Twice each month， executives at the dating app company Hinge gather for a team meeting. But rather than dive into discussions about metrics or revenue， they begin by simply talking.

约会应用程序“铰链”公司的高管们每月举行两次团队会议。但他们并不会一开始就深入探讨业绩指标或收益情况，而是先进行简单的交流。

For the first 30 minutes of the two-hour meeting， these coworkers reveal hopes and anxieties—what they worry about， what they’re grateful for， what they’re feeling. Even at a company focused on connecting people， forging real relationships in the workplace takes effort， Hinge CEO Justin McLeod told an audience at the South by Southwest Conference1. He was co-presenting at the event with Ann Shoket， whose initiative to combat workplace loneliness is called “10 Minutes to Togetherness.”

在时长两小时的会议的前30分钟，这些同事会分享自己的希望与焦虑，比如他们担心的事情、感激的事情以及当下的感受。“铰链”的首席执行官贾斯廷·麦克劳德在西南偏南大会上向一位观众表示，即便在一家专注于人际连接的公司，在职场建立真实的关系也并非易事。他与安·肖克特共同出席了该活动，安发起了一项名为“十分钟心意联通”的倡议，旨在对抗职场孤独感。

As America navigates what Surgeon General Vivek Murthy described last year as a loneliness epidemic， employers and employees across the country are trying to address what for many people is a lack of real friendships at work.

去年，美国医务总监维韦克·穆尔蒂称美国正在经历一种“孤独流行病”，全国各地的雇主和员工都在努力解决许多人在工作中缺乏真正友谊的问题。

Remote meetings of “little heads in squares”

“方框里的小脑袋”的远程会议

The problem of loneliness has been bubbling for decades; Robert D. Putnam documented it in his groundbreaking book “Bowling Alone” nearly a quarter-century ago. Remote work has only intensified the problem， for extroverts and introverts alike， says leadership expert Michael Bungay Stanier， author of “How to Work with （Almost） Anyone.”

孤独问题已经持续酝酿了几十年；大约在25年前，罗伯特·D. 帕特南在其开创性著作《独自打保龄》中就提到了这一点。领导力专家、《如何与（几乎）所有人共事》的作者迈克尔·邦盖·斯塔尼尔表示，远程工作只会加剧这个问题，对内向者和外向者都是如此。

“People have this desire to be seen and be heard，” Bungay Stanier says， but on video calls， the group gets right to the business at hand rather than having the natural， informal interactions of a real room. It reduces people to “little heads in squares.”

“人们渴望被看见、被倾听。”邦盖·斯塔尼尔说，但在视频通话中，团队会直接进入正题，而不是像在真实房间里那样进行自然、非正式的互动。这把人简化成了“方框里的小脑袋”。

It’s not easy to talk about this lack of friendship at work “because it feels like a shameful confession，” Bungay Stanier says. But his clients are beginning to bring up the subject.

谈论工作中缺乏友谊的问题并不容易，“因为这说出来感觉很丢人。