Third spaces

In May 2023, the US Surgeon General declared loneliness and social isolation a public health epidemic, warning that chronic social disconnection carries health risks comparable to smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day.¹

It was a shocking revelation of the real physical and societal cost of something most people treat as a private feeling. In the US, adults now spend 24 hours a month more in social isolation than they did in 2003 and 20 hours less in social engagement with friends.² This is a reflection of a larger, worrying global trend where people are spending more time alone and less time with friends. The causes are broad — digital life, shifting community structures, a post-Covid world — but the workplace is one of the few designed spaces where this can be actively addressed.

The shape of work has shifted

Post-Covid hybrid working patterns have now settled in, and AI is steadily reshaping what people spend their days doing. As digital tools take on more of the routine repetitive work, what's left for humans is the human part —  the deeper reflection, creative problem-solving, mentorship and relationship-building. This changes what the workplace is for. The office is no longer primarily a place to get tasks done but one of the few designed spaces left where people can regularly be in the company of others.

That role matters more than it used to, because while offices have been quieter, society has been getting lonelier.

Gallup's 2024 State of the Global Workplace Report found one in five employees globally experience loneliness on a daily basis.³ The number climbs higher for younger workers, with research from Reward Gateway finding nearly 40% of Gen Z and 49% of Millennial workers report feeling lonely at work.² In New Zealand, Stats NZ's 2023 Wellbeing Statistics show 44% of New Zealanders reported feeling lonely at some point in the previous four weeks, with 4%, around 208,000 people, feeling lonely most or all of the time.⁴

This isn't just a cultural shift, it's a biological one. We are, as the Surgeon General's report puts it, "biologically wired for social connection."¹ Our brains have adapted to expect proximity to others, and our social interactions play an important role in triggering dopamine, the neurotransmitter that underpins motivation, learning and reward.⁵ When connection is missing, it can have a profound impact on our health. A 2024 case-control study found that for adults aged 15 to 34, loneliness and social isolation are associated with an approximately sixteen-fold increase in the risk of suicide mortality.⁶ These are the people now entering our workforces, and in Aotearoa the stakes are particularly high. With our adolescent suicide rate sitting near the top of the OECD,⁷ building workplaces that actively support connection isn't just good practice. It's one of the most important things we can do.

Where culture actually lives

Workplace culture doesn’t live in mission statements. It lives in how people behave and in the spaces in which they gather. This is why the physical workplace isn't just a reflection of an organisation's culture but one of the most effective tools an organisation has to build one.

Covid stripped the spatial layer of office life overnight — the hallways, kitchens, elevators, the lunchroom. Every incidental interaction that used to happen by default had to be deliberately engineered through virtual meetings and chat tools, and we spent three years practising the cultural software of connection without the spatial hardware.

Now we’re back in office but not in the same capacity as before. Hybrid has settled in, and neither layer works alone. The cultural rituals that carried people through remote work need to re-anchor in physical space, and the physical space itself needs to do some of the cultural work it used to do by accident.

Gensler's 2025 Global Workplace Survey found that, since the pandemic, time spent working with others in-person has increased and socialising at work has nearly doubled. Meetings, collaboration and socialising with colleagues are three of the top five reasons people now come into the office, and 82% of respondents reported a high level of belonging and community with their colleagues when the workplace supports it.⁸

The cost of stress-related absenteeism linked to loneliness is significant, with US employers losing an estimated US$154 billion annually, and 24% of workers having considered leaving their current job because they feel a lack of connection at work.^1,2 When the workplace doesn't intentionally build connection, then the bottom line is that retention erodes.

Designing for belonging

Good design doesn't force connection. It uses the spatial environment to act as a social cue, telling people without anything being said where it's okay to pause, where a conversation might start. A workplace that only signals "heads down, get work done" gets exactly that.

• Create a heart for the workplace
  
  Gensler Co-CEO Elizabeth Brink describes the heart of the workplace as the place people naturally gravitate to: the coffee station that sparks impromptu conversation, the lounge where colleagues chat, the staff canteen which flexes from lunch spot to event space.⁹ It's the place new hires pick up the feel of the organisation, where informal mentoring happens and where people from different teams end up in the same space.
• Bring the third space inside
  
  Ray Oldenburg coined the term "third place" in 1989 to describe the informal public spaces, like cafés, parks and pubs, that sit outside home and work and act as natural community hubs. Today, the most thoughtful workplaces bring those qualities in-house. These are the cafés, lounges and casual spaces where employees gather without agenda or obligation.¹⁰ Their presence gives people permission to pause and signals that connection is part of what the workplace is for.
• Connection through ritual
  
  Many cultures build connection into the workday through ritual. Sweden's fika, a daily pause for coffee and conversation, is a well-known example. In India, the afternoon tea break serves a similar function. What these rituals have in common is that they act as the social permission everyone needs to pause at the same time and connect.¹¹ Design either supports or undermines these types of rituals. A workplace with nowhere to gather, or with spaces that feel transactional rather than welcoming, quietly discourages them.

The best interactions at work are often unplanned. Spatial decisions that bring different teams into each other's paths through circulation routes, shared amenities and visible gathering zones, are how design turns connection into something that happens naturally.

The bottom line

Employees in workplaces that offer a great experience are 3.6 times more likely to say their office helps attract and retain top talent.⁸ In a job market where loneliness is driving people out, belonging is becoming one of the most valuable assets an organisation can design into its space.

That's the opportunity in front of architects and designers now. As the shape of work keeps shifting, the workplace is becoming one of the few designed spaces we have left for real human connection.

References

1. Office of the US Surgeon General (2023), Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation: The U.S. Surgeon General's Advisory on the Healing Effects of Social Connection and Community. hhs.gov/surgeongeneral

2. Reward Gateway | Edenred (2025), Workplace Loneliness Research 2025. rewardgateway.com

3. Gallup (2024), State of the Global Workplace 2024. gallup.com/workplace/645566/employees-worldwide-feel-lonely.aspx

4. Stats NZ (2024), Wellbeing Statistics 2023. stats.govt.nz/information-releases/wellbeing-statistics-2023

5. Cavalcante et al. (2025), "How dopamine guides our social world," Neuroscience. sciencedirect.com

6. Alothman et al. (2024), "The association between living alone, loneliness and suicide mortality and effect modification by age: A case-control study," Journal of Affective Disorders. sciencedirect.com

7. UNICEF Innocenti (2025), Report Card 19: Fragile Gains — Child Wellbeing at Risk in an Unpredictable World. unicef.org/innocenti/reports/report-card-19

8. Gensler, Global Workplace Survey 2025. gensler.com/gri/global-workplace-survey-2025

9. Brink, E. (2025), "The Future of Work Is Human: Designing for Culture and Experience," Gensler Dialogue Blog, June 2025. gensler.com/blog/future-of-work-is-human-designing-for-culture-and-experience

10. Oldenburg, R. The Great Good Place (1989); referenced in Steelcase Q&A (2024). steelcase.com/research/articles/topics/design/q-ray-oldenburg

11. Burkeman, O. (2021), Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals. Farrar, Straus and Giroux.