Findings suggest it undermines employee wellbeing, productivity, and retention
Employees who are lonely are more likely to look for another job and twice as likely to be less productive at work, according to research.
Findings from Infinite Potential’s The State of Burnout 2025 finds loneliness is something experienced by around a quarter of the workforce.
“It's a silent epidemic impacting employee wellbeing, productivity, and retention. New data reveals a stark reality: employees experiencing loneliness are twice as likely to report decreased productivity, score significantly lower on wellbeing metrics, and are far more likely to be looking for new employment,” the report finds.
Findings show that the impact of loneliness extends beyond individual suffering – but have tangible costs for teams and organisations, with lonely workers:
From an organisation’s perspective, it has been noted that those workers who don’t class themselves lonely report their productivity around 57% higher than those who say they’re lonely and 33% higher engagement overall.
Many organisations address employee wellbeing through mental health programs and benefits, however there are concerns not enough is done to directly tackle loneliness.
CEO of Ending Loneliness Together, Dr Michelle Lim – commenting on the research on the We Are Human Leaders podcast – said “You can't observe it in someone. You have to ask them. Ending loneliness is not just about fostering belonging and inclusion – leaders must first ensure that workloads are manageable, and recognition is embedded in team culture.”
To do this, several key strategies were recommended, including:
It was also recommended remote and hybrid working be rethought to combat feelings of isolation as well as ensuring work is sustainable.
“Where possible, bring people together regularly on set days. This ensures people aren’t showing up to an empty office and ending up on video calls all day,” Dr Lim said.
The feeling of loneliness is quoted in research as an evolutionary human response to a lack of desired social connection, just as hunger or thirst shows us a lack of nourishment.
“Feeling lonely is as normal as feeling thirsty,” Dr Lim said, “we wouldn’t feel embarrassed about getting something to drink, so why do we feel embarrassed about feeling lonely?” In this sense, loneliness is a healthy indicator that our social needs are not being met, and a helpful signal to take action.”
“Unfortunately, in many workplace cultures, loneliness has a darker connotation. Loneliness is associated with personal failure (‘I must not be desirable; people don’t like me’) which gives rise to fear and shame – and in turn prevents us from acknowledging and discussing loneliness,” Lim added.
Whilst there are ways to deal with loneliness amongst a workforce, the issue has been cited as having greater stigma compared to talking about mental health – as people don’t wish to be seen as weak, vulnerable, or incapable.
“There's so much stigma about being lonely. People deny being lonely or they actively conceal it,” Dr Lim emphasized. “But loneliness should not be seen as a sign of weakness or fault.”
