The Relevance and Importance of Empathy in a Workspace

Have you ever felt that your boss never understands? In your workspace, the work you do is more important than you as a human, with your grievances and complaints about life. We all must have felt this at some point or another: the lack of understanding in a professional environment, the complete disregard of a person’s emotions and feelings under the ugly pretense of work.

While most harsh managers argue that this is the way it needs to be for maximum productivity, studies have found that this is not at all true. In a survey conducted by Indeed.com in 2018 about emotional well-being in offices, they asked a singular question: “Do you feel cared for at your job?"  Astoundingly, only 28% answered affirmatively. This study also tracked productivity and sales across the offices surveyed, and it was noticed that the offices to which most employees answered yes showed more successful sales.

When we think about this, it becomes abundantly clear, because, of course, it makes sense for those offices with happier, well-adjusted employees to make more profits. Understanding the workspace will likely translate into clearer communication, leading to efficient collaborative systems.

From the results of this survey, we get a hint of why empathy is important to the appropriate functioning of an office. Let us discuss this further.

What is empathy?

Empathy is the ability to recognize emotions and to share perspectives with other people. There are three stages of empathy:

1.    Cognitive empathy:

• Being aware of the emotional state of another person.

2.    Emotional empathy:

• Engaging with and sharing those emotions.

3.    Compassionate empathy:

• It involves taking action to support other people.

Empathy, not sympathy

Sometimes there is an overlap between empathy and sympathy. Sympathy is a genuine concern for the well-being of others; however, it comes from one’s own point of view, making it condescend. Empathy, on the other hand, is an honest and active effort to see a situation from another’s perspective.

Why is empathy relevant in professional settings?

It is plausible to suggest that most people would be working in a team or working closely with others, considering the corporate setup of today. In this context, empathy proves to be a relevant ability, as you are more likely to be a better and therefore desired employee if you practice empathy in your professional behavior.

Here are 5 more benefits of being empathetic in your workspace:

1.    Improves communication:

• An empathetic person is more likely to adapt their style to that of the person they are communicating with, leading to easier, more direct, yet polite conversations with clear motives.

2.    Strengthens team collaboration:

• Empathetic people are better team members. Obviously, one would prefer working with an empathetic teammate who is encouraging and supportive of your work.

3.    Boosts creative thinking:

• Using empathy can help you and your team members consider how the customer may think and feel to identify strategies that may appeal to them the most. Similarly, understanding a product or service from the recipient's point of view can help you identify challenges or opportunities you hadn't thought of before and be more willing to experiment with new solutions.

4.    Fuels productivity:

• Empathy encourages collaboration that fuels productivity, which results in higher employee satisfaction and success.

5.    Nurtures a sense of happiness.

• Practicing empathy at work gives you more perspective and helps you work on your emotional regulation, which eventually leads to joyous feelings.

Conclusion

Speaking from personal experience, I know that being empathetic sometimes leads to a false image of naivety or is mistaken for something hindering work. But that is not true. Being empathetic, listening actively, and caring for others makes one a valuable teammate, opens opportunities for leadership, and overall makes you a better person and your workspace into a haven of both safety and innovation.