The stressful and evolving economy has made trust, loyalty, and empathy in the workplace more important than ever.
Key Details
- Elisa A. Schmitz, founder and CEO of 30Seconds.com, writes in a recent op-ed for CEO World that the ability “to put yourself in their shoes and see the world through their eyes” and empathize with employees is vital.
- Building connections with staff—building trust and loyalty—can be a powerful solution to a workplace where burnout and stress have become the new normal.
- Uniting a team around a shared compassionate vision can improve a team’s “employee satisfaction, growth, innovation, productivity, and retention,” according to Schmitz.
Why It’s Important
In the face of layoffs, high-interest rates, inflation, and uncertainty, business leaders have to ask more of their employees than before, and this state has led to mass burnout in the past three years. The COVID-19 Pandemic resulted in a massive and sudden reshaping of the world economy. The time since the lockdowns ended has resulted in new stress as employees embrace the Great Resignation and “quiet quitting” as solutions.
“[These are] a few of the issues that are loading today’s business marketplace with chaos. Add to the mix people’s personal challenges brought on by racism, ageism, sexism, illness, disease, disability, inequality, and more, and today’s business leaders are facing more workplace fire than ever before,” says Schmitz.
As she notes, trust and empathy are necessary for the modern workplace. Employees who feel unheard, alienated, or unvalued are the employees who will be the first to seek new opportunities or start putting in less effort. Investing in an employee’s happiness and success saves time and money in the long run as you retain employees and build a more robust company culture.
Notable Quote
“With empathy, leaders can engage in a give and take of inspiration with talented people, building a team that works together to achieve a shared mission. Not intimidated by working with people who are smarter or better than them in some way, effective leaders take pride in helping others become their best selves,” says Schmitz.
