Almost one in three (31%) UK workers say they would rather undergo root canal treatment than attend their office Christmas party, according to a new national poll by Sunny, the charity campaigning against loneliness and social disconnection.
More than one in three (36%) would prefer a dental visit of any kind to the office bash — a figure Sunny says reflects the growing “Great Disconnection” in UK workplaces.
The nationally representative survey of 1,000 UK adults, conducted by Censuswide, found similar attitudes beyond the workplace. A third of all UK adults (33%) said they would prefer the dentist to the office party, suggesting that the cultural shift extends beyond employees.
Men, Millennials, and workers in Northern Ireland and the East Midlands top the rankings for party dread. Among men, 37% said they would rather have root canal work than attend the event, compared with 26% of women. Millennials led the trend by age group, with 44% of those aged 35–44 choosing root canal work over office festivities, versus 25% of Gen Z and 21% of Boomers.
“These findings are fresh evidence of ‘The Great Disconnection’ — the growing signals of workplace disengagement,” said Dr Iain Smith, industrial psychologist and Head of Behavioural Science at Sunny. “It doesn’t take much to reconnect people. You can design connections back into how teams already work, so they stop running on social empty.”
Sunny’s new white paper, *Energized by Design*, explores the drivers behind this disconnection. The report cites hybrid working, AI-enabled workflows, and the challenges of managing multi-generational teams as major contributors.
Dr Smith adds that, unlike the Great Resignation, “the Great Disconnection isn’t going anywhere unless we address it.”
Supporting data from other studies cited in the white paper suggests that disconnection has measurable economic consequences. Gallup’s latest *State of the Global Workplace* report found that just 10% of British workers are engaged in their jobs, costing the UK economy an estimated £257 billion annually — roughly equivalent to the NHS budget.
A Co-op study put the cost of loneliness to UK employers at £2.5 billion each year through lost productivity and higher turnover. Meanwhile, research from the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Tackling Loneliness found that over half of UK workers experience loneliness at least occasionally, with one in seven feeling it frequently.
Sunny’s CEO, Betsy Parker, said that connection should be treated as a performance factor, not a perk. “You can’t Zoom your way to an engaged culture,” she said. “Modern offices optimise for output over connection — but social connection at work isn’t a luxury; it’s the fuel that powers trust, engagement, and performance.”
Sunny argues that the findings should serve as a reminder to employers as they enter the festive season. If the office party once symbolised togetherness, today it may reflect something else entirely: a workforce struggling to connect — both inside and outside the office.
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