Editor’s Note: Dr. Tracy Brower, PhD continues our guest-led series of Careers newsletters this week. Brower, a sociologist, is author of the upcoming book “Critical Connections.”

The rising loneliness epidemic has been spreading to one of the most social areas of life: the office. More employees are feeling disconnected and discontent at work, with significant costs for workers and for businesses.

Employees are feeling disengaged from their work, with more people saying they’re unsatisfied by their jobs, or that they just show up for a paycheck. Half of the people responding to a global survey by PwC say their jobs fail to give them a sense of meaning, and 38% say they work just to get by, based on data from Pew Research Center.

People also feel isolated from their colleagues, with 64% saying they’ve felt lonely at work and 46% wishing they were closer to their coworkers, according to HR Grapevine. Surprisingly, a majority of people would trade 20% of their salary to have friends at work, a KPMG survey shows. The personal costs are significant. Without a sense of purpose, we’re more likely to suffer from health problems and even cognitive challenges.

And businesses also endure substantial costs. When we feel less connected to colleagues, our motivation declines because we feel less responsible to them, and this affects our productivity. Loneliness costs businesses an estimated $13,300 per lonely employee each year in absenteeism, healthcare costs and turnover, according to data from Sunny Workplace.

On the other hand, researchers at Brigham Young University have........

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