The #1 Business Strategy You Haven't Considered to Halt Resignations

In the last two years, businesses across industries have had to reinvent themselves. Through challenges of the economy, COVID-19, and shifting consumer needs, we've used technology and innovative processes to evolve.

Yet, millions of employees are leaving their jobs. No technology or innovation can solve The Great Resignation alone, because it is a symptom of a greater problem: we lack empathy.

NPR quoted software developer, Jonathan Caballero, in their article about the movement, "I think the pandemic has changed my mindset in a way, like I really value my time now." This sentiment has transcended all industries and spaces. People are thinking beyond their careers and desiring a place that appreciates them and gives them purpose.

Sydney Ember recounts a similar situation with a marketing director of an orthopedic practice published in The New York Times. She said the director, Hoffman, was making $13,000 less than similar jobs. When he got a small raise, he states it was "the kind of straw that broke the camel's back."

In April alone, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, almost four million employees quit. This high rate is an example of the shifting changes in employee attitudes. The pandemic has forced them to think of what matters most.

As business leaders know, the cost of employee turnovers and unproductivity is high. Gallup estimates that only 20-34% of the workforce is actively engaged. Unproductivity costs 18% of each disengaged employee’s salary a year. With 10,000 employees at $50,000 each, that’s $60.3 million a year. What causes disengagement? It's a poor workplace and unappreciation-- in other terms, a lack of empathy.

To save costs and increase productivity, it's in a business's best interest to increase empathy in their workplace. When people hear this, they aren't sure what to think. It seems intangible, soft, and hard to measure. But that's far from the truth.

Empathy is a hard skill and can be measured. It can be developed in your workplace through clear steps and an effective process.

By implanting empathy in your business strategy, organizations create a vibrant workforce that retains and attracts talent. With a high-performing team, they’ll grow in their industry and cement themselves for the future.

The Empathy Gap

The lack of empathy permeates every industry and social class. Even in the NFL.

In The Ringer's article, "The NFL's Empathy Gap" it describes the story of Aaron Rodgers.

Much of empathy starts with communication, a problem the Packer's quarterback faced with the organization's leadership. For example, when the general manager of the team picked a quarterback in the 2020 draft night, he never contacted Rodgers about the decision. They would cut players that he worked well with too without including him in the process.

Rodgers said, "it's the people that win championships," emphasizing his focus on the relationships that make organizations successful. Various decisions like these motivated him to skip spring workouts and renegotiate his contract. With his new status, he has a way out of the team.

Now the Packers face an avoidable blow because they did not practice empathy. With only a few phone calls, communication, and appreciation for their quarterback, they could have prevented a fallout, increased their value, and positioned him as a leader to build their organization for the future.

Leadership empathy has long been a focus for organizations but it's been a vague idea and hard to implement. Since 2004, the interest in empathy-related topics has increased with recent instances of over 90 million inquiries.

People want to know more about empathy and how they can implement it in their lives and workplaces. Despite this increased interest, according to Businessolver's 2021 State of Workplace Empathy, only 25% of employees believe empathy is sufficient in their organization.

In the same report, we learn that 70% of CEOs say it's hard for them to consistently demonstrate empathy at work. If the consensus is that we need more empathy, then why are we so behind?

Empathy is, as defined by the Oxford English Dictionary: the ability to imagine and understand the thoughts, perspective, and emotions, of another person. While we understand what it is, the workplace still suffers, fueling the Great Resignation.

McKinsey Quarterly states:

"Employees are tired, and many are grieving. They want a renewed and revised sense of purpose in their work. They want social and interpersonal connections with their colleagues and managers. They want to feel a sense of shared identity. Yes, they want pay, benefits, and perks, but more than that they want to feel valued by their organizations and managers. They want meaningful—though not necessarily in-person—interactions, not just transactions."

Employees need a purpose. They want a personal connection. And they want an identity. While perks, salary, and other transactional elements are important for their well-being, it's not the only thing they need. Empathy-related programs help end the Great Resignation, particularly for your company.

How Much the Empathy Gap is Costing You

The cost of the empathy gap can vary. There are tangible ways to measure it to get an idea of how it's hurting your company. There are also implied opportunity costs due to a lack of creativity, innovation, and teamwork that does not exist without empathy.

“48% of America’s working populations is actively job searching or watching for opportunities.” - Gallup

Ways you can measure how much empathy exists in the workplace is by studying the data that you already have. Do you run surveys? If so, identify keywords that point to empathy. If employees feel unappreciated, unmotivated, or extremely stressed, these are signs of unfulfillment and a lack of empathy.

Hard evidence can be found in your turnover rate and your data on disengaged employees. Are team members choosing to invest in your company by working for years or are they leaving often and shorter than expected?

How about productivity? Are rates declining or do you feel that there is missed potential and opportunities? All these things can cost millions of dollars depending on the size of your company.

It doesn't stop with your HR and operational costs. A 2018 study by M&C Saatchi with 34,000 consumers found that lack of empathy cost brands an average of 300 million dollars a year in revenue. Consumers, like your employees, want to identify and connect with your brand.

79% of employees quit their jobs because of a lack of appreciation. Any business leader that sees this would agree that lack of empathy is costing a significant chunk of expenses. Imagine the impact a company would feel after decreasing this leaky percentage.

If so many employees quit because of empathy issues, how much is the turnover costing? Gallup estimates it's 1/2 to 2 times the salary of the employee. If you have an industry average turnover, about 25%, with 150 employees at a $50,000 average salary a year, that could cost you $937,000-$3.8 million in transitional and turnover costs.

This does not include the cost of over thousands per employee when unproductive every year as mentioned before. The cost of poor empathy is detrimental for business.

The Benefits of Empathy

Businesses are placed in a unique position today. They can choose to fight the need for empathy and run their organization the way it has always been, risking a slow economic death. Or they can lead the forefront by understanding empathy as a hard skill, training their team, and becoming a competitive and much-desired brand.

Here's what you can expect when you switch to a business strategy built on empathy:

Develop Effective Leadership

A business depends on their leadership team. They navigate the ship and determine the future of the organization. As the expert John Maxwell states, "Everything rises and falls on leadership."

Turnover, productivity, and many other factors will depend on leadership. Empathy turns a leadership team from being feared or a source of pressure, to one of empowerment and encouragement-- a more effective motivator for employees.

Attract and Retain High-performing Talent

When you have a high-empathy company, people notice. Employees are happy and spread the word to their industry. Customers love your brand and make it known on social media and through loyal purchasing.

Top talent notices these factors. Salaries and perks help motivate the best talent. But high-performance employees accept positions at companies that they want to work for. They want to enjoy where they work and where they will spend most of their time.

Empathy empowers your team. When your employees feel that they have a purpose and that they matter in the workplace, they'll begin to practice a sense of ownership.

They are a part of something they believe in and use that energy to impact the business.

Create a Healthy and Happy Workplace

Businesses deal with threats to the workplace like toxic culture. When toxicity seeps into your office, it destroys everything like the way a fungus takes over a living organism.

Empathy is aware of the emotions, feelings, and needs of employees. When a business strategy involves empathy, employees are not spending their energy on job searches, complaints, and frustrations. Co-workers connect and care for one another. They work to their fullest potential and produce better results.

Execute Better Marketing & Connect with Consumers

There are many examples of controversial marketing. Recently, Tiffany and Co. launched a campaign with "Not Your Mother's Tiffany" to attract younger audiences and shine a modern light on the brand. They faced backlash on social media from many mothers and long-term customers.

These moments happen because of a disconnect with the audience. Empathy trains employees and marketing teams to connect with their customers.

Increase Productivity

In this article, we have learned how empathy can dramatically shift the tides of productivity through higher engagement. Empathy empowers a team to have a purpose and add value to the business because they believe in it.

How to Close the Empathy Gap with Your Strategy

If a lack of empathy hurts an organization and if empathy provides many benefits, then what can a business do to embed it in its strategy?

Within Robinson Alliance Group’s RetainMyTeam? program,?we distill empathy into the hard skill that it is and build a foundation for your business strategy. Empathy distinguishes legendary leaders from average leaders. This creates a strong organization positioned for growth.

Many people ask, "How do I do empathy?" because it's perceived as an intangible soft skill. RetainMyTeam centers on 5 tangible triggers of human behavior and addresses them through proven frameworks to drive results.

Best-selling author, Simon Sinek says, "There are two things great leaders need to have: empathy and perspective. The real job of the leader is not to be in charge it's about taking care of those in command. "

A business strategy built on empathy first starts with the leadership in your company. By putting people first and creating a business model with empathy, you will connect and empower your employees and customers

A practical empathy strategy addresses:

• Attracting and retaining talent
• Employee engagement and productivity
• Teamwork
• Building culture
• Creativity
• … and more

These are measured approaches that use empathy to drive results. Through organizational goals, businesses work on the individual level as well. Employees learn adaptability, creativity, resilience, and more.

If you are interested in learning more about using empathy in your business strategy contact us for more information. With the right improvements, you can save costs and position your business for a new trajectory of significant growth.

Ronda Robinson is the founder of the Legendary Leaders Club and creator of RetainMyTeam?. She conducts coaching and consulting services to learn how to apply practical empathy at work. She is a keynote speaker and has conducted seminars and workshops across the globe.