IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/bushor/v66y2023i5p655-666.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Help! Lonely at work: Managerial interventions to combat employee loneliness

Author

Listed:
  • Sullivan, Diane M.
  • Bendell, Bari L.

Abstract

Loneliness is a rampant and modern epidemic that affects the majority of employed adults and shows no signs of subsiding. Loneliness not only contributes to numerous health problems—including anxiety, depression, heart failure, and suicide—but can also cause greater employee stress, cynicism, distrust, and decreased job performance, as well as higher turnover and absenteeism. Loneliness-prompted absenteeism singlehandedly costs employers billions of dollars a year in lost productivity. Consequently, understanding and managing workplace loneliness is of paramount importance for leaders. A review of the causes and outcomes associated with workplace loneliness is provided in this article, as well as three evidence-based interventions that can help reduce workplace loneliness: (1) fostering opportunities for relationship building, (2) increasing support around evolving work contexts, and (3) fortifying a people-focused organizational culture. By presenting research-based guidance, we help leaders combat on-the-job loneliness faced by employees, as well as managers; generate healthier work environments; and cultivate improved individual, team, and organizational performance.

Suggested Citation

  • Sullivan, Diane M. & Bendell, Bari L., 2023. "Help! Lonely at work: Managerial interventions to combat employee loneliness," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 66(5), pages 655-666.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:bushor:v:66:y:2023:i:5:p:655-666
    DOI: 10.1016/j.bushor.2023.01.001
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0007681323000010
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.bushor.2023.01.001?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mui, Rachel & Parker, Owen & Titus, Varkey, 2022. "Merit versus maleness: How strategic positioning can mitigate external gender bias," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 65(4), pages 427-436.
    2. Waytz, Adam & Chou, Eileen Y. & Magee, Joe C. & Galinsky, Adam D., 2015. "Not so lonely at the top: The relationship between power and loneliness," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 69-78.
    3. Heisler, William & Bandow, Diane, 2018. "Retaining and engaging older workers: A solution to worker shortages in the U.S," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 61(3), pages 421-430.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hana Urbancová & Monika Hudáková & Adéla Fajčíková, 2020. "Diversity Management as a Tool of Sustainability of Competitive Advantage," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(12), pages 1-16, June.
    2. Brady, Garrett L. & Inesi, M. Ena & Mussweiler, Thomas, 2021. "The power of lost alternatives in negotiations," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 59-80.
    3. Crystal Kwan & Ho Chung Tam, 2021. "Ageing in Place in Disaster Prone Rural Coastal Communities: A Case Study of Tai O Village in Hong Kong," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-21, April.
    4. Feenstra, Sanne & Jordan, Jennifer & Walter, Frank & Stoker, Janka I., 2020. "Antecedents of leaders' power sharing: The roles of power instability and distrust," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 157(C), pages 115-128.
    5. Ali M. M. S. ALAJMI & Peter LENGYEL, 2020. "Managing Employee Resources The Extent To Which Labour Flexibility Can Generate Employee Commitment," SEA - Practical Application of Science, Romanian Foundation for Business Intelligence, Editorial Department, issue 24, pages 321-327, December.
    6. Martinescu, Elena & Janssen, Onne & Nijstad, Bernard A., 2019. "Gossip as a resource: How and why power relationships shape gossip behavior," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 153(C), pages 89-102.
    7. Jiang, Hongyan & Tan, Huimin & Liu, Yeyi & Wan, Fang & Gursoy, Dogan, 2020. "The impact of power on destination advertising effectiveness: The moderating role of arousal in advertising," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    8. Wang, Wangshuai & Li, Jie & Sun, Gong & Zhang, Xin-an & Cheng, Zhiming, 2016. "The Costs to Life Satisfaction of Impression Management: The Sense of Control and Loneliness as Mediators," MPRA Paper 72912, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Evren Erzen & Özkan Çikrikci, 2018. "The effect of loneliness on depression: A meta-analysis," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 64(5), pages 427-435, August.
    10. Pai, Jieun & Whitson, Jennifer & Kim, Junha & Lee, Sujin, 2021. "A relational account of low power: The role of the attachment system in reduced proactivity," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 167(C), pages 28-41.
    11. Amit, Elinor & Danziger, Shai & Smith, Pamela K., 2022. "Medium is a powerful message: Pictures signal less power than words," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:bushor:v:66:y:2023:i:5:p:655-666. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/bushor .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.