The Challenge: Loneliness, Disconnection, and Burnout in the Workplace
Loneliness is no longer a fringe experience. Loneliness at work has become a structural challenge across every industry. As digital interaction grows, the human need for relational connection remains unmet. Remote and hybrid work models have increased flexibility, but often at the cost of camaraderie, casual interaction, and a shared identity. Many professionals today report feeling isolated, socially fatigued, burned out, and detached from their organizational culture.
The workplace, once a daily source of informal touchpoints and social rhythm, now struggles to assert relevance beyond task execution. If work can happen anywhere, how should people be together? More importantly, how can people who are together be more productive? These questions matter deeply for organizations seeking both productivity and human well-being.
Our Guest: Ryan Anderson of MillerKnoll
To help explore these questions, our CoreNet IKO May Coffee Chat featured Ryan Anderson, Vice President of Global Research & Planning at MillerKnoll. With a career dedicated to understanding how environments positively improve experiences, Ryan and his team continue to lead the conversation on workplace transformation. Drawing on collaborations with academic researchers, sociologists, and strategists, Ryan brings insight into the psychological and cultural dimensions of space.
Ryan approaches research not as conclusion, but as catalyst. “The workplace still matters,” Ryan shared. “Maybe more than ever. But we must become more aware and intentional about what value place delivers.”
Key Insights from Ryan’s Research
Ryan’s session reinforced the concept of relationship-based work as a progression beyond activity-based models that centers on human connection as the defining metric of workplace value.
Core ideas included:
- Loneliness is a productivity issue
Research from BetterUp and other sources shows that rising digital interaction correlates with declining interpersonal connection, reduced psychological safety, and lower engagement.
- Weak ties matter
While strong ties (our closest relationships) within immediate teams have held, broader network relationships, our weak ties, with our extended networks have weakened. These matter deeply for innovation, culture, and belonging.
- Technology has limits
Tools like Zoom and Slack enable communication but fall short in nurturing full-spectrum connection. Physical space should not be seen only as places to interact on screen, but must be designed to counter-balance the negative effects of too much tech through spontaneous, cross-functional human interaction.
- Relational goals guide better design
Beyond listing activities, organizations should define the interactions they want to see: mentoring moments, interdisciplinary collisions, informal coaching, or creative emergence.
- Spaces must serve multiple mindsets
Cafés, meeting rooms, and private offices must support a range of relational and cognitive experiences—from quiet focus to vibrant exchange.
Dialogue Highlights: Ryan and the (virtual) Room
Ryan: “When we talk about activity-based work, we list what people need to do: analyze, meet, focus. But what if we started by asking: what kind of relationships should this space nurture or what type of interactions do we hope to see?”
Participant: “We’re building a new HQ and struggling to balance quiet focus zones with community spaces. How do we do both?”
Ryan: “It starts with intention. A café can feel transactional or relational depending on layout, furniture, and leadership presence. A workstation can foster solitude or alienation depending on context. Design is not about presence alone. Design is about intention.”
Participant: “You spoke about place attachment. How do we rebuild that after years of movement and change?”
Ryan: “Ownership is essential. People want to feel like they belong. Remove that sense through concepts like hoteling or excessive transience, and the emotional foundation crumbles. Designing neighborhoods or team-based zones can go a long way toward restoring connections and ensuring that people feel comfortable using a space - making a mess, reconfiguring tables, and then returning a space to its original condition. – is key.”
Participant: “If hybrid no longer fits, what do we call the new model?”
Ryan: “Hybrid lacks meaning. It is not a vision. I prefer distributed work, which reflects the complexity of teams spread across locations and time zones, regardless of whether they happen to be in separate offices, homes, or elsewhere. The workplace becomes a relational hub, not a mandate—somewhere that offers value no other setting can replicate.”
Action Items and New Language for Change
Throughout the conversation, Ryan invited participants to rethink the words and frameworks that define work. He challenged us to raise the paradigm:
- Adopt the term “relationship-based work” to shift design thinking toward human connection rather than function alone
- Use “distributed” instead of “hybrid” to better reflect the reality of work across space and time
- Design for ownership and place attachment by creating spaces that reinforce identity, whether individual, team, or community
- Plan for interaction, not only tasks by focusing on the relationships you want to nurture: mentoring, informal collaboration, peer support
- Invest in café culture to create spaces where hierarchy softens, ideas cross-pollinate, and leadership is accessible
Conclusion
The future of work will not be defined by where it happens but by how well it enables people to be together. Loneliness is not a personal flaw. Loneliness is a design challenge. By centering group psychology, relational goals, and intentional planning, organizations can replace mandates with meaning.
Workplaces that foster relationships do more than retain employees. These environments awaken potential in individuals, in teams, and in the shared purpose that binds them together in work.