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In most companies, the introduction and frequent renewal of multiple management devices put workers in a permanent-change regime and compel them to innovate. The system of constraints created by these processes can produce a sense of disaffiliation for employees. In extreme situations, which are characterized by a loss of collective regulation and a significant reduction in personal leeway, individuals find themselves deeply isolated and lose their power to act – especially their creative power – which can be a source of psychosocial risks and musculoskeletal disorders. However, it is possible to imagine that the same dynamics of innovation can help employees become less isolated. In this context, the present article examines the conditions under which isolated employees can sustainably contribute to new working environments for collaborative innovation called FabLab (Fabrication Laboratories), which provide a place for rapid prototyping and collective learning.We hypothesize that such environments have the potential to provide more leeway to isolated employees and to progressively restore their power to act; however, for this outcome to occur, several conditions must be fulfilled. To check this hypothesis, we first elaborate a framework for analyzing the process of isolation at work. In a second step, we take advantage of an ongoing survey of the technical staff of a large information-technologies and communications company to identify configurations and resources that preserve the power to act of agents. In a third step, we examine how managers of FabLabs, technical agents, and their supervisors, conceive of the potential contribution of isolated employees to collaborative innovation projects. The most important limits in this type of project lie in the widespread mistrust that has developed in the company, and in the desire to increase the apparent productivity of labor.