--- title: Why EY Treats Loneliness as an Inclusion Issue description: Breaking news and analysis from time.com. Politics, world news, photos, video, tech reviews, health, science, and entertainment news. canonical: https://time.com/partner-content/charter/7211202/why-ey-treats-loneliness-as-a-dei-issue/ author: Michelle Peng article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2025-01-29T22:51:53.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-28T07:07:29.840Z article:section: Charter og:title: Why EY Treats Loneliness as an Inclusion Issue og:description: Breaking news and analysis from time.com. 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In the Loop is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Michelle Peng](https://time.com/author/michelle-peng/) Jan 29, 2025 10:51 PM UTC  Illustration by Jorm Sangsorn / iStock  by [Michelle Peng](https://time.com/author/michelle-peng/) Jan 29, 2025 10:51 PM UTC Engagement scores for US workers fell to a 10-year low in January, a dip that coincides with workers’ falling confidence that someone at work cares about them as a person or supports their development at work, [according](https://www.gallup.com/workplace/645566/employees-worldwide-feel-lonely.aspx#:~:text=Globally%2C%20one%20in%20five%20employees,those%20aged%2035%20and%20older.) to Gallup. For [Karyn Twaronite](https://www.ey.com/en%5Fus/people/karyn-twaronite), global vice chair of diversity, equity, and inclusiveness at EY, this rising level of isolation and loneliness is fundamentally an inclusion issue. “My job is to make sure that more of our people feel more included all the time,” she says, pointing out that the work also has a clear business case: “The lonelier people are at work, the less committed and less engaged they are.” Increase belonging and inclusion, on the other hand, and employers can also see productivity, engagement, and commitment rise. We reached out to Twaronite to learn how her EY team combats loneliness within its workforce and her recommendations for other leaders. Here are excerpts from our conversation, edited for length and clarity: **Why is loneliness a DEI issue?** We know that people feeling lonely is a big challenge in the workplace and that inclusion—which is in my title—is an anecdote to this. Why do I care? The lonelier people are at work, the less committed and less engaged they are, according to research. But we also know that the more included and the greater sense of belonging that they have, the greater your productivity and innovation, but also employees’ level of commitment and engagement. And that’s my job, to make sure that more of our people feel more included all the time. That’s a really important business factor because we know that if they can feel like they belong, they can be themselves at work, that they’re far more likely to put their full energy and their full brain into their work. I think we've all experienced the opposite of inclusion at different points in our life—exclusion, loneliness, feeling like an outsider. Myself, I could reflect on moments when I felt like an insider versus an outsider. I can’t speak for you, but I know I'm certainly a far better worker as an insider than I am as an outsider, and I think most people can relate to that. It’s essential for inclusion and belonging to be a lever that can help to combat loneliness on a day-to-day basis. **What does that look like in practice? How do you design practices to help people feel less lonely?** One, we did a study a few years ago that talked about the importance of checking in on people. People felt like the number one item that helped them to feel like they belong at their organization was when their supervisor checked in on them. And that doesn't mean checking up on their work. That means checking in on them, such as, ‘Michelle, how are you doing? How are things going? Do you need anything? Can I help you with anything?’ That kind of easy, free interaction is actually the most impactful in making people feel connected and could be a huge lever in helping people to feel less lonely. They feel like they matter, their work matters, and their supervisor cares what they do. A second one that I think we all mess up on occasion, and we could do better, is being intentional about who we include in meetings and emails. If you're sending out a meeting invitation, who are you including and who aren't you? Think about team members that might learn something from being included, even if they’re not directly involved in the project. In another study, we found that one of the three most impactful things that make people feel excluded is being left off of a meeting invite. That might sound silly, but little things actually make a really big impact and make people feel really lonely. My third item is the importance of giving people voice—all people, not just some people. People are 39% less likely to feel lonely if their opinion counts. One thing that you can do is to ask people on your teams their opinion and give them the voice or give them the opportunity to speak. We have something called ‘All-In Moments’ at EY. Leaders or any team member can say at the start or middle or end of the call, we'd like to hear from everybody. In addition to impacting loneliness, you also get different voices and you get different people to speak up and share their opinion, not just the most senior person, not just the loudest person that always talks, and not just people from certain countries that tend to speak more than in other countries. It allows for cross-generational input, cross-geographical input, cross-cultural input in any discussion, which can help for your team members to feel less lonely. These practices have been quite impactful. Our inclusion and belonging scores have been in the 81-83 percentile range for the past few years and growing. _(Editor's note: This post has been updated to correct_ _Twaronite's title and clarify her view that loneliness is an inclusion issue.)_ --- ## Read more from Charter [READ MORE](https://time.com/partner-content/charter/) [Open article: Beyonce's Former Strategist on Turning Employees Into Fans](https://time.com/partner-content/charter/beyonce-s-former-strategist-on-turning-employees-into-fans/)  ### Beyonce's Former Strategist on Turning Employees Into Fans [READ MORE](https://time.com/partner-content/charter/beyonce-s-former-strategist-on-turning-employees-into-fans/) [Open article: How to Build Strong Workplace Cultures in the Trump Era](https://time.com/partner-content/charter/7262490/how-to-build-strong-workplace-cultures-in-the-trump-era/)  ### How to Build Strong Workplace Cultures in the Trump Era [READ MORE](https://time.com/partner-content/charter/7262490/how-to-build-strong-workplace-cultures-in-the-trump-era/) [Open article: A badly needed new framework for “bring your whole self” to work](https://time.com/partner-content/charter/6971735/julianna-pillemer-authenticity/)  ### A badly needed new framework for “bring your whole self” to work [READ MORE](https://time.com/partner-content/charter/6971735/julianna-pillemer-authenticity/) --- ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/partner-content/charter/7211202/why-ey-treats-loneliness-as-a-dei-issue/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/partner-content/charter/7211202/why-ey-treats-loneliness-as-a-dei-issue/"},"headline":"Why EY Treats Loneliness as an Inclusion Issue","datePublished":"2025-01-29T22:51:53.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-28T07:07:29.840Z","description":"As worker engagement hits a 10-year low, EY's DEI leader shares three practical strategies for fighting workplace loneliness and boosting belonging.","url":"https://time.com/partner-content/charter/7211202/why-ey-treats-loneliness-as-a-dei-issue/","keywords":[],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8a6c6e75871b122f/6998b2d4e2d64b536ec5d24d/charter-loneliness-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Michelle Peng","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/michelle-peng/"}],"articleSection":"Charter","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8a6c6e75871b122f/6998b2d4e2d64b536ec5d24d/charter-loneliness-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"charter-loneliness (1)","caption":"","creditText":"","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/partner-content/charter/7211202/why-ey-treats-loneliness-as-a-dei-issue/","name":"Why EY Treats Loneliness as an Inclusion Issue"}}]}] ```