LONELINESS is costing the Australian economy an estimated $2.7 billion a year in healthcare, social services and lost productivity – but a new whitepaper argues the nation’s call centres are uniquely placed to help tackle the crisis.
The report, More than a phone call: Using everyday interactions to detect and respond to loneliness, released by the QUT Centre for Future Enterprise, outlines how contact centres can shift from transactional problem-solving to becoming early detection points for social isolation.
Lead author Dr Nadine Ostern, Cisco Chair in Trusted Retail at QUT, said the findings show how businesses and service providers already hold the keys to unlocking better social outcomes.
“This whitepaper encourages us to see loneliness differently: not as a marginal issue, but as a challenge that organisations can play a role in addressing,” Dr Ostern said.
“It shows how businesses, service providers, and technology partners are uniquely positioned to intervene, not by replacing human connection, but by enabling it where it matters.”
“Customers want seamless, personalised support across channels, and they want to feel understood.
This paper shows how contact centres can build trust and loyalty by designing care around real human needs.
“Loneliness is a systemic blind spot. Our research shows everyday service interactions – especially in contact centres – hold untapped potential to detect and respond to loneliness early and empathetically.”
The research, undertaken with Anglicare Southern Queensland – which fields more than 30,000 calls a month, predominantly from older Queenslanders – identifies the contact centre as one of the most frequent points of human interaction for vulnerable people.
Dr Ostern said subtle signs of distress were often visible in call patterns: frequent calls, prolonged conversations, or queries requiring little assistance.
“These behaviours, typically seen as inefficiencies, are signals of unmet emotional needs,” she said.
“Without protocols, frontline staff are left emotionally burdened, and trust erodes.”
The paper highlights that women and Australians aged over 55 are disproportionately affected by loneliness, calling it a “systemic blind spot” that requires coordinated responses across technology, operations, and service design.
Among five strategic shifts outlined is a move toward proactive engagement, supported by integrated data systems and digital tools. The proposed “intervention spectrum” spans human-led outreach, augmented support such as guided coaching, and automated pathways that enable scale without compromising empathy.
“At the heart of this work lies a question that also drives our research: how do we ensure that technology serves human good?” Dr Ostern said.