Workers in remote-capable jobs logged a 58% rise in hours spent alone after the pandemic, according to a study of 588,322 Americans published in Science on 4 June 2026. Loneliness at work now shows up in absence records, job-search behaviour and prescription data rather than wellbeing scores alone. Here are the verified figures from Gallup, Cigna, Reward Gateway, Science and the 2024 Household Pulse Survey.
Workplace Loneliness Statistics
How Many Workers Report Workplace Loneliness?
Reward Gateway | Edenred surveyed 1,000 U.S. employees in August 2025 and found 39% say they often feel lonely at work.
Cigna puts the figure higher, classifying more than half of American workers as lonely on its 2024 Vitality Index. The two measure different things: one asks about loneliness at work, the other applies a validated loneliness scale to a person’s whole life.
| Generation | Report workplace loneliness | Say weak coworker ties hurt motivation |
|---|---|---|
| Millennials | 49% | 15% |
| Gen Z | 40% | 27% |
| Gen X | 35% | 16% |
| Boomers / Silent | 15% | 9% |
Source: Reward Gateway | Edenred, survey of 1,000 U.S. employees, August 2025
Millennials post the highest raw rate. Gen Z reports nearly twice the motivational damage from it, 27% against 15%.
Across the sample, 63% say workplace friendships matter to their job satisfaction and 24% have considered quitting over a lack of connection. Men are likelier to have already gone: 20% against 12% have left a job over it.
Workplace Loneliness Statistics by Work Arrangement
Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace: 2025 report measured four negative emotions against work location.
| Work arrangement | Loneliness | Stress | Sadness | Anger |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Exclusively remote | 27% | 45% | 30% | 25% |
| Hybrid | 23% | 46% | 21% | 17% |
| On-site remote-capable | 20% | 39% | 23% | 21% |
| On-site non-remote-capable | 21% | 38% | 22% | 21% |
Source: Gallup, State of the Global Workplace: 2025; share of employees reporting the emotion a lot of the previous day
Exclusively remote workers report loneliness seven points above on-site remote-capable workers. Stress runs the other way and peaks among hybrid workers at 46%, a point above fully remote staff.
Fully remote employees also record the highest engagement at 31%, and 57% are watching or applying for other jobs. Weigh that against the output data for home-based work and current US telework rates.
Workplace Loneliness Statistics by Generation
Gallup surveyed 19,043 U.S. workers from 7 to 16 May 2025, with a margin of error of ±1.1 points, and asked remote-ready full-time employees whether they felt lonely a lot of the day before.
| Generation | Felt lonely a lot yesterday | Prefer fully remote work |
|---|---|---|
| Gen Z (1997 or later) | 27% | 23% |
| Millennials (1980-1996) | 21% | 35% |
| Gen X (1965-1979) | 15% | 35% |
| Baby Boomers (1946-1964) | 10% | 35% |
Source: Gallup, U.S. workforce study, 7-16 May 2025, n=19,043; loneliness among remote-ready full-time employees, preference among remote-capable employees
Why Gen Z Hybrid Schedules Misfire
Gen Z is the least likely generation to prefer exclusively remote work. Hybrid draws 71%, the highest share of any generation, and 6% want to be fully on-site.
Gallup offers schedule design, rather than office aversion, as one explanation. Among Gen Z hybrid workers, 66% must be on-site a set number of days but choose which days, against 25% to 28% of older cohorts, so they often show up when colleagues do not. The mismatch runs through how hybrid schedules are structured and employer office attendance mandates.
Source: Gallup, preferred work location among remote-capable Gen Z employees, May 2025
What Does Workplace Loneliness Cost Employers?
Evernorth Research Institute surveyed 2,500 U.S. adults with YouGov for the Q2 2024 Vitality Pulse. Lonely workers separate from colleagues on absence, focus and job search.
| Measure | Lonely workers | Not lonely |
|---|---|---|
| Likely to seek a new job | 36% | 20% |
| Come to work mentally somewhere else | 42% | 21% |
| Miss at least one day a month | 35% | 22% |
Source: The Cigna Group / Evernorth Research Institute, Q2 2024 Vitality Pulse, fielded 29 May to 14 June 2024, n=2,500
The 16-point turnover gap carries the clearest cost. The 2023 U.S. Surgeon General’s advisory estimated stress-related absenteeism attributed to loneliness costs U.S. employers $154 billion a year, which the turnover gap between remote and in-office staff compounds.
On the 2024 Vitality Index, 74% of workers who are not lonely say they are willing to work harder to help their company succeed, against 63% of lonely workers.
Remote Work Isolation Statistics From the 2026 Science Study
Natalia Emanuel, Emma Harrington and Amanda Pallais pooled five nationally representative surveys covering 588,322 American workers from 2011 to 2024, dropping 2020 and 2021. They compared remotable occupations such as software engineering against jobs requiring physical presence.
| Measure | Increase vs non-remotable jobs |
|---|---|
| Hours spent alone | +58% |
| Odds of a full day with no human contact | +72% |
| Odds of a full day with no contact, workers living alone | +83% |
Source: Science, “Home alone: Remote work, isolation, and mental health,” 4 June 2026
Remotable workers spent roughly one additional hour alone per workday, and cut time with friends after hours rather than making the contact up. Kessler K-6 distress scores rose 0.1 standard deviations, with the increase about twice as large for people living alone.
The authors attribute about a third of the rise in isolation and mental distress between 2011-2019 and 2022-2024 to remote work.
Remote-day frequency separates the Household Pulse data. A 2026 analysis in the Journal of Affective Disorders covering 87,317 respondents to the 2024 Household Pulse Survey found higher adjusted odds of greater loneliness at three to four remote days a week (aOR 1.16) and at five or more (aOR 1.09). One to two remote days showed no significant association.
Remote Workplace Loneliness Statistics for 2026
CoworkingCafe surveyed 1,140 remote and hybrid U.S. employees through opt-in panels between 30 June and 10 October 2025, margin ±2.9 points. Almost two-thirds rarely or never feel lonely while working remotely.
Gen Z is the exception. Twenty percent hit high-frequency loneliness, defined as once or twice a week or more, double the millennial rate, while 69% of Gen X feel lonely less than once a month or never.
Burnout splits the same way. 33% of respondents reported symptoms in the past year: 38% among Gen Z, 37% among millennials, 27% among Gen X.
Source: CoworkingCafe, 2026 Remote Work Well-Being Survey, fielded 30 June to 10 October 2025, n=1,140
What Reduces Workplace Loneliness?
Gallup reports overall engagement has a stronger effect on loneliness than any of the 12 individual engagement aspects it tracks, on a U.S. panel survey of 19,846 employees fielded 6 to 16 February 2024.
| Engagement level | Felt lonely a lot yesterday |
|---|---|
| Actively disengaged | 31% |
| Not engaged | 19% |
| Engaged | 17% |
Source: Gallup, U.S. Gallup Panel, 6-16 February 2024, n=19,846
In a separate U.S. study, Gallup reports engaged employees are 64% less likely to be lonely than employees who are not engaged. Work itself helps: employed adults report loneliness at 20% against 32% among unemployed adults.
Manager behaviour registers too. Cigna found 20% of lonely workers who believe their employer supports work-life balance report high vitality, against 2% of those who do not. Among lonely workers who feel understood by their manager, 19% report high vitality, against 8% who feel misunderstood.
FAQs
How many workers feel lonely at work?
Reward Gateway found 39% of 1,000 U.S. employees surveyed in August 2025 often feel lonely at work. Cigna’s 2024 Vitality Index classifies more than half of American workers as lonely using a validated scale.
Are remote workers lonelier than office workers?
Yes. Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace: 2025 report puts loneliness at 27% for exclusively remote employees, 23% for hybrid workers and 20% for on-site remote-capable workers.
Do Reddit threads about remote work loneliness reflect the research?
Reddit threads are anecdotal, not survey data. The measured figure comes from Gallup’s May 2025 study of 19,043 U.S. workers: 27% of remote-ready Gen Z employees felt lonely a lot the previous day.
What does workplace loneliness cost employers?
The 2023 U.S. Surgeon General’s advisory estimated stress-related absenteeism attributed to loneliness costs U.S. employers $154 billion a year. Cigna found 36% of lonely workers are likely to seek a new job.
Where can I find workplace loneliness statistics beyond Reddit roundups?
Reddit roundups rarely carry data periods. Primary releases do: Gallup’s 2025 State of the Global Workplace, Cigna’s Loneliness in America 2025, and the June 2026 Science paper on remote work and isolation.
Sources
https://www.gallup.com/workplace/660236/remote-work-paradox-engaged-distressed.aspx
https://www.gallup.com/workplace/692675/fully-remote-work-least-popular-gen-z.aspx
https://newsroom.thecignagroup.com/the-hidden-costs-of-loneliness-at-work
https://www.rewardgateway.com/press-releases/workplace-loneliness-research
