creating connected workplaces
HUMANS:CONNECTING and Annecy Behavioral Science Lab are two world-leading organisations collaborating to reduce the impact of loneliness and social disconnection on your workplace and the humans that work within it.
We at HUMANS:CONNECTING share the power and wisdom of stories and inspiring insights developed through lived experiences of loneliness told in compelling and relatable ways.
Annecy Behavioral Science Lab brings scientific expertise and the experience of working at the forefront of the global effort to understand loneliness, social disconnection and their impacts on individuals, workplaces, and societies.
Together, through this creating connected workplace service, we support your workplace to become a place you want it to be: productive, vibrant and a place where people want to work and clients want to work with.
Let's create your connected workplace.
Loneliness costs you
The humans in your workplace are suffering.
Here's how we know...
Every human experiences loneliness. No job title, salary level, education qualification, or address makes us immune.
Surveys from leading organisations in Australia, the European Union, and North America are showing that significant portions of the population suffer from loneliness.
Loneliness comes with serious consequences, increasing the risk of mortality by 22-26% across all demographic groups.
Loneliness significantly affects daily life and well-being, leading to decreased motor performance, increased difficulty with everyday tasks, and greater social isolation. It also impacts social cohesion and reduces prosocial behaviour.
We know that humans who feel lonely at work report higher levels of absenteeism. They are less productive, less efficient, and are more likely to leave.
They're also likely to stay and be less productive and less efficient.
Workplaces around the world are beginning to grasp the importance of addressing workplace loneliness.
If you're receiving feedback that the humans in your workplace feel uninspired, disengaged, are often not at work or not performing well, you need to create an environment in which individual humans feel connected.
Your workplace is unique and deserves bespoke responses to make it a place where humans thrive and flourish. Generic videos, information sessions, and broadcast emails may raise awareness, but they don't lead to lasting change.
Tailored approaches are essential for making a meaningful and sustained impact.
We’re here to help your workplace be a place where humans thrive and your business prospers.
You need our insight and experience
We're humans too.
Phil McAuliffe
Founder
HUMANS:CONNECTING
Phil is a renowned thought leader in the field of loneliness, drawing upon his lived experience to start and lead kind, honest conversations that de-stigmatise loneliness and promote authentic connections at home and work.
He's an articulate, affable, highly-educated and engaging speaker who makes the topic of loneliness relatable.
As the founder of HUMANS:CONNECTING, he leads a social enterprise dedicated to reducing loneliness globally. For corporate audiences, Phil offers invaluable perspectives on fostering authentic connections within the workplace, enhancing employee engagement, and creating a genuinely supportive organisational culture.
Phil's previous career spanned 23 years as an Australian public servant and diplomat, living and working in Australia, Venezuela, Vietnam, South Korea, Japan, and New Zealand. His diverse background helps him innovate and communicate effectively in various settings, from formal meetings with state ministers to informal discussions.
Phil serves as the Co-Chair of Ending Loneliness Together's Lived Experience Advisory Panel. He completed the Social Impact Fellowship through the Australian Social Impact Hub in 2023.
Phil’s insights on social connection and loneliness have been featured in prestigious outlets such as Science, BBC World Service, and various Australian media.
Dr Hans Rocha IJzerman
Co-founder and CEO
Annecy Behavioral Science Lab
Leading scientific expert in social connection and loneliness research, with a passion to promote community and healthy attachments, having authored over 70 published scientific articles.
As ABSL’s director, Associate Researcher at the University of Oxford, and the Scientific Vice Chair of the Global Initiative on Loneliness and Connection, he spearheads efforts to combat isolation.
Dr. Rocha IJzerman's work is characterized by his exceptional skills in measurement. His commitment to advancing psychological science is evident through his founding of initiatives like the In-Mind Magazine and co-founding the Psychological Science Accelerator.
These efforts have cemented his reputation as a key player in the psychological reform movement.
Dr. Rocha IJzerman's expertise in social connection and measurement is frequently sought by major media outlets such as the New York Times, Huffington Post, Le Monde, Radiolab, and Psychology Today. His dedication and innovative contributions continue to make a significant impact in improving the human condition.
And it's not just Phil and Dr Rocha IJzerman.
There's a wealth of life and work experience within the HUMANS:CONNECTING and Annecy Behavioral Science Lab teams.
We're researchers, we work in sales, marketing, creative design, business management and global finance and investment banking.
We've worked in hospitality. We're entrepreneurs. We've studied. We've struggled to make ends meet. We've been homeless. We've succeeded. We've failed. We're resilient.
We're married. We're single. We're carers. We're parents. We're gay. We're straight. We're neurodiverse.
We've moved around the world. We've stayed in our home town.
We face prejudice. We benefit from privilege.
We've been inspired. We've been burned out.
We're active in our communities and workplaces. We volunteer. We're part of the solutions to the tough challenges in our communities.
We're just like the humans in your workplace.
We want to be in spaces where humans feel seen and heard so we feel like we belong.
Just like the humans in your workplace.
We're different
We bring science and story together
We all know that loneliness is harmful for humans when left untended and unaddressed.
But let's be honest. Loneliness and connection is too often overlooked as a serious issue affecting workplaces.
Loneliness is misunderstood. It's talked about in dry, conceptual ways that make it hard to apply to real life. Loneliness is dismissed as something that is a personal issue for the employee themselves to solve. It’s relegated to a by-line in an email blast.
But this is all wrong.
Smart workplaces and organisations understand that addressing loneliness and creating a workplace in which the humans within it feel authentically connected creates the type of environment in which the humans AND the workplace thrive and flourish.
Smart workplaces and organisations weave connection into the fabric of their business.
Productivity and efficiency increase. Humans want to bring their skills to work there and clients want to work with them.
We want this for you.
creating connected workplaces brings story and science together.
Since 2018, hundreds of thousands of people globally have benefitted from hearing Phil's story and having him facilitate kind and honest conversations about loneliness, connection and belonging.
Annecy Behavioral Science Lab - led by the world-renowned Dr Hans Rocha IJzerman - brings leading-edge scientific expertise into your workplace.
You’ll have the benefits of our considerable collective experience working at the forefront of the global effort to understand loneliness, social disconnection and hos it impacts individuals, workplaces, and societies.
The humans in your workplace feel connected and your workplace has bespoke tools and insights to help it flourish.
Through creating connected workplaces, we listen to your needs and remove the guesswork of addressing loneliness and social disconnection in your workplace.
creating connected workplaces
an overview
LEVEL 1: AWARENESS - LEARNING ABOUT SOCIAL CONNECTION
This level introduces the humans in your workplace/organisation to the importance of social connection.
Phil McAuliffe from HUMANS:CONNECTING starts and leads meaningful conversations about social health and wellbeing in your workplace/organisation. These discussions will be tailored to the needs of your workplace and can draw upon his own lived experience working in high visibility, high stress environments around the world.
Dr Hans Rocha IJzerman from Annecy Behavioral Science Lab provides the latest scientific and analytical context to how loneliness affects individuals, workplaces, and societies.
All engaging in the creating connected workplaces service start at this level.
LEVEL 2: ASSESSMENT - UNDERSTANDING CONNECTION
This level gives you an understanding of the state of connection in your workplace/organisation.
Annecy Behavioral Science Lab’s data analysis forms the evidence base from which you can respond to maintain areas in which social connection is strong and improve social connection in areas that require attention.
The clear recommendations you'll receive will take the guesswork away from how you respond. You’ll be equipped to implement recommendations that work best for your workplace.
This level is accessed after Level 1.
LEVEL 3: REMEDY - BEING CONNECTED
After receiving the results of the assessment conducted by Annecy Behavioral Science Lab, your workplace/organisation is then empowered to choose being a truly connected workplace.
HUMANS:CONNECTING leads small group discussions on creating spaces in which humans feel authentically connected that are tailored to your workplace/organisation's needs identified in Level 2.
Annecy Behavioral Science Lab discusses organisational responses to issues raised in Level 2 with Human Resources and organisational leadership.
This level is accessed after Level 2.
LEVEL 4: INVEST - STAYING CONNECTED
HUMANS:CONNECTING and Annecy Behavioral Science Lab offer their combined services to support your workplace/organisation over time because you know the benefits of being a place where the humans in your workplace feel connected.
You understand that your workplace/organisation thrives when your staff flourishes and you want to keep it that way.
This level is accessed after Level 3.
Book your initial call and we'll happily answer your questions and see how our service can best meet your needs.
businesses creating
their connected workplaces
with us
our work in the media
SmartCompany - Australia's leading online publication for entrepreneurs, small and medium business owners and business managers.
Phil and our work at HUMANS:CONNECTING featured as one of eight small Australian businesses and social entrepreneurs addressing loneliness and social disconnection.