Contact and communication: when the job gets lonely

What the law says

The factor also appears in the regulation on the performance of work § 1A-1 letter e. Arbeidstilsynet writes that contact matters for sharing information, cooperation, support, belonging and preventing social isolation, and that limited contact can occur with remote work, shift work, night work, lone working or work away from fixed workplaces.

What Orgpuls asks

The factor «Contact and communication» is measured with three statements, answered on a five-point scale from strongly disagree to strongly agree:

• «I have the opportunity for contact with colleagues during the working day»
• «I can call for help quickly if something happens while I am alone»
• «I do not feel isolated in my job»

Read the number right

• Isolation or safety? The statement about calling for help needs a different measure from the one about feeling isolated.
• Which groups? Nights, weekends, home offices and lone shifts often score lower than the rest.
• Together with support? Low contact often goes with low support from colleagues. Read more about support from colleagues.

Common causes

Typical causes:

• lone shifts or work at sites with nobody else present
• remote or hybrid work without fixed meeting points
• rotas that mean people are rarely at work at the same time
• no fixed way to raise an alarm or call for help

Three measures that work

The research behind it: social support dampens the effect of high demands (Johnson and Hall). For lone work the regulations also require a way to call for help.

Measure whether it helped

Run a short pulse on the factor a couple of months after the measure is in place. If the number does not move, the measure missed the cause, and you need to go back to the group and ask again. Read more about getting from results to measures and going through the results with your employees.