Home Office and Isolation [Post]

Mitarbeiterin sitzt allein am Laptop im Homeoffice, Sinnbild für soziale Isolation im mobilen Arbeiten

Employees Home Alone: When Working from Home Becomes Isolation

Home office is considered one of the greatest achievements of modern work – flexible, family-friendly, productive. However, a recent US study reveals a lesser-known side: around a third of the increase in psychological stress since the pandemic can be attributed to remote work.¹ People living alone are particularly affected. The reason is that work is much more than just earning a living. It creates social contacts, structure, and a sense of belonging – things that can quietly disappear in home office situations without being noticed at first.

„Surprisingly, it's not the direction of the findings that is surprising, but their clarity."

— Heike Ohlbrecht, Sociologist, Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg

The silent retreat: Isolation in home office in numbers

The data is clear: around one-third of the increase in psychological distress in the US since the coronavirus pandemic can be attributed to mobile working.¹. Those who do not live in a household are particularly affected. A comparison of two groups – employees with and without the option of working from home – showed a significant increase in time spent alone and a significantly more frequently reported feeling of psychological distress among employees working from home.¹ People who live alone do not compensate for reduced social interaction at work through more private meetings in their free time.¹

What research on home office and mental health shows

Sociologist Heike Ohlbrecht from Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg assesses the underlying study as empirically convincing, but points out that the findings cannot be classified as clear causality.¹ For her, the clarity of the results is particularly noteworthy – they show that companies are not only places of performance, but social spaces in which friendships, community, recognition, and belonging emerge.¹ This social integration space can erode through home office and thus weaken the social integration of employed people in the long term.¹ Work itself also creates incidental social contacts daily – such as the brief exchange in the break room – and brings together people who would otherwise never have met. Research refers to these as „bridging ties.“¹

The Vicious Cycle of Loneliness and the Role of Companies

Particularly revealing is the observation that lost social contacts from everyday work life are not compensated for elsewhere. Ohlbrecht suspects a reinforcing effect behind this: Fewer social contacts in professional life can lead to social isolation becoming entrenched beyond paid work – a possible vicious cycle that already begins with the experienced loneliness at the workplace.¹ However, a blanket „back to the office“ is not a solution for Ohlbrecht: Given the advantages of flexible work models, this is neither realistic nor goal-oriented. ¹ The real challenge for companies lies rather in combining the advantages of home office with genuine opportunities for social interaction. ¹

Together, not alone – our offers against isolation in everyday work

Company Move supports companies with practical offerings that specifically address social connection and mental health:

Your development impulse: Change is a process

Social routines that were lost in home office won't return on their own. Just as isolation often creeps in gradually and unnoticed, the path back to more connection also takes time, patience, and conscious small steps. This is not a sign of weakness, but a normal process – no one has to be back in the middle of social life overnight. The key is to start acting again at all, even with small gestures.

Practice Impulse: The Conscious Moment of Contact
A simple, immediately implementable exercise for everyday (home office) work:

  1. Select a colleague consciously once a day.
  2. Send a quick text or make a brief call – no need for a specific reason, just to ask how the person is doing.
  3. Take at least 5 minutes for the conversation or exchange, without doing anything else on the side.
  4. Consciously pay attention to how this brief, real contact feels – it often has a stronger impact than you might initially expect.

This small impulse is easy to integrate into everyday life and specifically counteracts the random social interactions that are often missing in a home office.

Conclusion

Home office and social connection don't have to be mutually exclusive – but they don't automatically coexist. Companies that actively create spaces for genuine exchange not only strengthen their employees' mental health but also team cohesion and performance. The first step often begins with a conscious assessment of the current situation.

Address us and Arrange a no-obligation consultation, to find out how social connection can be specifically strengthened in your company.

Bibliography
Zang, E., & O’Brien, R. (2026). Home alone: Remote work, isolation, and mental health. Science, 392(6802). (as cited by sociologist Heike Ohlbrecht, Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg, in: MDR WISSEN, June 8, 2026, Home office and psyche: How remote work strains our mental health)
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