A recent study by Nectar reveals that many workers, particularly younger employees, desire closer relationships with their colleagues, yet hybrid work environments are disrupting traditional bonding rituals. With remote communication replacing in-person interactions, office friendships are dwindling, leading to isolation among workers. The pandemic has redefined many workplace connections, such that coworkers are often just colleagues, amplifying feelings of loneliness. As insights from experts highlight, this shift could have profound impacts on workplace morale and productivity.
"Offices are more insular, with people in their own microcosms ignoring colleagues," workplace psychologist Craig Jackson told Cosmopolitan UK, noting the spike in noise-canceling headphone sales.
"We used to go out together every Friday for work drinks, but that stopped after Covid - and a lot of us became parents, so it became harder in that sense, anyway," Charlotte, 33, an estate agent, told the outlet.
"I work for the NHS, and while I gossip about anything and everything with my co-workers, we tend to only socialise at Christmas," pharmacy technician Lizzie, 29, said to the publication.
"Friendships can suffer when one friend becomes 'anointed' and the other doesn't," said Jackson, calling the post-promotion loneliness phenomenon "executive isolation."
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