Building human connection in an AI world

Walk into almost any organisation today and you’ll find people frantically juggling deadlines, messages, virtual meetings and performance dashboards - all designed to help us work smarter. Over the past three years, the arrival of AI tools has pushed that momentum into overdrive. Where previously certain tasks would take us hours, we now get a helping AI hand, even with daily tasks like writing emails, summarising meetings and organising calendars.

 

But in the rush to optimise every hour, something meaningful has slipped out of view. Employees are surrounded by technology, yet many feel strangely on their own. The interactions that once formed the heart of working life have been replaced by a series of digital exchanges. We get quick updates and fast approvals, but not so much in the way of genuine connection. It’s a strange paradox - the workplace has never felt busier, yet people have never felt less connected.

 

 

More time, less meaning

For years, the conversation about well-being focused on burnout and workload overload. And yes, people are tired. But the deeper issue now is a loss of purpose in how we interact. Employees might speak to dozens of colleagues each week without learning anything meaningful about them. As technology speeds up, decisions speed up, and relationships thin out.

 

In hybrid environments, especially, every interaction has a goal, an agenda and a meeting link. Ask new starters how they feel and you’ll hear a pattern: “Everyone’s nice, but I don’t really know anyone.” That sense of detachment hits younger workers hardest. Entry-level roles in automation-affected sectors have fallen by between 6% and 13% since 2022, narrowing the routes where early-career employees traditionally learned by proximity - bumping into others, shadowing experienced colleagues and absorbing how business really works.

 

At the same time, uncertainty about the future is widespread. Around 27% of white-collar employees already use AI every day, yet only a quarter of organisations have a clear strategy for how technology will reshape roles. Where there is little clarity, worry fills the space. Social contact should be the foundation of any culture that actually feels like a culture.

 

 

The illusion of teamwork

Look closely and you will notice that meetings today mostly handle coordination rather than connection. The focus is nearly always: “What needs doing?” instead of “Who are we doing it with?” Meanwhile, large segments of work once defined by interaction are being automated at scale.

 

For example, Salesforce has already moved half of its customer support to AI, while both Glassdoor and Indeed have removed thousands of roles, moving candidate screening and case resolution into automated systems. When the connection disappears from the working day, the job still gets done, but the experience of doing it changes. People remain present on-screen, meet their deadlines but feel less present in spirit, completing tasks without the sense of pride or belonging that transforms effort into commitment.

 

Businesses spend significant effort trying to raise engagement, loyalty and creativity. But those outcomes only appear when people feel they belong. And belonging isn’t created in strategy documents or values decks, but through shared experiences that remain long after a project ends.

 

Right now, we don’t have enough of those. The emotional fabric of organisations has become as lean as the spreadsheets managers use to track workloads. Culture starts to run on autopilot, and we know that it can’t carry on doing so for long.

 

 

Putting human connection back into the working week

There is, however, a practical and proven way to rebuild connection: help people do something meaningful together. When a team gets out into the community, such as helping at a youth centre, supporting a charity kitchen, planting trees or delivering essential supplies, the dynamic changes. People talk about things they care about and discover strengths in each other that have nothing to do with job titles.

 

Volunteering is also inclusive for people who don’t feel at ease in traditional after-work socials. It doesn’t centre around alcohol or performative networking. It allows everyone to contribute meaningfully, regardless of background or personality. That levelling effect develops trust quickly and brings colleagues closer, much faster than months of virtual calls ever could.

 

Employees increasingly want more than financial security. They want to feel that their workplace contributes something valuable to the world, especially during a time when economic pressures and social challenges shape daily life. A company that acts on its values rather than just publishing them sends a powerful message – ‘What we do here matters, and what you do here matters too’. That kind of culture creates loyalty, confidence and motivation that cannot be achieved through KPIs and targets. A team that cares about one another collaborates more willingly, supports each other through pressure and contributes ideas. People stay because they feel part of something, not just because they are employed.

 

 

Technology runs operations; people run culture

Work will continue to get faster and more automated, and that progress is welcome. But the time regained through automation must be invested in people. At the moment, though, it feels absorbed into more digital traffic and more transactional exchanges.

 

Volunteering ensures progress doesn’t flatten human experience and instead restores a sense of community at a time when it’s never been more needed. It gives colleagues a reason to truly know one another again, and that makes work feel less like a set of tasks and more like a shared endeavour.

 

Performance matters, but connection is what makes performance sustainable. Technology can deliver output, but only people give work a reason. While the workplace was never meant to be somewhere everyone is together all the time, it becomes more meaningful when we know who we’re working with and why it matters together.

 

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Sanjay Lobo is Founder and CEO of OnHand

 

Main image courtesy of iStockPhoto.com and Jacob Wackerhausen