Social capital and the shrinking professional network

The network that quietly got smaller

Most business leaders would agree that relationships matter. Fewer have noticed how significantly the stock of professional relationships has declined since 2020 — or what that decline is costing them commercially.

McKinsey's 2022 Social Capital Survey, covering 5,500 US workers across industries and job levels, found that more than three-quarters of employees in traditional roles report connecting with others less frequently, having smaller networks, and spending less time and effort on relationship building than before the pandemic. The numbers are striking — and the direction of travel has not meaningfully reversed.

Only 24% of respondents said they were focused on re-engaging old contacts. Only 28% said they were building new relationships. Only 31% reported actively strengthening existing ones. The majority of the workforce, across industries and seniority levels, has quietly disengaged from the activity that most directly underpins commercial performance.

Why this is a commercial problem, not just a cultural one

Social capital — the presence of networks, shared norms, and trust among people — is what holds organisations together and connects them to markets. When it's strong, work gets done faster, knowledge transfers more effectively, and employees stay. When it's depleted, the costs are real and measurable.

McKinsey's research found that employees who feel more connected to their networks are:

• Twice as likely to report higher levels of career sponsorship
• 1.5 times more likely to report a sense of belonging at work
• 1.5 times more likely to report being engaged at work

Engagement and retention are directly linked to network health. In an environment where nearly two in five employees are considering leaving their jobs within six months, the attrition cost of social capital depletion is not theoretical. Gallup estimates the cost of replacing an employee at between half and twice their annual salary — and social capital erosion is one of the structural drivers of the problem.

The three dimensions of social capital — and where businesses are failing

The McKinsey framework identifies three conditions that must be present for social capital to flourish: motivation, access, and ability. Most organisations are failing on at least one.

Motivation

Less than half of survey respondents reported making any effort to build their networks since 2020. Senior leaders were significantly more likely to invest in network building (around 50%) than frontline workers (around 15%). Women were less likely than men. The gap is not trivial — it reflects a workforce that has turned inward, prioritising close team relationships while external and cross-functional connections atrophy.

Access

Only 14% of respondents said their networks had grown since the pandemic began. Only 22% reported feeling more connected. Industry matters: banking and technology employees reported significantly better network health than those in consumer, retail, education and healthcare. The common thread in industries with stronger access was investment in digital communication infrastructure — but tools alone don't rebuild networks.

Ability

Approximately half of respondents felt they knew how to build and maintain their network, and half said they believed it was part of their job. But the gap between believing something is part of your job and actually doing it — systematically, with structure — is where most organisations lose the thread.

What managing social capital intentionally looks like

The organisations that are rebuilding social capital effectively are doing it deliberately rather than hoping it returns on its own. Three approaches stand out.

Redefining what's measured. Some organisations are adding relational indicators to performance frameworks — metrics tied to collaboration, mentoring, and connection-making — alongside operational targets. The principle is simple: if social capital isn't measured, it won't be managed. If it's measured alongside the things managers are already accountable for, behaviour changes.

Mapping the network to find the gaps. Advanced analytics can now map knowledge flows, collaboration patterns, and network clusters across an organisation using calendar, email and HR metadata. The value isn't in the data itself — it's in identifying who is connected, who is isolated, and where the structural gaps are. One company used this approach to identify its most influential network nodes and systematically engaged them as connectors for people who would otherwise remain disconnected.

Designing for connection, not just presence. Hybrid working has made social capital rebuilding harder because in-office time is no longer automatically productive for relationship building. Organisations rebuilding social capital are being deliberate about what happens when people are together — prioritising collaborative and cross-functional activities over solo work that could happen remotely.