The Case For Compassion At Work

Scripps Howard News Service
Judy Olian
(Judy Olian is Dean of Penn State's Smeal College of Business and a leading expert in strategic human resources management.)

In all work places, unfortunately, there are times of tragedy and crisis. Whether it's personal circumstances such as serious illness or death in an employee's family, the pain of job loss, a serious accident, or a catastrophic national event like September 11th, there will be times when employees - - individually or collectively - - are dealing with extreme pain.

Managers might wish to cling to the normalcy of the routine of the workplace, and to divorce all that is personal and emotional from that which is business. And indeed for some, the shelter of that normal routine, getting away from it all and burying oneself in work, becomes a welcome refuge. Yet the fabric of the community in a work environment benefits from expressions of emotions, sadness and grief, and calls for leaders to show compassion, and participate in helping behaviors.

In this month's Harvard Business Review , Jane Dutton from the University of Michigan and her colleagues, reflect on leader behaviors that strengthen, heal, and foster learning in their organizations during times of crisis. These authors identify several leadership and organizational responses that are so important in times of pain.

Leaders need to engage in some form of public expression - - even if small - - showing they share the emotions and have compassion for the tragedy, personal crisis, or pain employees are experiencing. Time and again, we hear of employees who are disenfranchised and become detached from their workplace when leaders appear cold and oblivious to the personal or collective trauma among employees. To the workplace community it is unnatural and unrealistic to continue, uninterrupted, with business as usual.

Another important expression of compassion is leaders' and managers' personal engagement in supporting affected employees, going beyond mere expressions of emotion. An employee suffers a heart attack - - the leader might contribute to, and organize support for, the family in the form of financial assistance or meal delivery. Executives might pitch in to off-load some of the added work burden from the employee's peers, or volunteer to take on additional projects that were the responsibility of the affected employee. In the wake of community disasters, top management might personally lead employee's participation in various relief efforts.

A third form of demonstrated compassion legitimizes broad involvement of the workforce in overt expressions of caring and compassion. In times of pain and trauma, many employees are moved to help. Do these activities become part of the fabric of the business, legitimized by the top management team? The CEO of one small chain of restaurants experiencing economic duress sat down with employees, sharing with them the prospect of job losses or even shutdown of the business. The CEO listened with compassion to their suggestions. Rather than terminating a portion of the restaurant workers, she accepted employees' proposals to shorten their workweek and cut back on earnings across the board (first and foremost her own), rather than selectively terminating restaurant workers. This CEO endorsed the involvement of her employees in addressing the crisis, and advanced their sense of belonging. In other cases, employees pool their sick days or insurance benefits to assist a seriously ill employee, with the endorsement and often active contributions of management.

Demonstrating compassion cannot, and should not be interpreted as a business sacrifice. It does recognize the reality of severe pain, and distraction, when crisis and tragedy strike in and around the work environment. Leaders who ignore such trauma and inflict on others the cold reality of business as usual, will - - at best - - be fostering employees who are distracted and detached. Worse yet, they will be seen as personally uncaring, and that employees can't count on the company as compassionate or supportive when and if the need arises. When leaders do care and show their humanity, they will be strengthening their community's capacity to heal, and engendering the loyalty of their employees. That's the right thing, and as an aside, it's good for business.

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REPORTERS & EDITORS: For more information, please contact Wyatt DuBois in the Smeal College of Business Media Relations Office at 814-863-3798 or wed112@psu.edu .

Penn State's Smeal College of Business offers highly ranked undergraduate, MBA, executive MBA, Ph.D., and executive education opportunities to more than 5,500 students at all levels. Featuring academic departments of accounting, finance, marketing, insurance and real estate, management, and supply chain and information systems, the college is also home to major research centers such as the Center for Supply Chain Research, the Institute for the Study of Business Markets, the eBusiness Research Center, the Farrell Center for Corporate Innovation and Entrepreneurship, the Center for Global Business Studies, and the Center for the Management of Technological and Organizational Change.

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