Addressing the "connection crisis" at work (and in other contexts of life)
- sciart0
- Apr 12, 2025
- 1 min read
Excerpt: Today’s employees aren’t just disengaged – they’re actively disconnecting from their colleagues, managers, and leaders at an alarming rate.
The signs are everywhere: declining engagement, lower productivity, more people than ever seeking new roles, increasing isolation and burnout, and growing tensions over flexible work. Gallup calls this the “great detachment,” estimating its cost at £8.9tn – that’s 9 per cent of global GDP.
But this isn’t just about profit – it’s about people.
A recent report by Telus Health found a third of UK workers have a high mental health risk driven by loneliness, highlighting that workers under 40 are 80 per cent more likely to lack trusted workplace relationships, compared to workers over 50. Many leaders want to pin the connection crisis on remote working and believe that forcing people back to the office will magically fix it. That’s a lie.
The reality? The connection crisis started long before the pandemic. It’s about way more than physical location. And dragging employees back to their desks won’t bring it to an end.