Loneliness looms for Seattle's remote workers
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Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios
Here's a puzzle: Working from home appears to make people feel more alone, but forcing them back to the office full time doesn't necessarily make them feel better, according to new research published in the Harvard Business Review.
Why it matters: Loneliness is a huge societal issue with often devastating health and cultural fallout, as the U.S. surgeon general has warned — and in the workplace it can be particularly damaging.
- Lonely workers are less productive, rack up higher health care costs, and are more likely to quit their jobs, says Constance Noonan Hadley, a professor at Boston University's Questrom School of Business, who co-authored the study.
Zoom in: The percentage of people who work from home in the Seattle area remains higher than in most of the country, according to an analysis of 2023 census estimates by Coworking Mag.
- In that ranking of 109 U.S. metros, Seattle came in eighth for its 20% share of remote workers.
- Portland and San Francisco came in slightly higher, in sixth and seventh, with roughly 21% and 20.5% of remote workers, respectively.
Flashback: A 2024 Federal Reserve article pegged the percentage of remote workers in Washington state even higher, at 37%, compared to 15% nationwide.
What they did: In the study published in the Harvard Business Review, Hadley and co-writer Sarah L. Wright defined work loneliness as "the distressful experience of having a higher desire for social connection than what is subjectively experienced while working."
- They surveyed 1,000 full-time office workers in "knowledge" fields like finance, software engineering and consulting.
- After taking an assessment (you can take it here), respondents were divided by levels of loneliness: high, medium and low. A smaller group was then asked more qualitative questions.
What they found: Lonely workers want to feel closer or more connected to colleagues.
- Yes, but: Surprisingly, the loneliest workers are getting a lot of face-to-face contact, but it doesn't seem to help: The loneliest respondents said they conducted nearly half (47%) of their prior month's work in person.
- There was no difference in loneliness between those in office full time and those working a hybrid schedule. While fully remote workers, on average, were slightly lonelier — other factors were more impactful.
Go deeper: What employers can do