Conceptualising workplace loneliness: A qualitative investigation with UK workers utilising semi-structured interviews and a novel drawing method

Introduction: Loneliness is an important risk factor for mental health conditions, and concern about its impact on workers’ health and wellbeing has grown in recent years. While a body of workplace loneliness research is emerging, the degree to which existing definitions of the phenomenon reflect workers’ experiences has not been investigated. 

Goals and methods: This study aims to develop an evidence-based conceptualisation of workplace loneliness through semi-structured online interviews with a diverse sample 31 UK-based workers. Interviews were supplemented with a social mapping task using the online drawing tool AutoDraw. Interview data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. Social maps were analysed using a thematic analysis approach informed by a visual semiology framework.

Results: Three themes were identified, in which loneliness was conceptualised as disconnection from (1) colleagues, (2) one’s organisation, and (3) society. Across each theme, disconnection and loneliness were experienced as subjective feelings that, as a result of one’s work or occupation, one did not belong or that their authentic self was not valued or understood. The use of a creative method elicited novel ideas about the experience of work-related loneliness, and added depth and context to the interview data. 

Conclusions: Workplace loneliness comprises not only dissatisfaction with workplace relationships, but also a sense of disconnection from larger social groups and structures. Definitions of workplace loneliness that acknowledge the role of the social and organisational context, as well as professional relationships, are needed to reflect the lived experience of loneliness at work. This study highlights analytical potential for digital drawing methods by pointing to the richness and novel insight that they offered in addition to more traditional interview data. The utility, challenges and limitations of digital drawing data collection modalities, as well as their potential, will be discussed in the context of qualitative health and organisational research.