Chief Engagement Officer, overseeing the full Human Resources Department and contributing to a high-performance culture at Businessolver.
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At the heart of the Great Resignation is a rising tension between executives and employees regarding a preference for in-person work.
According to my company's 2022 State of Workplace Empathy Study, there’s a disparity between the percentage of CEOs who currently work at home and "have no intention" of ever returning to in-person work (4%) and employees who say the same (21%). PwC's Pulse Survey found that many executives are eager to return to in-person work, with 19% preferring an all in-person workforce model and only 4% preferring a fully remote model.
But what does empathy have to do with in-person work?
The short answer? A lot.
The long answer is, well, longer. Building or expanding empathy within a workplace is far more complex than mapping out a hybrid work schedule because for it to be effective it needs to be everywhere—and with everyone. While the Covid-19 crisis initially brought greater awareness and belief around the importance of empathy, the 2022 shift back to in-person work is resulting in a clash of ideologies.
This year, employees’ highest-rated concerns about in-person work are around work-life balance—including loss of flexibility, childcare concerns and commuting. For CEOs, though, highly rated in-person work concerns revolve around personal interactions—including collaborating with colleagues and following office etiquette.
These disparate views indicate that workplace empathy and the Great Resignation are absolutely correlated. As humans, we all have a hardwired need to feel seen, understood and valued. The ability to fulfill those needs for one another is empathy. When those needs go unmet in a community, we search for a new one. And the latest jobs reports show that employees nationwide are still searching: There were 11.25 million job openings for only 5.59 million unemployed in May 2022.
From where I sit—which is as the chief engagement officer at an organization that champions a "workspace anywhere" policy—if the Great Resignation is the disease, an empathetic culture is the cure. With that, I offer four ways to cure your culture:
Embrace that 'return to work' doesn’t mean 'return to the before times.'
Many organizations have translated “back to normal” to mean “back to the way we did things before Covid-19,” leaving employees feeling less valued because they boil down to a choice between employees’ sense of productivity and their paychecks. The Great Resignation shows that if employees don’t feel the sense of belonging that workplace empathy inspires, then they will seek it from other organizations.
When we published our inaugural State of Workplace Empathy Study in 2016, the highest-rated empathetic benefit was a gym reimbursement. Today, the most empathetic benefit is flexible work. Empathetic leaders understand this culture shift and recognize that how, where and even why people choose to work likely is forever changed. So, the mission here isn’t to turn back the clock, but rather to look forward and provide what employees want and need.
Develop managers as empathy ambassadors.
Another important trend is a shift in perceived empathy toward direct managers. As work moved from offices into people’s homes over the past two years, it makes sense that employees would look to their managers as the chief source of empathy at work. A manager is most likely the first person who helped an employee navigate homeschooling their kids during lockdown, caring for a sick loved one or even simply shifting a meeting so they could walk their dog.
Organizations must own this shift in workplace culture by investing in leadership training for managers and even recruiting for empathetic leadership. Research has long shown that the most important relationship driving employee engagement and satisfaction is the one between an employee and their direct manager. We found that in 2022, more than half of CEOs at organizations (with 1,000-plus employees) say empathy drives innovation, faster business growth and better financial performance. Hartford's 2022 Future of Benefits Study similarly found that employees are seeking out new employers due to a lack of empathy. By investing in empathetic leadership, chief executives are primed to see the return on that investment.
Weigh the tradeoffs between collaborating and commuting.
Pre-pandemic data indicates the average in-person employee spent 55 minutes per day commuting. There is plenty of medical evidence to support the negative effects of commuting on mental and physical health: increased rates of depression and anxiety, poor sleep and lower levels of happiness and satisfaction. And with gas prices spiking, those commutes are costlier, too.
How can employers find a balance? Make the juice worth the squeeze. In 2022, employees are at least open to hybrid work, even if they initially resisted it, with many wanting to work from home most of the time but still be able to collaborate with colleagues. So, meet them halfway: Encourage in-person collaboration days to make the most of being in the office together. On work-from-home days, empower employees to maximize their time with few distractions and the flexibility to integrate work and personal priorities.
Prioritize people over place.
One misstep many businesses made during the early days of the pandemic was applying in-office work styles and schedules to remote work. Plus, employees felt like they had to work more to maintain job security. It’s not hard to see why many employees are fleeing burnout—a major factor in the Great Resignation.
It’s critical to offer employees a voice in how they return to work. Here are a few steps we took at Businessolver that other leaders might find helpful when turning the Great Resignation into the "Great Return":
• Add questions to your regular employee surveys that gauge sentiment toward working remotely.
• Empower leaders to advocate for support and resources for those who are struggling.
• Adjust your paid time-off policy so employees can take time as needed, knowing that paid time off isn’t as cut-and-dry as vacation or sick leave.
• Codify your hybrid model to let employees know you trust them to perform productively from home, the office or anywhere in between.
As employers consider how to extend culture outside the office, it’s helpful to remember that a culture of empathy is ultimately about the people, not the place.
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