Law Care - Loneliness in the Workplace

Humans need other humans and a feeling of belonging and connection drives our happiness. True connection exists between people when they feel seen, heard and valued and without it, we can start to feel lonely. Whilst everyone sometimes feels lonely, long-term loneliness is associated with an increased risk of mental health problems including depression, anxiety and stress.

Most of us spend more time working than doing anything else, particularly in the legal profession where long hours are common and often there is little time to pursue social connection. Loneliness arises from either a lack of relationships or a lack of close emotional bonds with those we have relationships with; for example the people we work with. It can occur because we work from home and don’t interact with colleagues often. We might live alone and rarely see others, or it may be that we just don’t have the quality of connection in our everyday lives; we don’t have people we feel close to or share values with. You can be surrounded by people and still feel lonely.

Many legal professionals and support staff contact LawCare feeling isolated – they feel they can’t really be themselves at work, that their workplace doesn’t value them, they may feel they can’t reach out to their colleagues or be honest with their manager about how they are feeling. Although increased use of technology has brought people virtually closer, it has reduced the opportunities for face-to-face communication and instilled a sense of psychological loneliness. Screen interactions can’t replace the feeling we get from making a connection in real life.

If you are lonely at work and feel isolated from others either physically or emotionally it can adversely affect job performance, job satisfaction, creativity and work engagement. You are more likely to be off work regularly, to leave for another job, and it may also lead to problems at home. If someone is lonely at work it can also negatively affect their colleagues and the organisation as a whole.

Many people don’t feel they can talk to anyone about how they are feeling, either in work or outside of work. Some of us just don’t have people we can turn to in difficult times for a variety of reasons. Even if we do have close relationships it may not be easy to talk to a friend or family member. Perhaps we don’t want to worry them. Maybe they have their own problems going on. We might not have spoken to them in a while because we’ve been so busy at work. We may feel they won’t understand, or feel afraid to unburden ourselves or let go in front of them.

What employers can do to combat loneliness

• Check in regularly. Managers should check in regularly, little and often works best, and informal chats are as important as work conversations. Ask how people are and how they are managing their workload. Make sure employees are looking after themselves. Ask them about their lives outside of work.

In our Life in the Law research into legal workplaces wellbeing we discovered that of a wide range of workplace measures available, from private health insurance to mental health training, regular catch-ups or appraisals were reported to be the most helpful.

• Pay attention to vulnerable groups. Trainees and juniors will often need more support.

• Build a culture of connection and community. Look for meaningful ways to increase connection/ interaction at work and meet employees’ psychological needs of social exchange. Brainstorms, informal tea-breaks, weekly catch ups, team days, peer support/ mentoring programmes can all be useful here. • Encourage people back to the workplace. Incentivise and encourage people to spend at least some time in the workplace interacting with others, even if the majority of their work is carried out at home.

• Ensure a work/life balance is possible. Encourage everyone to work sensible hours – staff will take cues from how leaders behave. Take full lunch breaks; rest and recuperate after busy periods; avoid working at weekends; take annual leave entitlement. Make sure teams are well resourced in order to make this happen.

What to do if you’re feeling lonely

If you are feeling lonely, LawCare can help. We’ve been providing emotional support to legal professionals, support staff and concerned family members for 25 years. You can call our confidential helpline on 0800 279 6888, email us at: support@lawcare.org.uk or access online chat and other resources at www.lawcare.org.uk We offer free peer support to those working in the law via our network of around 90 peer supporters, all of whom work in or have worked in the law. Our peer supporters can offer one-to-one support, friendship and mentoring over 2/3 telephone calls to those who need it. They understand life in the law and all its challenges - this is what makes our support service unique and supporters well placed to help other legal professionals. Our peer supporters reflect the diversity of the legal profession and are drawn from all branches of the legal profession and career stages. They are from different age groups, genders and ethnic groups.