Heather Grimshaw: Welcome to Absence Management Perspectives: A DMEC Podcast. The Disability Management Employer Coalition, or DMEC as we're known by most people, provides focused education, knowledge and networking opportunities for absence and disability management professionals.
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Hi, we're glad you're with us. I'm Heather Grimshaw with dmec and today we're talking about loneliness and the dramatic effect it can have on employers. Our guests are Wendy Coduti, PhD, Regional Director of Health and Productivity analytics and Consulting Practice for Prudential Group Insurance, and Latoya Rodriguez, Regional Director of Health and Productivity analytics and Consulting Practice for Prudential Group Insurance. They are coauthors of an article published in At Work magazine on the subject. We will include a link to the article titled the Organizational Effect of Reasons why Workplace Connections should be Part of Absence Management Strategies and have asked Wendy and Latoya to expand on a few of the areas they wrote about during this episode.
So to level set, I'm hoping that you will share some of the data. Maybe one or two of the most salient points for why employers should be assessing loneliness among their workforce.
Wendy Coduti, PhD: Sure. This is Wendy, I'm happy to take that one. There's a lot of stats around loneliness and I think especially as we learn more, we're going to see more and more of these statistics coming out, but really just starting to see where loneliness is being tied to those specific health related statistics. So a couple of those is that loneliness costs employers more than $154 billion annually due to increased absence, absenteeism and turnover. And also lonely employees are twice as likely to quit their jobs and experience a higher rate of absenteeism, missing about 5.7 more days of work each year compared to their non lonely counterparts. There's some other statistics related to health in particular. As I had mentioned, loneliness increase is health related, 29% increase in heart disease, 32% increased risk of stroke and and the one that sticks with me the most is around mortality, that mortality rates for loneliness are similar to smoking 15 cigarettes per day, which is a pretty significant statistic when we know about some of the other health implications related to smoking. So taking all of those stats together, I think really starts to paint that picture around how loneliness impacts employers and employees on a daily basis.
Heather Grimshaw: I'm also hoping that you'll share some of the data about short term disability and workplace absences.
Wendy Coduti, PhD: It does lead to a higher utilization of the short-term disability. So we know that, you know, if you take all of these kind of comorbid conditions and add in some of those other challenges around addressing loneliness in the workplace, recognizing that those folks who are experiencing loneliness also probably don't have, you know, the social supports in place that may be necessarily tied to the workplace as much as we would think of with folks who aren't experiencing loneliness at such high rates. We know all of that from being within this world of work for so long, as many of us are that are listening to the podcast, that all of those taken together do make those durations increase when we're looking at short term disability and do kind of create another kind of speed bump in the road of getting back to work.
Getting back to work sooner. So it does have some pretty significant implications when we're thinking about not just the health conditions can lead to more people going out on claim, but also getting folks back to work because they don't necessarily have that connection in the workplace can, can actually increase some of those durations of giving back.
Heather Grimshaw: That's really helpful context. And again, it is something that we're reading about more in the media that this, this loneliness issue that seems to be increasingly dangerous as well as common. So one of the things that I'm hoping that you'll talk about today is whether this is a new issue for employers, one that is now just being recognized as a workforce issue.
LaToya Rodriguez: This is Latoya, I can start us off. So loneliness is not a new issue, but it is one that is just now being recognized as a significant workforce issue. The COVID 19 pandemic has brought mental health and wellbeing to the forefront, highlighting the importance of social connectedness. However, even before the pandemic, more than 50% of working adults reported feeling lonely. The shift to remote work has certainly exasperated the issue for many, but it has also provided a unique opportunity for employers to, to reassess and address loneliness as a critical component of their absence.
Management and employee wellness strategies.
Heather Grimshaw: I think a lot of folks jump to the conclusion that being in an office would help mitigate this issue of loneliness. Is that a fair assumption It's a common one.
LaToya Rodriguez: I would assume, right, that, you know, a lot of people think that coming into the office and being around others would help address that. But it is important to recognize that physical presence in an office does not necessarily equate to meaningful social connection. If an individual did not experience a sense of belonging at work prior to being remote, coming back to the office will not change that. In addition, it is likely that employees, depending on the type of work that they do, can come into the office and still not be engaged in the same way. They may be back on the phones, just, you know, in back-to-back meetings. They may have their headphones on and not engage socially. And loneliness is driven by the quality of social interactions, not just the quantity.
And some effective tactics we, you know, found for mitigating loneliness include creating a supportive culture. Building a supportive, inclusive culture where employees feel valued and cared for is foundational. And this starts with leadership modeling and promoting genuine connections and kindness. Also implementing mentorship programs. We found that mentorship programs can foster meaningful relationships and provide support, especially for new or marginalized employees. Also encouraging social activities, organized team building exercises, virtual social activities, or even dedicating time and meetings for personal sharing and stress reduction techniques. We also find that providing training is really, really essential. Train leaders to recognize signs of loneliness and equip them with the tools to foster those connections within their teams. And promoting work life balance.
Encourage employees to protect their time away from work and support their social connections outside of the workplace by respecting those work life boundaries.
Wendy Coduti, PhD: And this is Wendy, to me, this is like the most important question that you asked, I think, because it helps us kind of reframe how we think and talk about loneliness because it's, it's an automatic knee jerk reaction if somebody's lonely.
And we had Covid, everyone's away from each other, let's just all get back together. So I think, you know, and we're kind of seeing that in some of those return to return to office mandates. It seems to be the first step that we need to do to help mitigate loneliness in the workplace. But as Latoya pointed out, you know, all of these pieces have to be in place for folks to come back to the workplace for something and also remembering the virtual folks.
So you might have a hybrid work environment, you might have a fully remote workforce.
That doesn't mean that all the pieces that we just discussed can exist or shouldn't exist because there's the equal opportunity to create these connected workplaces, whether it's virtual or, or in-person settings.
Heather Grimshaw: You provide a lot of context as well in your article. So just a little plug to encourage folks to find the link to the article in our notes section so that you can see some of the strategies that you've recommended. But do want to ask you here as well that since loneliness issues were prevalent before so many Americans started working remotely. Latoya, as you mentioned, what are some of the best tactics you've seen employers test out or use to address this issue and really engage differently?
LaToya Rodriguez: I can start us off just thinking about resources, like employee resource groups. We've seen that, you know, creating those safe spaces for employees to feel like they're belonging really helps set a foundation for that addressing the issue in the workplace. So I think having those types of opportunities for employees to engage with in safe spaces is definitely one that we've seen be successful in the workplace.
Wendy Coduti, PhD: And this is Wendy. I'll just piggyback off of what Latoria had started with in the conversation on how, what employers do to address this and really thinking about how do you start these conversations? These aren't conversations that we have had in the workplace, nor do maybe people think they should occur in the workplace. We don't really tie these two pieces together. And one of the pieces that I've seen coming out of more of the loneliness work and the loneliness, you know, the people who have written on this and the conversations that we're starting to have is now we're moving it towards connection because there's a, there's a stigma attached to loneliness. So when we first think about what are those strategies that we're going to implement, starting with, like we would with anything else, any other topic in the workplace is what language are we going to use? Because language is really important and it can either open the door to those conversations or make people step back and feel, I don't want to admit that I'm lonely. Because if, if we think of, you know, if we were to ask at the beginning of the podcast, who is, what does somebody who's lonely look like? You know, we, we, we have an immediate picture that comes to mind. So I think there's a stigma to saying, you know, I feel lonely. Especially if you say, I feel lonely.
And I work in a workplace that has, you know, 50 people in the office and we have get togethers, you can still feel lonely. As Latoya had mentioned, it's that quality over quantity.
So really, when we think about that level setting for employers to understand, you know, people might shy away from even answering some initial Surveys of how are folks feeling? And don't let that be where folks say, hey, I'm not lonely. To say, okay, we don't have a loneliness issue, right? So really reframing that to say, you know, do you feel like you belong? People are more likely to say, on a positive note, do I feel belonging versus do I feel lonely? So really, even how we ask these questions is important. There are some tools and surveys that we talk about in the article about how you can assess loneliness. Again, that's one data point. Use one data point to start that. Don't rely on just one data point. Asking some of those questions of how do you feel like you belong in the workplace? Also raising awareness, just having conversations, really just starting the conversations of normalizing that this is an issue that many people are facing. And, you know, there's no rhyme or reason or necessarily a specific picture of what somebody who's lonely looks like. Creating some of those support systems is really important. One of the things that Latoya and I have talked about this through multiple conversations on the topic is really building that sense of community and using that as your focus and making sure that there's those relationships that are meaningful to people, promoting inclusivity across the board. That's the most important piece that we can do as employers is really making sure that we're building that workplace and that culture that people want to come back to. The other thing, and I think we've heard about this in any of the topics that we talk about, about challenges facing employers. It's also one of the solutions that we see in so many of the different areas that we talk about. And that's increasing flexibility. And that means something different for every single person. Making sure that people, if I. I might not have my people at work, but I have my people outside of work. And recognizing that you have to give people that opportunity to have their community outside of work. And that means creating those opportunities for employees to, you know, have that work life, work life blend and being able to show up for the people that matter. You know, being able to go to kids plays, being able to go to birthday parties, being able to take vacations, making sure that encouraging flexibility is really important.
Heather Grimshaw: There's certainly stigma around loneliness, and I think there are probably a lot of fearful people in terms of asking if people are okay, how you initiate that conversation. And so you've given folks some great things to think about here and then flesh them out in the article, which is wonderful. Delving in a little Bit more specifically, would love to hear you talk about whether there's a generational difference when it comes to the prevalence of loneliness.
Wendy Coduti, PhD: And this is Wendy, I can start out with that. And from the research, first, I'd like to preface it by whenever we talk about a topic and identifying what groups may be more at risk for a topic to remember that everybody's different. Right. So I'm going to tell you that 8 in 10 Gen Z employees and 7 in 10 millennial employees report feeling lonely. That doesn't mean that every Gen Z and Millennial feels lonely. They have a higher prevalence rate when we're looking across demographics. But it's important that if employers are looking at targeting, they're looking at targeting all employees when we're talking about the generational differences and the unique components within each one of those generational differences. So it's important that employers think of this on a whole workforce perspective, but recognize that there might be different interventions and strategies and tactics for those different generational groups. So we're seeing it more on that the younger generation, but then also older workers in general. We know even outside of the workforce that older people in general face loneliness and have even before COVID as we had talked about. But that's usually a generation where we think again, if I asked you if you pictured somebody who was lonely, I bet if I asked all of you to explain to your picture and if everyone could raise their hand, you know, was that a young person or was that an old person?
And probably many of us went to that older age where you see somebody who's older, you know, maybe sitting at home, not a lot of people around them, but recognizing again that, you know, even your, your younger employees that are coming in and have, you know, a lot of friends in the workplace or might have a lot of social engagements outside of work are impacted by loneliness.
Heather Grimshaw: It's a great point. And earlier, Wendy, you mentioned the importance of reframing those questions and ways that employers can assess if people feel like their employees belong at an organization, whether that's an in person office or remote work.
It is so nuanced. And I think people have a tendency to jump to that picture when they hear the word lonely. And so hopefully listening to you both today and reading your wonderful article will give more pause so that employers take a different look. From a really practical perspective. What would you encourage employers to do as a first step to acknowledge the issue of loneliness among employee populations and how can they start to address it?
Wendy Coduti, PhD: I can start out with that. This is Wendy, I Think the first thing is educate themselves, you know, so that they're recognizing and being familiar with what the concept is. What does this mean? I always, you know, when you're thinking or learning about something new, making sure that you're taking time to recognize where your own stigma and bias might be popping up. So again, recognizing where. If you. You're starting to put, you know, certain demographics in certain categories, when you're learning about loneliness or recognizing these topics that you're, you know, kept yourself from doing that, really looking at how the workplace is set up, whether that's virtual, whether that's in person.
Don't forget some of the other data. I'm sure employers have asked questions on belonging in the past, going back to that. Maybe they have developed employee resource groups. How many people are showing up? I think the most important piece to do is to ask people some of these questions but be ready for the answers and be ready to do something with those answers. The worst thing you can do is, again, I'm a visual person. I see the employee suggestion box with a bunch of copy. So everyone's putting their suggestions in, but nobody's really taking it to do anything with it. So if you're going to ask these questions, be ready to do something about it. And, you know, I think oftentimes we build stuff that we think is going to work for our workforce that might not work. You know, getting your workers involved to say, what can we do? What can we do to help you? What would increase your sense of belonging is a great place to. Great place to start. And there's a lot of information.
Loneliness, creating connection in the workplace. There's just a wealth of information coming out on this topic. So I think there's a lot of resources for employers to pull from.
Heather Grimshaw: Fantastic. Thank you. And a lot of those resources I just will mention are in this article. And so again, check out the link in the notes section. I think one of the things that most people will recognize is the Surgeon General's advisory on the quote, unquote, epidemic of loneliness. And so I think that it is easy to think of that on a very high level and not really know how to act, which is one of the reasons why the article is so valuable and your time today is so helpful. So thank you both for your willingness to share your expertise on this and for the additional information.
Wendy Coduti, PhD: Thank you very much. We appreciate it.
LaToya Rodriguez: Thank you.
