For far too long, employees have been treated by many organizations like numbers or widgets in a giant machine. Even if sick days, vacation time, and health benefits are offered, employees are often afraid to take them. Many employees worry they’ll be penalized for calling in sick or taking paid family leave.
Sadly, this leads to employee bitterness, resentment, and “quiet quitting.” The benefits of compassion in the workplace offer the exact opposite, which leads to a better company overall with higher revenues. Here are just a few of those benefits:
Increased Employee Retention
A lack of compassion in the workplace creates a harsh environment in which people feel abused and oppressed. When they call in sick, they’re bullied to come in, they have to bring a doctor’s note, and they’re mistreated when they come back to work. All of these consequences can make a bad situation worse. And it’s a vicious cycle: the less employees feel valued, the more they act out or quit, and the more employers value their employees.
The reality is that only the employer can turn this cycle around. Don’t just offer sick days and vacation time — encourage it. When your employees are suffering, send sympathy gifts. When they have birthdays or welcome a new family member, celebrate them. Show your staff that you see them as living, breathing humans with lives outside of the workplace that matter. You’ll find attitudes quickly improve and employees want to stay with your company much longer.
Enhanced Productivity and Less Burnout
But why should you care about employee retention? Employees who stay increase your bottom line. They’re also happier and more productive. This is the second benefit of compassion in the workplace. Another vicious cycle occurs when an employer determines their employees are “lazy.” As a result, they don’t offer great benefits, decent pay, or compassion when times are hard. Instead, they push employees to work harder.
In response, employees feel overworked, they burn out, and they become less productive. Employers can switch this up by creating a reward system that aims high. Offer a competitive wage, encourage employees to take paid time off when they need it, and listen to their concerns. These are acts of compassion that go a long way toward incentivizing employees to feel like part of the brand family. They’re more likely to work harder in a place that values them.
Improved Employee Engagement
Engaged employees stay with their companies longer and they contribute more to the bottom line. Unfortunately, far too many employees and employers feel disconnected these days. Especially since the global shutdown, more employees work remotely, and it’s hard to feel engaged in the workplace. They do the job and sign off for the day, treating work like a way to get a paycheck and nothing more.
It doesn’t have to be this way. An engaging workplace, either onsite or via telecommuting is beneficial to all. You can schedule weekly in-person meetings that include lunch or breakfast for the staff, gamified training, and ways to collaborate with each other. These opportunities to connect allow you to show up and show compassion when you hear about your staff members’ lives. Employees will then look forward to these meetings, and contribute more to discussions.
More Focus on Self-Care and Wellness
There is little debate anymore about whether a happy employee creates a happy workplace. Of course, this begins in the workplace. It is up to the employer to build an environment and a relationship with employees that encourages self-care and wellness. A toxic environment can turn even the most positive employee bitter. But the reverse is also true. A joyful, welcoming, inclusive environment can turn the most bitter employee into a joyful one.
You can show compassion toward this end by providing an employee benefits package that encourages wellness. You can install a gym at the office, offer discounts for a local gym or yoga studio, and even schedule group workouts with a trainer onsite. You can also include “well days” in your employee benefits package. These encourage employers to take paid time off to protect their mental health and come back to work happy.
The Compassion Spreads
Finally, the biggest benefit of showing compassion in the workplace is that it is infectious. Like the point above: when you work from the top down to create a happy environment, this attitude will spread to all of your employees. It is a phenomenon that has been proven time and again. But it can’t work from the bottom up. From the owner and CEO to top executives and managers, compassion must become the name of the game.
From there, your employees won’t be able to resist. They’ll have compassion for each other, for executives under pressure, and even for the company owner or CEO. They’ll express more brand loyalty and even spread word-of-mouth about how great your company is. There are few better ways to advertise than with happy, compassionate employees. Make compassion your company mission, vision, and value, and you’ll be impossible to defeat in your market.
The bottom line is employees and customers alike love a company that cares about people. If recent news is any indicator, Starbucks and Costco are prime examples. As corporations that have committed to being compassionate both with employees and their customers, these companies are unstoppable in their markets. Learn from the best and find ways to spread compassion throughout your business.