Did you know that as many employees face downsizings, restructurings, and a looming global recession, most cite empathy as a key attribute they seek from their leadership?
According to Empathy in Business Survey, most employees feel that mutual empathy between company leaders and employees leads to increased efficiency (88%), creativity (87%), job satisfaction (87%), idea sharing (86%), innovation (85%) and even company revenue (83%).
Research shows that 96% of employees value empathy as a key retention factor, with 86% believing empathetic leadership boosts morale.
Yet, there’s a significant empathy gap in the workplace. Only 66% of employees view their managers as actually empathetic, a lowest level ever (a decline from 2018’s 78%). Meanwhile, 92% of CEOs think of themselves as empathetic, with 67% perceiving themselves as more empathetic than before the pandemic.
While employees expect empathy, many perceive it as disingenuous because it isn’t coupled with matching actions.
Empathetic leadership goes beyond declarations; it requires compassionate empathy—not only having concern for another person, and sharing their emotional pain, but also taking practical steps to reduce it.
One way to demonstrate compassionate empathy is by aligning company policies with employees’ expressed needs. In a 2023 survey, more than 90% of employees consistently listed some form of family-related benefits, such as flexible work hours, paid maternity and paternity leave, flexible work location, as their top-wanted benefits. Yet fewer than 50% of the employers offered these benefits. For example, 93% of employees want more benefits such as paid daycare or after-school programs, but only 17% of employers offer them.
Recognizing these gaps can be a wake-up call for conscious leaders: be open to course-correcting and “have the courage to challenge the status quo, the curiosity to consider the situation from multiple perspectives, and the care to listen and understand the fear and anxiety that the transformation might reveal.“
PS: Are you facing a work transition and looking for empathetic guidance? Our “Ask Agnes” is an anonymous, purely confidential column where you can seek advice on various life issues. The column provides thoughtful responses crafted by a trained psychologist.
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