Alyssa Birnbaum

People can be burnt out because they feel disrespected, unsupported, and disconnected from their colleagues.

This stood out to me.

I had always focused on work output and things that would produce actual revenue and quality work for a company.

And this was conditioned by my years of schooling, where I was rewarded with good grades because I put in the effort and I worked hard.

But in truth, work is full of real flesh and bone people

who want to feel connected.

And they do their best work when they feel like they're fully engaged, like their work truly matters, and like they're doing something bigger than just themselves.

When the pandemic struck, as we all know, offices around the globe closed.

And my colleagues and I started studying this transition into remote work, remote work-life balance, what it was like being in this new space.

And this is where I really started to see the effect of connections and loneliness really came front and center.

It was more than struggling to, you know, the fear of getting sick or juggling childcare.

The isolation hit deep.

People lost the casual interactions they had when they walked in the office.

And what was interesting is that a deeper dive into the research showed that loneliness had been on the rise well before the pandemic.

According to the US Surgeon General, nearly 50% of US adults experienced loneliness pre-pandemic.

And that number continues to rise.

So at this point, my research shifted as I began to wonder about the effects of connections, especially in the context of work, and how that impacted people in remote interactions, if it stifled the way people were able to connect.

So for my dissertation, I focused on research initially spearheaded by Dr. Jane Dutton on high quality connections at work.

And to understand high quality connections, I want you to think back on the last time you had a positive connection with someone.

Doesn't matter how long it was, could have been a friend, colleague, someone you met for the first time, but you felt more open with them.