How to Promote Empathy in the Workplace
May 1, 2025
Share this post:
Empathy in the workplace isn’t just a buzzword, it’s a leadership essential. As teams become more diverse and remote, the ability to truly understand and respond to others’ emotions and perspectives is what separates great companies from good ones.
Yet many organizations still treat empathy as something “nice to have” instead of something vital to their culture. The result? Disconnected teams, miscommunication, and missed opportunities for engagement and innovation.
Here’s how to embed workplace compassion and professional empathy into your workplace culture in meaningful, everyday ways.
When empathy is part of how people operate, everything improves: collaboration, retention, morale, and even performance.
Empathy helps teams communicate more clearly because when people feel heard, they tend to listen better in return. It also builds trust by creating a foundation of safety where people know they can be open and honest without fear of judgment. Conflict becomes easier to manage because empathetic employees are more willing to look beyond their own perspective. And finally, empathy supports emotional well-being. When someone is struggling, a simple check-in or gesture of support can make a major difference in their ability to cope and carry on.
Empathy starts at the top but can also have an impact on a company’s bottom line. For instance, if managers are unable to set the tone for how people treat each other, morale, burnout, and even retention can linger in negative values. When leaders model empathy, it cascades through the organization.
Teams led by empathetic managers tend to be more engaged, loyal, and productive. This is why manager training and evaluations should go beyond soft skills and production, and focus on practical behaviors.
For example, managers can be taught to listen without interrupting and to ask thoughtful follow-up questions that show they’re practicing active listening. They should also take the time to put themselves in their team members’ shoes before reacting to undesirable or challenging news. Pausing to ask, “What else might be going on here?” can help managers tailor their approaches to adversity in a way that their teams can learn from.
Learning how to read nonverbal cues in a virtual or in-person setting helps too, since tone, posture, or facial expression often say more than words do. And perhaps most importantly, managers should respond to employees with curiosity and care rather than judgment or defensiveness. Even the smallest shifts in behavior make a big difference in building a truly empathetic culture.
People don’t leave their feelings at the door when they start their workday, even if they’re logging in from home. Creating space for real human emotion helps employees feel seen and supported.
That space can be as simple as starting meetings with a quick check-in: “How’s everyone doing today?” Or it might mean acknowledging a difficult moment, a layoff, a missed target, or a national tragedy rather than pretending it didn’t happen. When leaders show they’re aware and emotionally present, employees follow suit.
Vulnerability also starts with modeling. When leaders admit mistakes, share tough decisions, or open up about a hard week, they give others permission to be human. And when people feel safe being themselves, trust and collaboration flourish.
Empathy shouldn’t feel like a “special occasion” behavior. It should show up in how meetings are run, feedback is given, and decisions are made.
Encouraging employees to pause before reacting, for example, creates space to reflect and respond more thoughtfully. Managers who approach challenges with curiosity rather than assumptions can de-escalate tension and build stronger working relationships.
When meetings are intentionally inclusive (i.e., inviting quieter voices to speak, rotating facilitators, and discouraging interruptions), teams operate more collaboratively and respectfully.
Even asynchronous communication can be infused with empathy. A kind tone in an email or an internal comms message, a quick acknowledgment of someone’s effort, or a moment of gratitude goes a long way in fast-paced environments.
What gets noticed gets repeated. When leaders recognize empathy in action, they reinforce its value.
Managers and business leaders can start by highlighting empathetic moments in meetings or team newsletters—like a teammate who helped someone through a challenging situation or defused conflict with care.
Higher-ups can also consider including empathy and emotional intelligence in performance review criteria. This would send the message that success isn’t just about outcomes but also about how we treat each other along the way.
Celebrating kindness, collaboration, and support instead of just raw productivity makes it clear that empathy isn’t just appreciated, it’s expected.
Culture is shaped by systems just as much as by individual behaviors. Even the most well-intentioned employees can’t act empathetically if the structure doesn’t support it.
Start by reviewing company policies: Are they flexible enough to accommodate caregiving responsibilities or mental health needs? Can someone take a day off without jumping through hoops? Flexible systems show that the organization sees people as individuals, not just productivity units.
C-levels should also want to ensure safety and security so that employees feel comfortable speaking up, asking questions, or expressing concerns without fear of backlash. In addition to being able to speak up, feeling valued may also include responses or actions that follow a difficult conversation or problem brought to light.
Channels of communication that are transparent but actionable, whether shared through surveys, manager 1:1s, or anonymous feedback boxes, give employees the chance to voice how they’re feeling and then act on what they share. But again, listening alone isn’t enough. What builds trust is follow-through.
Empathy isn’t a project, it’s a practice. And the most empathetic workplaces don’t wait until conflict or burnout happens to make a change. They build it into the way they communicate, lead, and listen every single day.
By promoting empathy at all levels of your organization, you create a culture where people feel safe, valued, and connected. And when people feel connected, they do their best work.
Here are some of the most frequently asked questions on how to promote and evaluate empathy in the workplace.
Some common signs include a lack of collaboration, a general sense of disengagement, and frequent misunderstandings between team members. A workplace without empathy tends to struggle with innovation, trust, and cooperation, leading to more arbitrary decisions and making it harder to retain top talent and maintain a healthy culture.
Empathetic environments foster psychological safety, open communication, better problem-solving, and stronger collaboration. Research also shows that empathetic organizations are more likely to improve performance and engagement, attract high-performing talent, and enjoy better client relationships.
Workplace empathy involves understanding and acknowledging others’ emotions and perspectives, while compassion goes a step further by taking action to ease other people’s burdens.
For example, an empathetic manager might notice an overwhelmed team member, while a compassionate one would offer support or resources. Both are valuable, but empathy is the foundation to cultivate compassionate behavior in professional settings.
Employers can evaluate empathy through engagement and well-being surveys, feedback, and manager evaluations. Additionally, metrics like employee satisfaction, retention rates, and internal conflict frequency can indirectly signal the presence or absence of empathy in the company’s culture.
Empathy is mainly shown during meetings through active listening, acknowledging others’ perspectives, and encouraging participation. Specifically for performance reviews, empathetic managers frame feedback constructively, recognize individual challenges, and create space for honest dialogue.
Teams with poor empathy often struggle with communication challenges, reduced morale, and increased conflict. Without professional empathy, collaboration becomes transactional, and creativity suffers, ultimately impacting a company’s performance.
Absolutely. Empathy-driven leadership plays a key role in making people feel valued and safe, two critical factors in long-term retention. Company cultures with strong empathy among employees and emotional awareness help reduce burnout and increase job satisfaction.
Contributed by Mary Dominguez
WHAT DO YOU NEED TO FIND?
