The power of empathy in times of crisis and beyond (2nd edition)

catalyst-wb-image-hero-report-emparhy-work-strategy-crisis

Flexible work
Inclusive leadership
Inclusive workplaces

Executive summary

In recent years, there has been a great deal of discussion about the importance of empathy in the workplace. Empathy helps bond colleagues together and forms the foundation of a resilient and inclusive workplace. Although it is often underestimated as a business skill, our findings suggest that empathy skills are a business imperative and essential to success in the future of work. It is important for organizational leaders to know the following about empathy: it is possible to cultivate and develop empathy; there are three aspects of empathy: cognitive (head/thinking), affective (heart/feeling), and behavioral (action/doing); and empathy is linked to many positive outcomes that teams can leverage to become more agile and innovative in times of crises.

Catalyst surveyed nearly 900 US employees working across industries to understand the effects of empathic leadership on their experiences at work, and we found that empathy is an important driver of employee outcomes such as innovation, engagement, and inclusion—especially in times of crisis or rapid change. Women from marginalized racial and ethnic groups experience less burnout when they have more empathic senior leaders. Additionally, senior leader empathy is linked to employee retention. Empathic leaders respect employee life circumstances, or the feelings of being respected and valued across gender, race, and ethnicity. Empathic leadership is a key driver of inclusive workplaces that support employees’ work and life needs. Being intentional and taking the time to connect with team members to understand their experiences and show care and concern is critical to inclusion, retention, and other positive employee experiences, especially for women of color. Creating a culture of empathy can help your team weather disruptions and can also encourage more human and equitable interactions and policies at all times.

Updated 13 January 2025

Empathy is a force for innovation, engagement, and intent to stay

In recent years, there has been a great deal of discussion about the importance of empathy in the workplace. Many believe there is an urgent need for empathic work cultures.¹ But is empathy a “feel-good” element — something that is “nice to have” — or is it a strategic imperative?

Catalyst surveyed nearly 900 US employees working across industries to understand the effects of empathic leadership on their experiences at work. We found that empathy is an important driver of employee outcomes such as innovation, engagement, and inclusion. This is especially true in times of crisis or rapid change, such as societal upheaval, environmental disasters, political polarization, and pandemics. In short, empathy is a must-have futureproofing mechanism in today’s workplace.²

Consider that employees — especially employees from marginalized racial and ethnic groups — have been navigating increased challenges as the demands of work, caregiving, healthcare access, and social dynamics shift unpredictably.³ Burnout has become widespread and engagement has hit a low.⁴ Employees now are looking for managers, leaders, and companies who will not just acknowledge these hardships but put them front and center in a strategy to lead ethically, responsibly, and equitably.

At many companies, leaders are heeding employee calls for action with more flexible and remote-work options, commitments to prioritize equitable opportunities for employees across lines of gender and race, and other targeted changes.⁵ They understand the imperative of taking these steps to retain talent, boost inclusion, and position their organizations for success in a world where rapid change is the norm and a technological revolution is fundamentally transforming work.⁶

Previous Catalyst research shows that we must be mindful to “think people, not just programs.”⁷ Our current research shows that cultivating empathic leadership is an effective strategy to respond to crisis with the heart and authenticity that many employees crave—and boost productivity

Key findings

Empathic leaders:
- Respect employee life circumstances.
- Support both life and work need.
- Foster Inclusion.
Empathy is a force for productivity, life-work integration, and positive work experiences.
- Employees with empathic managers and leaders are more innovative and engaged in their work.
- Employees with empathic senior leaders have lower turnover risk.
- Women from marginalized racial and ethnic groups with empathic senior leaders experience less burnout.

What is empathy?

Empathy is the skill of (1) connecting with others to identify and understand their thoughts, perspectives, and emotions; and (2) demonstrating that understanding with intention, care, and concern.⁸

An empathic⁹ leader is a leader who demonstrates care, concern, and understanding for employees’ life circumstances.

Empathy helps bond colleagues together and forms the foundation of a resilient and inclusive workplace.⁰¹ Although it is often underestimated as a business skill, our findings suggest that empathy is essential to success in the future of work. Here are three things to know:¹¹

It’s possible to cultivate and develop empathy.
There are three aspects of empathy: cognitive (head/thinking), affective (heart/feeling), and behavioral (action/doing).
Empathy links to many positive outcomes that teams can leverage to become more agile and innovative in times of crises.

In this study, we assessed empathy by asking respondents how often their manager and senior leaders displayed specific behaviors in their interactions. The behaviors measured correspond to the three facets of empathy:¹²

Cognitive empathy, or engaging with employees to understand their thoughts, emotions, and perspectives.
Affective empathy, or sharing in or showing similarity to employees’ emotional states.
Behavioral empathy, or actions that communicate and demonstrate a sense of empathy for employees.

Benefits of empathy

Empathy boosts innovation and engagement

Senior leader empathy

Manager empathy

Empathic leaders can help decrease burnout

People experience burnout as being frustrated, emotionally exhausted, overextended or stretched to their limits, worn-out and tired, and/or exhausted in the morning at the thought of the day ahead.²¹ Workplace burnout is considered profound enough to be included in the International Classification of Diseases by the World Health Organization, which defines it as “a syndrome conceptualized as resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed.”²²

When burnout occurs, employee productivity, engagement, and organizational commitment can plummet.²³ During times of crisis and change, leaders must be alert to the potential for employee burnout and take action to prevent it.

Practicing empathy offers a solution — because employees experience less burnout when they have highly empathic leaders. In particular, while a high percentage of Arab, Asian, Black, Indigenous, and Latine women said they were experiencing general workplace burnout, those with highly empathic senior leaders were less likely to report high levels of general workplace burnout (54%) than those with less empathic senior leaders (67%).²⁴ The data did not show the same relationship for men from marginalized racial and ethnic groups, White women, or White men.

This finding is noteworthy. For women from marginalized racial and ethnic groups, experiences of empathy from senior leaders may represent the type of systemic support that previously has not been available to them.²⁵ While empathy on the part of senior leadership is important for everyone, our data highlight its power for women from marginalized racial and ethnic groups whose experiences with institutional-level empathy in the workplace may be sorely lacking.

Senior leaders can establish an environment of empathy within the organization, but managers — who are involved in the day-to-day relationships with employees — also play an important role. Not only do women disproportionately shoulder a greater share of caretaking and unpaid labor at home,²⁶ women also tend to do more of the emotional labor supporting colleagues at work.²⁷ Our findings show that managers can buffer some of the impact: We found that women who had highly empathic managers experienced less general workplace burnout at work (53%) than women with less empathic managers (68%).²⁸

Collectively, these findings illustrate that a large number of women have reported experiencing burnout. But they also show that empathy on the part of senior leaders and managers complement one another to foster a workplace where women are less likely to feel exhausted because of work. A culture of empathic leadership is a key ingredient for success.

Empathic leaders respect employee life circumstances

It is hard for employees to feel a sense of belonging at work and be authentic at work if they don’t feel that their life circumstances are valued and respected by their company. In particular, previous Catalyst research shows that feeling “othered” and on guard to protect against bias and discrimination because of gender, race, and/or ethnicity imposes an emotional tax on people of color that impacts their ability to thrive both in and out of the workplace.²⁹ Especially during a time of crisis or severe strain, life circumstances may change drastically for many employees; it’s important for managers and leaders to recognize and empathize with those changes.

Overall, 70% of respondents feel that their individual life circumstances are respected and valued by their companies.³⁰ Most strikingly, we found that Arab, Asian, Black, Indigenous, and Latine women were least likely to feel this way,³¹ and White men were most likely to feel this way.

But we also found that empathy on the part of both senior leaders and managers mitigates these disparate experiences, increasing feelings of being respected and valued across gender, race, and ethnicity.

Across racial and gender groups, there is a 22-to-58-percentage-point difference in employees feeling that their life circumstances are respected and valued when their manager or senior leader is more empathic compared with when their senior leader or manager is less empathic.
The increases are most pronounced for women from marginalized racial and ethnic groups and White women.

Demonstrating empathy signals to employees that their perspectives and experiences matter. Our data show that practicing empathy to increase women’s sense that their individual life circumstances are valued and respected has downstream consequences for attrition, significantly increasing women’s intentions to stay at their job.35 The data did not show the same relationship for men from marginalized racial and ethnic groups or White men.

57% of White women who feel their life circumstances are respected and valued by their company report never or rarely thinking of leaving their organization, compared to 14% of White women who do not feel valued and respected ³⁶
62% of women from marginalized racial and ethnic groups who feel their life circumstances are respected and valued by their company report never or rarely thinking of leaving their organization, compared to 30% of women from marginalized racial and ethnic groups who do not feel valued and respected. ³⁷

Supporting life and work together

Empathic leaders foster inclusive employee experiences

Senior leader empathy predicts lower intent to leave

In their own words

We asked survey respondents to describe what actions would demonstrate care, concern, and/or understanding for them at work. In their answers, we can hear a heartfelt appeal to managers and leaders to recognize the humanity in all of us.

Face-to-face virtual communication

Starting meetings with personal check-ins.
White woman
first-level manager, educational institution
Asking how the person is doing and actually paying attention to their body language.
Asian woman
non-management/individual contributor, educational institution
Asking about my health and family.
White woman
senior-level manager, financial services
Speaking with us directly.
Black woman
second-level manager, insurance
Nodding and showing active listening skills.
White man
second-level manager, information services/IT support
Paying attention and being interested and concerned about what I have to say.
Latinx man
non-management/individual contributor, health care
Open, honest conversations about work and life.
White man
first-level manager, pharmaceuticals
Flexible hours and schedule.
Asian woman
non-management/individual contributor, financial services
Reducing amount or durations of video calls…to avoid exhaustion.
White man
non-management/individual contributor, information services/IT support
Verbally stating that they notice that I am doing a great job.
White woman
non-management/individual contributor, educational institution

Written communication

Opening with a sign of gratitude.
White man
second-level manager, retail
By asking how me and my family are faring in this hard time.
White woman
first-level manager, educational institution
Expressing concern for my well-being.
Black man
non-management/individual contributor, construction
Asking employees what they need to successfully do their job.
Black woman
second-level manager, insurance
Statements that are acknowledging specific contributions I make to the work I do.
White woman
second-level manager, contract management
Being told that it’s fine to bring up any personal/home issues.
Multiracial man
C-level executive, information services/IT support
[Helping] me understand why it is best I work from home.
White man
second-level manager, financial services
More informed policies and statements about social issues.
White woman
non-management/individual contributor, security
Specific words like ‘I’m sorry,’ ‘Let me know if you need help,’ gifs, emojis, etc.
Asian woman
non-management/individual contributor, manufacturing
Including any helpful resources for the situation that may be available. Coming from a place of concern and care.
Latinx woman
non-management/individual contributor, government

Take action

As a departmental and organizational role model, you set the tone for workplace culture and drive policies and strategy. Your decisions, actions, and words carry tremendous weight and can make the difference in employees’ ability to thrive in a volatile world. Being intentional and taking the time to connect with team members to understand their experiences and show care and concern is critical to inclusion, retention, and other positive employee experiences, especially for women from marginalized racial and ethnic groups.

Challenging circumstances create unparalleled opportunities for empathic leaders. Particularly in times of uncertainty, empathic leaders can foster connections that enhance employees’ ability to innovate and flourish at work. Senior leaders and managers who responded to the instability of 2020-21 with empathy, for example, helped their staff adjust to shifting life-work obligations and cope with the stress of the ongoing pandemic and the burden of racial injustice.

But empathy is not simply a skill that leaders should deploy during times of crisis. Yes, by demonstrating understanding and care in interactions and decision-making, you can help your team in more difficult times by weathering disruptions and inevitable future crises. But organizations and teams that create a culture of empathy can also encourage more human and equitable interactions and policies at all times. Empathy positions you to be responsive to your team’s needs, facing them not with fear and distrust but with curiosity and openness.

Employees are counting on you to do better and be better, now and in the future. It is a business imperative to demonstrate that you understand and care about them and that you are invested in creating an atmosphere where they can be authentic, included, and valued at work. Offer learning opportunities and leadership development that focuses on durable, human skills like empathy to develop this important future of work skill for your leaders. By training your leaders to build, better demonstrate, and practice using empathy, you set a foundation for more inclusive, productive, and fulfilling workplaces.

Start with this list of actions based on the different facets of empathy.⁴⁶

Type of empathy	What you do	Six ways you can show empathy
Head / Thinking Cognitive empath	You imagine how your colleague is feeling from their unique perspective.	1. Intentionally discuss employees’ feelings and then reflect what they’ve just shared to make sure you understand correctly — without diverting the conversation to your own experiences. 2. Make it a priority to meet with and get to know employees at all levels as whole people, not as “just workers.”
Heart / Feeling Affective empathy	You feel concern and/or have similar emotions as your colleague.	3. If an employee or team shares an emotional experience or difficulty, give them the space to fully explain without interjecting or diverting the conversation. 4. Don’t assume your teams and employees know you care about them. Say it when you feel it: “I care about you; I’m concerned, and I understand how challenging this is.”
Action / Doing Behavioral empathy	You demonstrate active listening and a desire to understand more about your colleague’s feelings, experiences, or reactions.	5. In one-on-one interactions, whether in person or virtually, if someone pauses while speaking to you, count to five slowly in your head, giving them time to find the right words and indicating that you are listening, and they can keep talking if they wish. 6. Pay attention to employee facial expressions and body language to recognize how they may be feeling; maintain good body posture and eye contact, as culturally appropriate, to show that you are listening and not multi-tasking.

Methodology

We surveyed a diverse group of 889 employees in the United States as part of Catalyst’s Leveraging Disruption for Equity series of reports focused on women and the future of work.

Recruitment and sample:

Respondents were recruited through a panel services company. At the time of the survey, all respondents were full-time employees.

Survey:

After obtaining informed consent, respondents completed an online survey about “technology and work-life experiences.” The survey took approximately 20 minutes to complete and included largely multiple-choice, Likert-type questions and a few open-ended queries, including the ones from which the quotes above were drawn.

Statistical analyses:

All data were analyzed with a p-value criterion of .01 or less. All statistical analyses went through an independent fact-check process; colleagues with advanced research and statistical training who have not worked on the report fact-checked the appropriateness of the analyses and the accuracy of reported values.

Demographics

Gender

Race or ethnicity

Age

Identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, or asexual

Job level

Remote-work access availibility

Top industries

Acknowledgments

Lead Donor

Partner Donors

Dell
DSM Brighter Living Foundation
The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America
KPMG
Sodexo

Major Donors

Supporter Donors

CIBC
Lema Charitable Fund
Pitney Bowes Inc.

About the author

Tara Van Bommel, PhD, is a social psychologist with expertise in stereotyping and prejudice, nonconscious bias, and intergroup relations. At Catalyst, Tara leads the Research team and brings her background in advanced statistics to develop solutions that create meaningful systemic change in the workplace and more positive workplace experiences for women across intersections of identity.

How to cite: Van Bommel, T. (2025). The power of empathy in times of crisis and beyond (2nd edition). Catalyst. (2021).

Endnotes

Brachio, A. (2020, November 18). Why is empathy crucial to the leadership imperative in the Covid-19 era? LinkedIn; Livingston, R. (2020, September). How to promote racial equity in the workplace. Harvard Business Review; Wilson, A. J. & Vellani, S. (n.d.) Innovating through empathy to thrive in a divided world. Ellevate.
Ohm, J., Travis, D. J., Pasquarella Daley, L., Sattari, N., Shaffer, E., Van Bommel, T., & Foust-Cummings, H. (2020). Covid-19: Women, equity, and inclusion in the future of work. Catalyst.
Ohm et al. (2020); The detrimental impact of Covid-19 on gender and racial equality: Quick Take. (2020). Catalyst; The impact of Covid-19 on working parents. (2020). Catalyst.
Future Forum pulse. (February 2023). Future Forum; Harter, J. (2024, April 10). U.S. engagement hits 11-year low. Gallup.
Harvey Smith, R. (2021, June 24). Op-Ed: A year ago, U.S. businesses pledged to change in support of Black Lives Matter. How have they done?. Los Angeles Times; Whiting, K. (2020, August 26). The future of flexible working, according to 6 companies. World Economic Forum.
Pasquarella Daley, L. (2019). Women and the future of work. Catalyst; Williams, J. C., Korn, R. M., & Boginsky, M. (2021, August 4). Don’t lose the democratizing effect of remote work. Harvard Business Review.
Travis, D. J. & Pollack, A. (2015). Think people, not just programs, to build inclusive workplaces. Catalyst.
Clark, M. A., Robertson, M. M., & Young, S. (2019). “I feel your pain”: A critical review of organizational research on empathy. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 40, 166–192; Teding van Berkout, E. & Malouff, J. M. (2015). The efficacy of empathy training: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 63(1), 32-41; 2019 State of workplace empathy: Executive summary. (2019). Businessolver.
In our research, we employ the word “empathic” as the adjective that describes a person’s use and engagement of empathy skills. Note that “empathic” and “empathetic” are used interchangeably and have the same meaning. However, we intentionally choose “empathic” because it is the original adjective derived from “empathy” and is the official phrasing employed in the scientific and academic study of empathy.
Empathy: A powerful tool to support employee well-being and resilience. (2020). Businessolver.
Clark et al. (2019); Pasquarella Daley, L., Van Bommel, T., & Brassel, S. (2020). Why empathy is a superpower in the future of work. Catalyst.
Clark et al. (2019); Flip the Script: Empathy in the Workplace. (2021). Catalyst.
Travis, D. J., Shaffer, E., & Thorpe-Moscon, J. (2019). Getting real about inclusive leadership: Why change starts with you. Catalyst.
Travis, Shaffer, & Thorpe-Moscon. (2019).
Manager and senior leader empathy were measured with a scale adapted from the medical literature that assesses patients’ experiences of empathy in interactions with their doctor: the consultation and relational empathy measure (CARE); Mercer, S. W., Maxwell, M., Heaney, D., & Watt G. CM. (2004). The consultation and relational empathy (CARE) measure: Development and preliminary validation and reliability of an empathy-based consultation process measure. Family Practice, 21(6), 699-705; This scale was chosen because it reflects empathy experienced in interactions; many other available scales tap an individual’s level of empathy as they engage with others, (i.e., first-person vs second-person empathy). The 10-item scale was adapted for interactions with direct managers and an additional seven items derived from Catalyst’s conceptualization of empathy (e.g., Pasquarella Daley, Van Bommel, & Brassel, 2020) were added for a total of 17 items; the scale showed excellent internal reliability, α = .97. For senior leaders, the scale was revised to contain six items from the direct manager scale that reflect the most likely type and depth of interaction employees might have with senior leaders; the scale showed excellent internal reliability, α =. 95. Thus, respondents answered the same six items for both senior leaders and managers, and an additional 11 items for managers. Participants responded to questions about senior leader and manager empathy on a 1(poor) to 5 (excellent) scale. Employee innovation is measured with five self-report items from the Catalyst Inclusion Accelerator that assess innovative and creative behaviors at work. These items were assessed on a 1 (never) to 5 (always) Likert scale and were used to create a composite (α = .88) where higher ratings indicate greater innovation. A multiple linear regression analysis tested the impact of senior leader empathy on employees’ innovation, controlling for the effects of rank. The overall model was significant, R2 = .31, F (2, 768) = 171.82, p < .001. Senior leadership empathy was a significant predictor of innovation, b = .36, t (768) = 14.27, p < .001. A multiple linear regression tested the impact of manager empathy on employees’ innovation, controlling for the effects of rank. The overall model was significant, R2 = .34, F (2, 798) = 207.90, p < .001. Manager empathy was a significant predictor of innovation, b = .43, t (798) = 15.94, p < .001.
Employee work engagement is measured with five self-report items from the Catalyst Inclusion Accelerator assessed on a 1 (never) to 5 (always) Likert scale. These items were used to create a composite (α = .90) where higher ratings indicate greater work engagement. A multiple linear regression analysis tested the impact of senior leader empathy on employees’ engagement, controlling for the effects of rank. The overall model was significant, R2 = .23, F (2, 768) = 114.28, p < .001. Senior leader empathy was a significant predictor of engagement, b = .37, t (768) = 13.45, p < .001. A multiple linear regression analysis tested the impact of manager empathy on employees’ engagement, controlling for the effects of rank. The overall model was significant, R2 = .30, F (2, 798) = 174.03, p < .001. Manager empathy was a significant predictor of engagement, b = .48, t (798) = 17.13, p < .001.
Senior leader empathy was dichotomized such that responses of poor or fair were categorized as low levels of empathy and responses of good, very good, and excellent were categorized as high levels of empathy. Employee innovation was dichotomized such that responses of never, rarely, sometimes were categorized as low levels and responses of often or always were categorized as high levels. There are significant differences with respect to employee innovation (Χ2 (1) = 121.24, p < .001) in respondents’ ratings of their senior leaders as highly empathic compared to those with less empathic senior leaders. Those with highly empathic senior leaders were more likely to report an ability to innovate often or always compared to those with less empathic senior leaders.
Employee work engagement was dichotomized such that responses of never, rarely, sometimes were categorized as low levels and responses of often or always were categorized as high levels. There are significant differences with respect to employee work engagement (Χ2 (1) = 105.23, p < .001) in respondents’ ratings of their senior leaders as highly empathic compared to those with less empathic senior leaders. Those with highly empathic senior leaders were more likely to report often or always feeling engaged compared to those with less empathic senior leaders.
Manager empathy was dichotomized such that responses of poor or fair were categorized as low levels of empathy and responses of good, very good, and excellent were categorized as high levels of empathy. There are significant differences with respect to employee innovation (Χ2 (1) = 78.11, p < .001) in respondents’ ratings of their managers as highly empathic compared to those with less empathic managers. Those with highly empathic managers were more likely to report an ability to innovate often or always compared to those with less empathic managers.
There are significant differences with respect to employee work engagement (Χ2 (1) = 113.41, p < .001) in respondents’ ratings of their managers as highly empathic compared to those with less empathic managers. Those with highly empathic managers were more likely to report often or always feeling engaged compared to those with less empathic managers.
Kristensen, T. S., Borritz, M., Villadsen, E., & Christensen, K. B. (2005). The Copenhagen burnout inventory: A new tool for the assessment of burnout. Work & Stress, 19(3), 192-207; Hansen, V. & Pit, S. (2016). The single item burnout measure is a psychometrically sound screening tool for occupational burnout. Health Scope, 5(2), e32164.
Burn-out an “occupational phenomenon”: International Classification of Diseases. (2019, May 28). World Health Organization; World Health Organization. (2019). International statistical classification of diseases and related health problems (11th ed.).
Moss, J. (2019, December 11). Burnout is about your workplace, not your people. Harvard Business Review; Gallup’s perspective on employee burnout: Causes and cures. (2020). Gallup.
Including women from marginalized racial and ethnic groups only in the analysis, a multiple linear regression tested the impact of senior leader empathy on experiences of burnout because of factors in their workplace in general, controlling for the effects of rank. The overall model was significant, R2 = .05, F (2, 298) = 6.98, p < .01. Senior leader empathy was a significant predictor of women from marginalized racial and ethnic groups’s general workplace burnout b = -.52, t (298) = -3.70, p < .001; this relationship was also tested for men from marginalized racial and ethnic groups, White women, and White men: for these groups senior leadership empathy was not a significant predictor of general workplace burnout. In validation of the Single-Item Burnout scale (Hansen & Pit, 2016), a cut-off of five or higher was determined to align with previous measures of burnout and to accurately characterize “high burnout”; thus, high burnout was characterized as five or higher in the current data. Among women from marginalized racial and ethnic groups, there is a marginally significant difference between the percentage of those with highly empathic senior leaders and the percentage of those with less empathic senior leaders who report high levels of general workplace burnout, Χ2 (1) = 4.16, p = .04.
Costigan, A., Garnett, K., & Troiano, E. (2020). The impact of structural racism on Black Americans. Catalyst; Travis, D. J. & Thorpe-Moscon, J. (2018). Day-to-day experiences of emotional tax among women and men of color in the workplace. Catalyst; Travis, D. J., Thorpe-Moscon, J., & McCluney, C. (2016). Emotional tax: How Black women and men pay more at work and how leaders can take action. Catalyst.
Robins, K. G. & Mason, J. (2024, June 27). Americans’ unpaid caregiving is worth more than $1 trillion annually – and women are doing two-thirds of the work. National Partnership for Women & Families.
Emotional labor in the workplace: The disproportionate burden on women. (2022). St. Catherine University; Morgan, K. (2024, March 14). 'The extra shift': The unpaid emotional labour expected of women at work. BBC; Vial, A. C. & Cowgill, C. M. (2022). Heavier lies her crown: Gendered patterns of leader emotional labor and their downstream effects. Frontiers in Psychology, 13.
Including women only in the analysis, a linear regression analysis tested the impact of manager empathy on employees’ workplace burnout, controlling for the effects of rank. The overall model was significant, R2 = .10, F (2, 388) = 20.66, p < .001. The effect of manager empathy was significant b = -.89, t (388) = -6.41, p < .001.There is a significant difference in the percentage of women with highly empathic managers and women with less empathic managers who report high levels of workplace burnout, Χ2 (1) = 7.85, p < .01.
Travis & Thorpe-Moscon (2018); Travis, Thorpe-Moscon, & McCluney (2016).
Item “I feel that my life circumstances are respected and valued by my company” was measured on a five-point Likert scale (very untrue to very true).
A two-way between-subjects ANOVA examined the impact of manager empathy (high vs. low) and gender, race, ethnicity (women from marginalized racial and ethnic groups, White women, men from marginalized racial and ethnic groups, White men), and the interaction effect (manager empathy x gender, race/ethnicity) on endorsement of “I feel that my life circumstances are respected and valued by my company.” The main effect of manager empathy was significant, F (1, 803) = 90.11, p < .001; respondents who perceived their manager to display more empathy felt more respected and valued by their company (M = 4.18) than did those who perceived their manager to be less empathic (M = 3.37). The main effect of gender, race, ethnicity was also significant, F (3, 803) = 7.04, p < .001. Means are significantly different at p <. 001 with a Bonferroni correction for multiple comparisons: women from marginalized racial and ethnic groups (M = 3.55) are significantly lower than White men (M = 3.90) and men from marginalized racial and ethnic groups (M = 3.90), but not different from White women (M = 3.75). White women do not differ from any group. The interaction between the two independent variables was not significant, p > .05. A two-way between-subjects ANOVA examined the impact of senior leader empathy (high vs. low) and gender, race, ethnicity (women from marginalized racial and ethnic groups, White women, men from marginalized racial and ethnic groups, White men), and the interaction effect (manager empathy x gender, race/ethnicity) on endorsement of “I feel that my life circumstances are respected and valued by my company.” The main effect of senior leader empathy was significant, F (1, 558) = 97.35, p < .001; respondents who perceived their leader to display high levels of empathy felt more respected and valued by their company (M = 4.35) than did those who perceived their leader to display low levels of empathy (M = 3.47). The main effect of gender, race, ethnicity was also significant, F (3, 558) = 4.76, p < .001. Means are significantly different at p <. 001 with a Bonferroni correction for multiple comparisons: women from marginalized racial and ethnic groups (M = 3.70) are significantly lower than White men (M = 4.03) and men from marginalized racial and ethnic groups (M = 4.00), but not different from White women (M = 3.91). White women do not differ from any group. The interaction between the two independent variables was not significant, p > .05.
There is a significant difference in the percentage of women from marginalized racial and ethnic groups, White women, men from marginalized racial and ethnic groups, and White men who report feeling respected and valued by their company, Χ2 (3) = 29.61, p < .001.
There is a significant difference for women from marginalized racial and ethnic groups (Χ2 (1) = 37.31, p < .001), White women (Χ2 (1) = 17.10, p < .001), men from marginalized racial and ethnic groups (Χ2 (1) = 28.37, p < .001), and White men (Χ2 (1) = 7.70, p < .01) in the percentage of those with highly empathic senior leaders and those with low empathic senior leaders who report feeling respected and valued by their company. There is a significant difference in the percentage of those with highly empathic senior leaders and those with low empathic senior leaders who report feeling respected and valued by their companies, Χ2 (1) = 106.40, p < .001.
There is a significant difference for women from marginalized racial and ethnic groups (Χ2 (1) = 48.20, p < .001), White women (Χ2 (1) = 24.93, p < .001), men from marginalized racial and ethnic groups (Χ2 (1) = 18.75, p < .001), and White men (Χ2 (1) = 14.12, p < .001) in the percentage of those with highly empathic managers and those with low empathic managers who report feeling respected and valued by their company. There is a significant difference in the percentage of those with highly empathic managers and those with low empathic managers who report feeling respected and valued by their companies, Χ2 (1) = 124.23, p < .001.
A linear regression tested the impact of feeling respected and valued by your company on intent to stay. For White women, the overall model was significant, R2 = .13, F (1, 73) = 10.84, p < .01. Feeling respected and valued by your company was a significant predictor of White women’s intent to leave (note that lower values indicate lower intent to leave and higher intent to stay) b = -.51, t (73) = -3.29, p < .01. For women from marginalized racial and ethnic groups, the overall model was significant, R2 = .10, F (1, 329) = 35.53, p < .001. Feeling respected and valued by your company was a significant predictor of women from marginalized racial and ethnic groups’s intent to leave (note that lower values indicate lower intent to leave and higher intent to stay) b = -.41, t (329) = -5.96, p < .001. There was no relationship between these variables for men from marginalized racial and ethnic groups or White men.
There is a significant difference for White women (Χ2 (1) = 11.65, p < .01) in the percentage of those who report never or rarely thinking of leaving their organization, for those who feel respected and valued by their company compared to those who do not. These differences did not emerge for White men or men from marginalized racial and ethnic groups, ps ≥ .05.
There is a significant difference for women from marginalized racial and ethnic groups (Χ2 (1) = 34.09, p < .001) in the percentage of those who report never or rarely thinking of leaving their organization, for those who feel respected and valued by their company compared to those who do not. These differences did not emerge for White men or men from marginalized racial and ethnic groups, ps ≥ .05.
A multiple linear regression analysis tested the impact of manager empathy on employee ability to balance work obligations with family or personal obligations, controlling for the effects of rank. The overall model was significant, R2 = .19, F (2, 798) = 93.57, p < .001. Manager empathy was a significant predictor of employee ability to balance work obligations with family or personal obligations, b = .42, t (798) = 12.72, p < .001. There is a significant difference in the percentage of those with highly empathic managers and those with low empathic managers who report being able to balance work with family and personal obligations, Χ2 (1) = 52.78, p < .001.
A multiple linear regression analysis tested the impact of senior leader empathy on employee ability to balance work obligations with family or personal obligations, controlling for the effects of rank. The overall model was significant, R2 = .14, F (2,768) = 62.05, p < .001. Senior leader empathy was a significant predictor of employee ability to balance work obligations with family or personal obligations, b = .31, t (768) = 10.01, p < .001. There is a significant difference in the percentage of those with highly empathic senior leaders and those with low empathic senior leaders who report being able to balance work with family and personal obligations, Χ2 (1) = 52.25, p < .001.
Travis, Shaffer, & Thorpe-Moscon. (2019).
A multiple linear regression analysis tested the impact of senior leader empathy on inclusion, controlling for the effects of rank. The overall model was significant, R2 = .23, F (2,768) = 115.01, p < .001. Senior leader empathy was a significant predictor of employee ability to balance work obligations with family or personal obligations, b = .29, t (768) = 13.72, p < .001. There is a significant difference in the percentage of those with highly empathic senior leadership and those with low empathic senior leadership who report often or always feeling included at work, Χ2 (1) = 60.21, p < .001.
A multiple linear regression analysis tested the impact of manager empathy, gender, and their interaction, on employee inclusion at work. Manager empathy was mean-centered and multiplied by dummy-coded gender to create the interaction term. The overall model was significant, R2 = .34, F (3, 842) = 141.46, p < .001. The interaction between manager empathy and gender was marginally significant b = .10, t (842) = 2.36, p =.02. Simple slopes test showed the slope for women was significant, t (842) = 14.14, p < 001. The slope of the line for men is also significant, t (842) = 11.04, p < 001. The gradient of the slope is greater for women (.45) compared to men (.35).
There is a significant difference in the percentage of women with highly empathic managers and women with less empathic managers who report high levels of workplace inclusion, Χ2 (1) = 50.90, p < 001. There is also a significant difference in the percentage of men with highly empathic managers and men with less empathic managers who report high levels of workplace inclusion, Χ2 (1) = 10.02, p < 01.
Including women from marginalized racial and ethnic groups only in the analysis, a multiple linear regression tested the impact of senior leader empathy on intent to leave, controlling for the effects of rank. The overall model was significant, R2 = .04, F (2, 298) = 6.16, p < .01. Senior leadership empathy was a significant predictor of women from marginalized racial and ethnic groups’ general workplace burnout b = -.20, t (298) = -3.18, p < .01.
For women from marginalized racial and ethnic groups, there is a significant difference in the percentage of those with highly empathic senior leaders and those with low empathic senior leaders who report often or always thinking about leaving their current organization, Χ2 (1) = 6.82, p < .01. This relationship was also tested for men from marginalized racial and ethnic groups, White women, and White men; for these groups, senior leadership empathy was not a significant predictor of intent to leave.
Clark et al. (2019); Flip the script: Empathy in the workplace. (2021). Catalyst.

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