Akila McConnell is the owner of Unexpected Virtual Tours, which provides radically creative DEI events and training for remote teams.
After three years of pandemic-induced exhaustion, continuing racial divisions and a volatile economy, Americans need more empathy than before. Yet, studies show that Americans are simply burned out from constant negative news. Americans’ empathy levels have dropped by 14% from 2019 to 2022. Women, in particular, report feeling 19% less empathetic after the pandemic. This is impacting the way we behave toward each other at home and in the workplace.
In 2022, BusinessSolver found that only 69% of employees say that their organizations are empathetic, down from 72% in 2021. Likewise, in 2021, an Ernst & Young survey determined that 90% of workers believe empathetic leadership leads to higher job satisfaction, but 46% of employees believe their leadership’s attempts to be empathetic were dishonest.
So how can companies encourage empathy at a time when most employees are burned out and skeptical of disingenuous comments? Here are three simple research-backed tips that won’t cost you a penny and can help your company build a culture of empathy:
Ask questions rather than provide answers.
Empathetic listening is a tough but important skill, and for many managers, it can be difficult. To develop empathetic listening, start by teaching managers to ask questions rather than provide answers.
For example, if an employee comes to a manager with a request to work from home, rather than immediately jumping to the company’s standard policy, ask the question, “Why do you need this time at home?” No matter what the employee’s response is—whether it is that they have a long commute or they want to provide childcare or they simply want to hang out in their pajamas—coach the manager to show empathy for the employee’s perspective by saying, “I hear your need. Let me look into it further.” By asking questions about the need, a manager immediately shows empathy.
Intentionally build fun into the workday.
Humor is associated with building interpersonal relationships and enhancing empathy. Intentionally building fun into the workday does not require a full off-site or even a team dinner but can instead be small acts done consistently.
Start a meeting once a week with a quick icebreaker question that a few people on your team can answer. Create an active #random Slack channel and chat about what you are planning to do for the weekend. Host team-building events, whether virtual or in-person, that bring your group together. Intentionally building fun into the workday takes a few minutes each week but can make a huge difference in corporate culture.
Encourage leadership to show up and actively encourage DEI events.
Seventy-six percent of employees believe that “a diverse workforce is an important factor when evaluating companies and job offers.” And a 2021 Great Place to Work study showed that 100% of company leaders say leadership encourages employee resource group (ERG) participation, but only 52% of ERG leaders believe that’s true.
Again, this is a simple fix. If a company tasks an ERG with creating DEI programs but the C-suite never attends those programs, the C-suite indicates that this programming does not matter to them. This can feel particularly frustrating to the ERG leaders who expend their work hours, without additional pay, to plan and create such programming. Having at least one leader to attend (and preferably speak at) such programming shows that the leadership is invested in the company’s and the employee resource group’s DEI efforts.
Building an empathetic organization starts with small acts on a weekly basis, which can effect significant change, creating a more cohesive workforce.
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