By Emily Glynn
Background
The WHO recognises social disconnection as a serious public health issue and has identified reduced face-to-face interactions, prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic, as a driver (WHO Commission on Social Connection, 2025). The workplace is one setting where the impact of this driver may be lingering, as >40% of UK workers in associate professional/professional/managerial occupations still work remotely as part of ‘hybrid’ arrangements (ONS, 2024). It is however unclear to what extent this continuation of remote work is affecting individual experiences of social connection or disconnection, and what this means for individual wellbeing.
Understanding this is particularly important for younger workers (under 30), as social connection in the workplace has previously been thought to support their wellbeing during an unstable and challenging phase of life (WHO Commission on Social Connection, 2025; Putnam, 1995). My doctoral research therefore aims to explore how young hybrid workers (aged 21-29) have experienced social connection, and what this may mean for their wellbeing. Here, I explore one of the ‘themes’ emerging from this ongoing research, which has unexpectedly highlighted the importance of spending time in relative solitude as key to some participants’ experiences of social connection and wellbeing.
The importance of ‘easy’ connection
Many of us will know the tiredness that comes after a full days’ work, and this was highlighted as one way in which young people’s hybrid-working lives were felt to negatively impact their social connections. Whilst having to commute for an in-office day didn’t help, the tiredness which left participants feeling ‘drained’ could still come about as easily on a day working from home.
Indeed, many participants expressed the feeling of having no energy to do anything after work, which resulted in them staying home of an evening and completing only essential tasks (making dinner, preparing for the following day, going to bed), rather than pursuing leisure activities that might have resulted in moments of social connection: ‘If it’s just been like, a bit of more of a stressful day…then I’m like, I just kind of can’t really, can’t really be arsed to do anything.’ – Daisy, 27
As a result, many participants highly valued having ‘easy’ company available for social connection, when they didn’t have energy for much else. Experiences of this ranged from having dinner with a partner, to watching TV with housemates or friends: ‘He’ll probably cook and sometimes we’ll sit around the table and just eat, and just chat whilst we’re eating, if we have the energy to.’ – Annie, 29
People were regarded as ‘easy company’ when participants did not perceive any social expectations from them. Participants could therefore fully relax in the presence of these people, and experience feeling both connected and mentally switched-off: ‘I enjoy [my housemates’] company, but also I can be in quiet company with them and it’s low-pressure.’ – Margot, 24
Weinstein, Hansen and Nguyen (2023) have referred to this phenomenon of being in ‘quiet company’ as ‘companionate solitude’ and highlight the key role of trust between individuals who are happy to share their private ‘mentally solitary’ time together in this way.
Social personalities
With a growing social awareness around loneliness, readers may be concerned to hear the young hybrid workers within this project describe spending so much time alone. But if our more ‘socially isolated’ participants are also telling us that this aligns with their personality, are we right to worry? Indeed, young hybrid workers with fewer regular social interactions often described themselves as being ‘more introverted’ when explaining how they felt about their experiences of social connection: ‘I think it depends on how kind of social you are…Like, I am generally fairly introverted. It does take me a while before I start to feel lonely. I know some people who’d be driven mad by [working from home], and that’s just your own personality.’ – Annie, 29
Though not requested, this kind of self-categorisation helps us to understand participants’ preferences for the ‘amount’ of social connection they would like to have and, importantly, affects how we might consider the wellbeing impacts of their time spent alone.
A societal pressure to socialise
Associations between social media use and feelings of social connection are not straightforward. On the one hand, it can be a great tool for keeping in-touch with loved ones. On the other hand, it can cause individuals to feel more disconnected than ever. Interestingly, this was true even for participants who strongly felt that they preferred to spend time alone, as they described feeling ‘wrong’ for not wanting the kind of connections that other people were posting online: ‘You look at them and you go, ‘Should I be doing that? Should I be going on a girls’ holiday?’. – Cath, 27
Thoughts about the amount of connection that people ‘should’ have was also expressed by participants who were more socially connected – with the idea that there is something about ‘human nature’ that demands some level of social connection, noted by several participants: ‘I feel like I need to have, everyone I’m sure needs to have like a certain number
social interactions a day to make themselves feel sane.’ – Isabelle, 22
Despite preferences for social connection differing between individuals then, there seems to be an overall sense amongst young people that there is a ‘right’ amount to be sought. It may be worth considering whether public health messaging around ‘the dangers of loneliness’ could have contributed to this?
What’s next?
The ideas explored briefly here form the basis of just one of the emerging themes within my broader doctoral research. We plan to continue enriching these themes through further interviews with young hybrid workers.
References
- Office for National Statistics (2024) Who are the hybrid workers?, Office for National Statistics. Available at: https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/articles/whoarethehybridworkers/2024-11-11 (Accessed: 31 July 2025).
- Putnam, R.D. (1995) ‘BOWLING ALONE: AMERICA’S DECLINING SOCIAL CAPITAL’, Journal of Democracy, 6(1), pp. 65–78.
- Weinstein, N., Hansen, H. and Nguyen, T. (2023) ‘Definitions of Solitude in Everyday Life’, Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin, 49(12), pp. 1663–1678. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/01461672221115941.
- WHO Commission on Social Connection (2025) From loneliness to social connection: Charting a path to healthier societies. Available at: https://cdn.who.int/media/docs/default-source/who-commission-on-social-connection/whocsc-plainlanguage-en_comp.pdf?sfvrsn=c5396dff_5&download=true (Accessed: 2 July 2025).