate drive for social connection, and that loneliness is a bit like hunger, thirst, or feeling too hot or too cold. Loneliness is an uncomfortable feeling that prompts behavioural change, sending us out searching for what we need to ensure our survival.

Historically, social connection has been a protective mechanism. When we’re around other people, we have better access to safety mechanisms and to the increased resources that come from community living. Social connection is essential to long-term survival.

If you’re interested in reading more about how loneliness and health interact, this is an excellent short summary, with links to a wide breadth of research including data from the 2021 and 2022 Canadian Social Connection Surveys.

To sum it up, the authors found robust links between social connection and physical health, even when considering and controlling for a variety of other co-occuring factors.

How much is enough? (but not too much!)

How much social connection do we need to meet our basic needs?

It depends.

Social connection exists on a continuum. We are not always either lonely or not lonely. Our experience of social connection fluctuates, as does our subjective experience of our connectedness (we may feel lonely despite having friends).

**Artist Credit:** Jimmy Craig - **TheyCanTalk**

Relationships change in their quality, importance to us and function as we learn, grow, move and undergo different life experiences, from changing jobs or moving cities to illness, parenthood or retirement. Solitude can be restorative, especially if it is a choice to be alone and gives us space to reflect or recuperate from socialising (introverts will relate!).

**Artist Credit:** Weinye Chen, **itsweinye**

Our culture will also be a driver, to the extent that concepts of connectedness and how to build relationships differ between cultures. Migrants are at particular risk of social isolation and experiencing loneliness.

The truth is, there are many variables involved and we don’t have enough research to isolate all of the factors. What we do know for sure is that people need social relationships in the same way that we need food, water, exercise and rest.

Individuals will have different circumstances and needs but looking at the population data that we do have, we can draw some basic principles around social connection that will work pretty well for everyone.

What do the guidelines say?

Researchers for the Canadian Alliance for Social Connection and Health recommends the following, based on their research so far:

1-3 hours per day as a minimum for most people to avoid social and emotional loneliness
3-5 close friends to avoid social and emotional loneliness
More than 15 friends, and more than 21-25 hours per week of social connection can be correlated with diminished returns. This is partly because of the trade-off in time between meeting new connections and building intimacy with the connections we already have.
People tend to seek out what they need (depending on barriers to doing so), so accounting for individual differences, researchers recommend striving to achieve a minimum of 75% of the social connection individuals feel they want.

Chosen solitude (voluntary alone time) is also important, to recharge our social batteries.

What does this mean for employers? And in an age of hybrid and remote working, how can leaders ensure that their teams stay socially connected, while still offering flexible working options?

What does this mean for employers?

If you’re thinking that being responsible for your employees’ social lives is a level above the requirements for legislative compliance to risk assess and control for mental health and psychosocial safety hazards then you’re not alone (pardon the pun).

But rather than focusing on the minimum requirement to tick HSE boxes, take a step back and think about what you have to gain from putting processes into place that control for social isolation and worker loneliness and help team members to get the social connection that they need.

Working from home and working from an office can be just as isolating (or not).
**Artist credit:** Irina Blok aka **creativeblok**

Some of the benefits of controlling for loneliness and creating socially-connected environments:

Better mental health outcomes (this is linked to higher presenteeism)
Cost savings, via productivity and retention. The cost of loneliness to UK employers has been estimated to be £2.5 billion per year.
Better collaboration between individuals and teams - this can include mentorship and training opportunities, which can alleviate risks of burnout for less experienced staff (being that a major driver for burnout is a mis-match between a person and the job role)
Social support is a protective barrier against bullying, discrimination and imposter phenomenon, and is positively correlated with job satisfaction.

**Artist Credit?** Liz Climo **thelittleworldofliz**

Socially connected people tend to be physically healthier people, which means reduced absenteeism due to illness. Social connectedness can influence other positive health behaviours (such as meeting others to exercise).

Does this spell the end of remote working?

Is ordering everyone back into the office the solution?

Only if you hold stocks in inner-city commercial Real Estate.

It is true that in-office working can create opportunities for face-to-face connection with co-workers, but it can also limit our employees’ opportunities to build relationships outside of work.

**Artist credit:** **Loryn Brantz**, creator of Feminist Baby

Busy in-office working environments can also be a driver for emotional loneliness. Being around swathes of people to whom we don’t feel connected can paradoxically cause us to feel isolated.

Remote working opportunities can increase connection opportunities for many people who are less able to participate in face-to-face work because of caring responsibilities or physical disability. Neurodiverse workers are likely to benefit from being able to control lighting, noise, and other factors that impact their work. Therefore, offering remote work equitably can help us to create more inclusive workplaces.

Organisations as ecosystems

Perhaps rather than thinking in binary terms (either one or the other), or even in hybrid terms, it is time to consider what the risks and opportunities are associated with every option, and the different controls and buffers that we can put into place to build a socially connected team, based around what individuals say they prefer.

**Artist credit:** Irina Blok aka **creativeblok**

If your organisation is an eco-system, what type of landscape do you want to create and how can you get there?

There may be trade-offs to consider, and what is beneficial for one thing may be a barrier to another. For instance, remote employees may have better opportunities to connect socially with their close friends and whānau outside work, but they may then feel excluded from job-related social supports such as mentorship, ‘bouncing ideas’ and building the kind of connections that can lead to promotional opportunities.

**Artist credit:** Nathan Pyle, **Strange Planet**

Leaders can devise strategies to overcome any barriers to opportunity that different types of working may present. The key is to assess the risks, identify opportunities and barriers, and focus on designing job roles and environments that are most likely to lead to thriving. Then, of course, to measure the outcomes.

How can employers create a wellbeing strategy that considers social connection?

I have relied heavily on both the U.S Surgeon General’s National Advisory report on the Healing Effects of Social Connection and Community (particularly page 61 - “what workplaces can do”), and the UK Government’s “Guidance on Employers and Loneliness”.

Incorporate a social connection strategy into existing HSE management systems. Make life easier for yourself by not re-inventing the wheel.
Risk-assess job roles for social isolation as part of the job design process and identify controls for jobs that are particularly prone to isolation (for example - security work, line pickers, home workers, data entry roles).

Include empowering social connection in your leadership training. Train managers on the hazards, how they can recognise the signs of social disconnection and how they can encourage feelings of belonging.
Create a culture that encourages people to build connections based around who they are as people rather than simply their workplace functions or skillset. To give an example - a well-known Aerospace company has a number of workplace message boards set up around staff interests including a board for cat photos and one that celebrates bad parking.

Create policies that protect workers’ abilities to nurture relationships outside work. How? Don’t message people when they’re on holiday or on days off. Encourage people to leave work on time. Encourage people to take a lunch break where they have time to connect with others. Encourage hobbies. Show people that they are valued for who they are as people and not just what they do.
Consider the importance of social connection when assigning workload. If people are too busy to take ten minutes to chat at the kettle; or are too overwhelmed to ask their co-workers how they are doing today then they are likely overworked.
Get to know your people ! This means getting to know them as people, not just as their job role or function. What are their hobbies? Who do they have close relationships with? What is important to them?
Respect people’s choice regarding their social connection preferences. For some people, making friends at work is an important part of their weekly dose of social connection. Others prefer to keep their socialising and intimate relationships outside the work-sphere.
Leaders: model healthy social connection. This means turning off notifications when you’re on holiday. Tell your team when you are leaving work early to take a family member to an appointment, to watch your kids’ sports day or to meet up with an old friend. When you engage your team in conversation, don’t keep it strictly to business. Ask them how they are and what they’re up to and listen when they respond.

Need help with your Psychosocial Risk Assessment and Psychosocial Risk Management plan?

Glia is here for you.

We are a team of highly experienced registered Psychologists who are experts in the world of work.

Contact us for Psychosocial Risk Assessments, Burnout Recovery Coaching, and virtual or in-house workshops to support mental health in the workplace and reduce the impact of stress, social isolation and other psychosocial hazards at work.

Follow us on LinkedIn for our regular, and FREE educational LinkedIn Lives with special expert guests covering Psychosocial Risk Management, Stress and Burnout Management, Workplace Mental Health and compliance.

You can also book us for your conference - we speak at Health and Safety and workplace wellbeing events regularly.

Follow the writer, Ngaire Wallace, on LinkedIn here.