The Connection Dividend
How Investing in Social Connection Pays Off at Work
1 in 5 employees worldwide experience daily loneliness, per Gallup.
Loneliness and social disconnection are associated with mental and physical health, while workplace connection can influence how people collaborate, engage, perform, and stay.
Yet connection can be difficult for employers to see, and even harder to know how to address.
An employee can spend all day in meetings and still feel alone. A highly attended event can create opportunities to interact without creating meaningful relationships. And even a supportive workplace can include employees who need more help than culture or a manager can provide.
So where can employers meaningfully make a difference?
Join Dr. Jessica Watrous, chief clinical officer at Modern Health, and Dr. Peter Rutigliano, partner and behavioral health practice leader at Marsh, ahead of World Mental Health Day for a practical, research-informed conversation about the role of social connection in workforce health—and how to turn the evidence into action.
What you'll leave knowing
This session will help you:
- Recognize where disconnection may be hiding. Learn why interaction, participation, and proximity don't necessarily equal connection—and which signals can provide a fuller picture.
- Identify the workplace conditions you can influence. Explore how work design, team practices, managers, and culture can make meaningful connection easier or harder to build.
- Understand where benefits fit. See how mental health support can help when loneliness is intertwined with anxiety, depression, relationship difficulties, or other needs that workplace practices can't address alone.
- Clarify the boundaries of the employer's role. Understand where organizations can create better conditions for connection without making managers or HR responsible for employees' relationships or mental health care.
- Find opportunities in your current strategy. Consider how culture, benefits, communication, and measurement can work together instead of operating as separate efforts.
Why connection belongs on the workforce agenda
The health implications of social disconnection are significant. The U.S. Surgeon General has compared its mortality impact to smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day. Poor social relationships, social isolation, and loneliness have also been associated with a 29% higher risk of heart disease and a 32% higher risk of stroke.
The workforce implications are becoming harder to overlook, too. 22% of employees globally report experiencing loneliness a lot of the previous day, according to Gallup. McKinsey Health Institute estimates that employees experiencing loneliness miss nearly six additional days of work each year.
Employers can't solve loneliness. They can examine whether work gives relationships room to develop, whether managers are equipped to respond appropriately, and whether employees have somewhere to turn when workplace connection isn't enough.
Leave with a practical next step
Everyone who registers will receive a Connection Checklist designed to help you assess how your organization supports social connection today.
Use it to identify what's working, uncover an area worth strengthening, and choose one action to prioritize over the next 90 days.
