A study suggests you can combat workplace loneliness by doing 1 thing

Remote work from the comfort of one’s living room or kitchen is the new normal for millions, and while that means less money and time spent on morning commutes and take-out lunches, it also means a whole lot of isolation.

Who knew we would miss small talk in the break room so much?

A new study just released by Indiana University even found that high levels of work loneliness during the COVID-19 pandemic are associated with more depressive thoughts and “fewer voluntary work behaviors.” In other words, feeling isolated while on the job can adversely impact you both personally and professionally.

Luckily, that same study also identifies a way to combat feelings of loneliness sparked by remote work.

How to combat remote work loneliness

Researchers say actively practicing self-compassion can help mitigate the negative impact of work isolation and loneliness.

“We found that self-compassion helps protect employees from some of the negative effects of work loneliness,” says study co-author Stephanie Andel, an assistant professor of psychology in the School of Science at IUPUI.

“We suspect this is because self-compassion leads individuals to be kinder to themselves, makes them more likely to recognize that they are not alone in their feelings and helps them to be aware of — but not consumed by — their negative feelings.”

It’s all about self-love

“Self-compassion” can be summed up as being kind to oneself, especially during tough times. When things go wrong, or not according to plan, many people tend to immediately blame themselves. This cycle of self-blame and rumination is pretty much always a self-defeating exercise. 

Ironically, we’re rarely ever as hard on others as we are on ourselves. Study authors suggest that during bad days or following perceived failures that individuals treat themselves like they would a friend or colleague in need. Practice self-compassion like this long enough, and you’ll find it easier to shake off lonely or low moments while working from home.

Employees working in a wide variety of industries took part in this study, including education, manufacturing, technology, and retail. Each of those workers filled out weekly surveys between March and May of last year.

“We wanted to understand what factors are driving feelings of work loneliness, and to understand how this work loneliness influenced employees’ psychological health and work behaviors,” Andel explains. “We looked at three different factors that we thought might drive work loneliness: perceptions of job insecurity, telecommuting frequency, and insufficient communication from their companies about how they were responding to the pandemic.”

“We found each of those factors contributed to feelings of work loneliness, and we also found that work loneliness was associated with depression and fewer voluntary helping behaviors at work,” she continues.

Lack of motivation, and how to combat it

Across the board, when employees reported feeling lonely on the job, they also reported more depressive feelings and less motivation to “go above and beyond” in their position. However, those who indicated high levels of self-compassion were able to bounce back from episodes of loneliness faster and reported fewer depressive thoughts than other workers scoring low on self-compassion measures.

Interestingly, though, more self-compassion doesn’t appear to foster more work dedication or “helping behaviors.”

“We originally thought if you were more self-compassionate, you might have the energy and mental resources to engage in more helping behaviors at work,” Andel notes. “However, it turns out that the pattern is opposite of what we expected. Instead, those who were higher in self-compassion were more likely to give themselves a necessary break. We suspect that this may ultimately help them to feel better and help more in the future.”

To a certain extent, the researchers’ theory makes sense; sometimes there’s no better way to practice some self-care than taking a break. It isn’t always the right move to take on more work, especially when your plate is already full.

In conclusion, study authors say the subject of self-compassion in the workplace is woefully understudied. They say much more research is warranted on this topic. For example, what influence does a self-compassion-promoting boss have on his or her employees? 

“This is an exciting and important step in bringing self-compassion to the organizational literature, and my collaborators and I look forward to building on this research,” Andel adds.

Beyond just matters of work or loneliness, the main message of this research is a useful piece of advice across virtually any life scenario. Be kind to yourself. Everyone makes mistakes and has the occasional bout of loneliness – and that thought in and of itself means we’re never really alone.

This research was conducted in collaboration with York University and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

The full study can be found here, published in the Journal of Occupational Health Psychology.