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A work community is the social and professional environment where colleagues connect, collaborate, and support each other. It’s about creating a sense of belonging and building positive relationships, making the workplace not just productive, but enjoyable and supportive.
However, some roles can be very individual-focused, which can bring unique mental health challenges. Working alone can lead to feelings of isolation, loneliness, and increased stress, especially when social interaction and support are limited. Solo workers might also find it harder to manage workload pressures, stay motivated, or maintain healthy work-life boundaries.
Building a supportive work community involves everyone in a workplace—employers, managers, HR and OSH specialists, and employees themselves. Employers can establish a culture that values inclusion by implementing policies and systems promoting connection and mental well-being. Managers, HR and OSH specialists play a crucial role by engaging all team members, ensuring equitable participation, and flagging risks of isolation and disengagement.
On this page, you’ll find resources to help you to address loneliness within your team, encourage open dialogue, and strengthen inclusion and well-being. You’ll also find a self-testing loneliness scale that can help identify feelings of isolation and guide supportive action within your workplace.
Work processes
Guidelines
General information
Assessment tools
Self-learning material and practical tips
Multimedia
English
Swedish
Finnish
5-10 min
15-20 min
4 min
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Original language
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Working alone is common in many professions and isn’t harmful as such. However, in some situations, it can present itself as a psychosocial risk. This resource by the Finnish Occupational Safety and Health Administration gives tips for workplace leaders on how they can reduce the risks associated with working alone.
This article by the Finnish Centre for Occupational Safety highlights the importance of good communication and dialogue within the work community. It touches upon several common factors that influence workplace communication and the role of the leadership in managing them.
Remote work can increase loneliness among some employees. This article by the Centre for Workplace Mental Health US provides five tips for employers for how they can make a difference in effectively addressing loneliness.
Here you can find an online version of the UCLA Loneliness Scale, a scale designed to measure one’s subjective feelings of loneliness as well as feelings of social isolation. The tool can be used by employees and employers alike to evaluate their own risks for loneliness.
Dialogue is a form of interaction and collaboration that fosters inclusion and well-being for members of the work community. This webpage article by the Finnish Centre for Occupational Safety outlines the essential practices for workplace dialogue, explains their foundations, and highlights their role in building trust within the work community. It is useful for everyone working in your work community!
This animation by the Finnish Centre for Occupational Safety and Health is intended to help workplaces to introduce new employees to the work community and orient them to work. On the webpage, you can also find a work orientation checklist .