Why Pasaq
People want to be together. Plans keep falling apart.
Loneliness is now a public-health warning and a line item on the balance sheet. The research also points to what works: doing real things, in person, with people who've committed to show up.
01 · The connection gap
Loneliness is a health risk on the scale of smoking.
In 2023 the U.S. Surgeon General issued an advisory on it. Decades of research link weak social ties to heart disease, stroke and earlier death.
1 in 2
About one in two adults in America reported experiencing loneliness in recent years.
15 a day
Lacking social connection can increase the risk of premature death as much as smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day.
50%
Across 148 studies and 308,849 people, those with stronger social relationships had 50% greater odds of survival.
03 · It follows people to work
Hybrid work made it easier to work together, and harder to know each other.
More than one in five employees worldwide felt lonely for much of the previous day. Remote and hybrid employees are lonelier still, and most say they have fewer work friends than before.
22%
22% of employees worldwide said they felt lonely a lot of the previous day, in 2025 data.
24% vs 18%
24% of fully remote and 24% of hybrid employees felt lonely a lot of the previous day, compared with 18% of on-site employees whose jobs could be done remotely.
59%
59% of hybrid and 56% of fully remote employees said they have fewer work friendships since going hybrid or remote (31,102 workers, 31 markets).
2 in 10
Only two in 10 U.S. employees strongly agree they have a best friend at work. Gallup projects that six in 10 could mean 36% fewer safety incidents and 12% higher profit.
04 · The cost
Disconnected teams show up on the balance sheet.
Lonely employees are more likely to miss work and to start looking elsewhere. Replacing them is expensive, and often avoidable.
$154B
Stress-related absenteeism attributed to loneliness costs U.S. employers an estimated $154 billion a year.
36% vs 20%
Lonely U.S. workers were more likely than others to say they'd likely look for a new job (36% vs 20%) and to miss a day of work a month (35% vs 22%).
0.5–2×
Replacing an employee can cost one-half to two times their annual salary, a conservative estimate; voluntary turnover costs U.S. businesses $1 trillion a year.
52%
52% of employees who left voluntarily said their manager or organization could have done something to keep them.
05 · What actually works
Commit together, do something real, and people show up.
“We should all get dinner” rarely happens because nobody commits first. Studies of follow-through point to two fixes: do it with others, and make a deliberate commitment.
95% vs 76%
In a randomized weight-loss trial, 95% of people recruited with friends and given social support completed the program, compared with 76% of those recruited alone with standard treatment; 66% vs 24% kept their weight loss in full.
3.6×
In a 16-week randomized trial, people who put down a deposit of their own money, returned with a match only if they hit their goals, lost a mean of 14.0 lb, compared with 3.9 lb in the control group.
57% vs 34%
In a national survey of 1,279 Americans, 57% said an experience they bought made them happier, compared with 34% for a material purchase.
Amplified
Sharing an experience with another person, even without talking, made it more intense: chocolate tasted at the same time as someone else was rated more likeable.
How Pasaq responds
Each finding shaped a design decision.
These studies weren't about Pasaq. They're the reasons it works the way it does.
People stick with things they do alongside friends.
Wing & Jeffery, Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 1999 (opens the source in a new tab)Every plan needs at least three people to unlock, and you can see who's in before you join.
A deliberate commitment helps people follow through.
Volpp et al., JAMA, 2008 (opens the source in a new tab)Joining takes a deliberate commitment step: members slide to hold their share in credits. It's much smaller than the personal cash deposits in the study, and it's spent only if the plan unlocks.
Experiences make people happier than things.
Van Boven & Gilovich, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2003 (opens the source in a new tab)Pasaq only lists experiences: dinners, events, classes, the outdoors and trips. No merchandise.
Experiences feel bigger when they're shared.
Boothby, Clark & Bargh, Psychological Science, 2014 (opens the source in a new tab)Every plan is in person and in a group. Nobody books a table for one.
Hybrid and remote work thinned out workplace friendships.
Microsoft, 2022 (opens the source in a new tab)Plans are local to each office and open across departments, so people meet beyond their own team.
Time with friends has fallen by two-thirds.
U.S. Surgeon General's Advisory, HHS, 2023 (opens the source in a new tab)Real, priced deals nearby take the planning out. Once a plan unlocks, the order is placed and people just show up.
Turn the research into a plan people actually go to.
Set up your team in about a minute, find a real plan near the office, and slide in. Or we'll run the pilot with you.
Free during the pilot · No card needed · About a minute to set up