The Power of Empathy in Times of Crisis and Beyond

Tara Van Bommel, PhD

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Empathy Is a Force for Innovation, Flourishing, and Intent to Stay

In the last year, there has been a great deal of discussion about the importance of empathy in the workplace. Many believe that in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic and calls for corporate accountability for racial inequities, 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—especially in times of crisis. In short, empathy is a must-have in today’s workplace.2

Consider that employees—especially employees of color—have been straining to meet the harsh demands of life during a pandemic, when the fundamental calculus of work, childcare, healthcare, travel, and social interaction has been upended.3 As the uncertainty has dragged on, burnout has become common, turnover is increasing, and some employers are grappling with what has been termed the “Great Resignation.”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, promises to prioritize racial equity, and other targeted changes.5 They are hoping these steps will stanch the flow of women out of their companies, boost inclusion for people of color, 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.

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.10 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

  1. It’s possible to cultivate and develop empathy.
  2. There are three aspects of empathy: cognitive (head/thinking), affective (heart/feeling), and behavioral (action/doing).
  3. 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: 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, and behavioral empathy, or actions that communicate and demonstrate a sense of empathy for employees.12

Key Findings

  • Empathy is a force for productivity, life-work integration, and positive work experiences.
  • Empathy boosts productivity.
    • Employees with empathic managers and leaders are more innovative and engaged in their work than are employees with less empathic managers and leaders.
  • Women of color experience less burnout when they have more empathic senior leaders.
  • Empathic leaders respect employee life circumstances.
  • Empathic leaders support both life and work needs.
  • Empathic leaders foster inclusion.
  • Senior leader empathy is linked to reduced intent to leave.

The pandemic defied every management and organizational system, pushing everyone to their limits, until a transition toward agile, ever-evolving methods began to emerge… Perhaps the most telling realization was that the key to survival in any catastrophe is empathy.
– Inam ur Rahman13

What’s interesting is that innovation at its core is really positive change. To achieve that change, we must first empathize with our target audiences in a true manner—then act accordingly.
– Saleema Vellani and Amy J. Wilson14

About This Study

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.

Gender Women 51% Men 47% Trans or Nonbinary 2%Race or Ethnicity White 34% Black 32% Asian 19% Latinx 10% Indigenous 3% Identify with more than one race or ethnicity 2% Arab <1% Age Range: 23-68 Average: 39 Identify as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Queer, or Asexual No 82% Yes 17% Prefer not to say or other 1% Job Level Non-management 26% First-level management 25% Second-level management 20% Senir-level management 17% C-level executive 11% Remote-Work Access Availability Yes 57% No 43% Top Industries Information Services/IT Support 23% Financial Services 9% Education 8% Healthcare 8% Retail 5% Government 5%

  1. Some column totals do not add to 100% because of rounding, missing data, or people who chose not to answer.
  2. Black or African American.
  3. Asian Indian, Native Hawaiian, Chinese, Samoan, Guamanian, Filipino, Japanese, Korean, other Pacific Islander, other Asian, or Vietnamese.
  4. Mexican, Puerto Rican, or other Latinx.

Benefits of Empathy

Empathy Boosts Innovation and Engagement

Business success in any crisis will depend on employee productivity, which we measure in this report through innovation and engagement. Employee innovation refers to an individual’s ability to generate new ideas, processes, and approaches to achieving goals.15 Work engagement reflects employees’ emotional investment in their work and the company’s mission.16

Our findings illuminate a clear path from senior leader and manager empathy to enhanced employee innovation17 and work engagement.18 We found that employees with highly empathic senior leaders and managers report being much more creative and engaged than those with less empathic managers and leaders.

Senior Leader Empathy

  • Innovation: 61% of people with highly empathic senior leaders report often or always being innovative at work compared to only 13% of people with less empathic senior leaders.19
  • Work engagement: 76% of people with highly empathic senior leaders report often or always being engaged, compared to only 32% of people with less empathic senior leaders.20
How Senior Leader Empathy Impacts Employee Innovation and Engagement Ability to innovate: Low senior leader empathy 13% High senior leader empathy 61% Work management: Low senior leader empathy 32% High senior leader empathy 76%

Manager Empathy

  • Employee innovation: 47% of people with highly empathic managers report often or always being innovative at work, compared to only 13% of people with less empathic managers.21
  • 67% of people with highly empathic managers report often or always being engaged, compared to only 24% of people with less empathic managers.22
How Manager Empathy Impacts Employee Innovation and Engagement Ability to innovate: Low manager empathy 13% High manager empathy 47% Work management: Low manager empathy 24% High manager empathy 67%

Empathic Leaders Can Help Decrease Burnout

The brutal and long-lasting pressure of the Covid-19 pandemic has pushed many people to their limits in and out of the workplace.23 In fact, 60% of survey respondents reported that they were experiencing burnout.24 To disentangle the sources of burnout, we asked employees if their burnout was a result of factors in their workplace in general, work experiences related to Covid-19, or in their personal lives.

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.25 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.”26

When burnout occurs, employee productivity, engagement, and organizational commitment can plummet.27 During times of crisis, 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 Latinx 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%).28 The data did not show the same relationship for men of color, White women, or White men.

How Senior Leader Empathy Impacts Burnout for Women of Color High general workplace burnout (% reporting high levels of general workplace burnout): Low senior leader empathy 67% High senior leader empathy 54%

This finding is noteworthy, given the greater awareness of racial injustice in our society. For women of color, who historically have been oppressed by systems and institutions, experiences of empathy from senior leaders may represent the type of systemic support that previously has not been available to them.29 While empathy on the part of senior leadership is important for everyone, our data highlight its power for women of color employees 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. As women bear the brunt of job loss, schooling, and caretaking during the pandemic, a fundamental lack of support for women both at work and home has also become glaringly apparent.30 But our findings show that managers can fill in part of this gap: We found that women who had highly empathic managers experienced less Covid-19-related burnout at work (54%) than women with less empathic managers (63%).31 This pattern was not reflected among men participants32 and could not be analyzed for those who identify as trans or non-binary due to small sample size.33

How Manager Empathy Impacts Covid-19 Burnout for Women High Covid-19 burnout (% experiencing high levels of Covid-19-related workplace burnout): Low manager empathy 63% High manager empathy 54%

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 in supporting gender equity at work.

Empathic Leaders Respect Employee Life Circumstances

It is hard for employees to feel a sense of belonging at work and bring their authentic selves to 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.34 During the pandemic, life circumstances have changed 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.35 Most strikingly, we found that Arab, Asian, Black, Indigenous, and Latinx women were least likely to feel this way,36 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 of color and White women.

Demonstrating empathy signals to employees that their perspectives and experiences matter. Empathy is a skill that allows managers and leaders to better understand and provide support for employees—especially women of color who have been disproportionately affected by the fallout from Covid-19.40 It also signals, “we value you and respect your unique life circumstances.”

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.41 The data did not show the same relationship for men of color 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.42
  • 62% of women of color 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 of color who do not feel valued and respected.43
Respect for Life Circumstances Impacts Intent to Leave for Women (% never or rarely thinking of leaving their company) Women of color: Not respected 30% Respected 62% White women: Not respected 14% Respected 57%

Supporting Life and Work Together

Beyond respecting and valuing employee life circumstances, empathic leaders help employees manage their work and personal life needs. This is especially important when, for many people, life and work responsibilities are not easily isolated into certain hours or days of the week. As employees’ lives and jobs become more integrated, leaders should demonstrate empathy to support this increasingly common way of working. Our findings show that when employees feel that their managers44 and senior leaders45 are more empathic, they report being much more able to balance work obligations with family and personal obligations.

Empathic Senior Leaders Support Life-Work Needs Ability to balance life-work demands (% true or very true): Low senior leader empathy 60% High senior leader empathy 86% Empathic Managers Support Life-Work Needs Ability to balance life-work demands (% true or very true): Low manager empathy 57% High manager empathy 82%

Empathic Leaders Foster Inclusive Employee Experiences

Ultimately, empathic leadership contributes to more inclusive workplace experiences, which previous Catalyst research has shown is linked to a variety of positive benefits for both employees and employers.46

Senior leader empathy has a significant effect on inclusion.

  • 50% of people with highly empathic senior leaders report often or always experiencing inclusion at work, compared to only 17% of people with less empathic senior leadership.47
Senior Leader Empathy Affects Employee Inclusion (% often or always experiencing inclusion) Low senior leader empathy 17% High senior leader empathy 50%

Manager empathy is also linked to increased experiences of inclusion. Notably, the effect of manager empathy48 is particularly strong for women, erasing disparate experiences of inclusion for men and women.

  • When managers have low empathy, 9% of women and 22% of men experience inclusion.49
  • But when managers have high empathy, women (42%) and men (42%) experience inclusion at the same rate.
Manager Empathy Affects Employee Inclusion (% often or always experiencing inclusion) Low manager empathy: Women 9% Men 22% High manager empathy: Women 42% Men 42%

Senior Leader Empathy Predicts Lower Intent to Leave

Given their highly visible and widespread impact on the organization, senior leaders have a unique opportunity to affect many people’s lives when they choose to lead with empathy. As with managers, senior leaders can take advantage of their position to model empathy and demonstrate that a better understanding of employee emotions can inform business decisions.

Leading with empathy allows senior leaders to play a unique role in employee retention in a way that direct managers do not. Specifically, increased senior leader empathy predicts decreased intent to leave for women of color.50 The data did not show the same relationship for men of color, White women, or White men.

This finding underscores the power that senior leaders have to create environments where women of color can thrive. The result can be a reciprocal relationship: When leaders invest in creating a supportive and inclusive work environment, employees in turn are likely to invest in the organization.

These compelling findings have clear implications for senior leaders: People on your teams and throughout your workplace are paying attention to your words and actions, even if they do not report to you.

  • 33% of women of color with less empathic senior leaders are thinking about leaving their organization, compared to only 18% of women of color with highly empathic senior leaders.51
Senior Leader Empathy Affects Intent to Leave for Women of Color (% often or always thinking or leaving their company) Low senior leader empathy 33% High senior leader empathy 18%

What You Can Do

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 of color.

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

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 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, such as this once-in-a-lifetime pandemic and other 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—which is also essential to genuine and impactful organizational responses to address racial inequity and injustice.

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. Invest in empathy training 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.52

Type of Empathy What You Do Six Ways You Can Show Empathy
Head/Thinking
Cognitive empathy		 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

Recruitment and Sample: Respondents were recruited through a panel services company. At the time of the survey, all respondents were full-time workers. Sample demographics are provided in the “About This Study” section.

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.

Acknowledgments

Lead Donor
Lockheed Martin logo
Major Donors
EY logoMcDonald's logoVisa Logo

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

Supporter Donors
CIBC
Lema Charitable Fund
Pitney Bowes Inc.

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

Endnotes

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. Morgan, K. (2021, July 1). The Great Resignation: How employers drove workers to quit. BBC.
  5. 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.
  6. 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.
  7. Travis, D. J. & Pollack, A. (2015).Think people, not just programs, to build inclusive workplaces. Catalyst.
  8. 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.
  9. 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.
  10. Empathy: A powerful tool to support employee well-being and resilience. (2020). Businessolver.
  11. Clark et al. (2019); Pasquarella Daley, L., Van Bommel, T., & Brassel, S. (2020). Why empathy is a superpower in the future of work. Catalyst.
  12. Clark et al. (2019); Flip the Script: Empathy in the Workplace. (2021). Catalyst.
  13. ur Rahman, I. (2021, January 23). How 2020 taught businesses to place empathy before profit. World Economic Forum.
  14. Wilson, A. J. & Vellani, S. (n.d.).
  15. Travis, D. J., Shaffer, E., & Thorpe-Moscon, J. (2019). Getting real about inclusive leadership: Why change starts with you. Catalyst.
  16. Travis, Shaffer, & Thorpe-Moscon. (2019).
  17. 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.
  18. 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.
  19. 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.
  20. 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.
  21. 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.
  22. 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.
  23. Lagasse, J. (2020, December 8). Healthcare workers experiencing burnout, stress due to COVID-19 pandemic. Healthcare Finance.
  24. Burnout was assessed on a ten-point scale (1 = not at all burned out, 10 = extremely burned out). Hansen, V. & Pit, S. (2016). The single item burnout measure is a psychometrically sound screening tool for occupational burnout. Health Scope, 5(2), e32164.
  25. 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 & Pit. (2016).
  26. 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.).
  27. 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.
  28. Including women of color 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 of color’s general workplace burnout b = -.52, t (298) = -3.70, p < .001; this relationship was also tested for men of color, 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 of color, 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.
  29. 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.
  30. 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.
  31. Including women only in the analysis, a linear regression analysis tested the impact of manager empathy on employee work burnout related to Covid-19, controlling for the effects of rank. The overall model was significant, R2 = .03, F (2, 388) = 6.58, p < .01. The effect of manager empathy was significant b = -.54, t (388) = -3.63, p < .001. There is a marginally significant difference in the percentage of women with highly empathic managers and women with less empathic managers who report high levels of work burnout related to Covid-19, Χ2 (1) = 2.98, p = .09.
  32. The effect of manager empathy was not significant for men, p > .05.
  33. Sample demographics for gender: women n = 456, men n = 419, trans or gender nonconforming n = 14.
  34. Travis & Thorpe-Moscon (2018); Travis, Thorpe-Moscon, & McCluney (2016).
  35. 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).
  36. A two-way between-subjects ANOVA examined the impact of manager empathy (high vs. low) and gender, race, ethnicity (women of color, White women, men of color, 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 of color (M = 3.55) are significantly lower than White men (M = 3.90) and men of color (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 of color, White women, men of color, 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 of color (M = 3.70) are significantly lower than White men (M = 4.03) and men of color (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.
  37. There is a significant difference in the percentage of women of color, White women, men of color, and White men who report feeling respected and valued by their company, Χ2 (3) = 29.61, p < .001.
  38. There is a significant difference for women of color (Χ2 (1) = 37.31, p < .001), White women (Χ2 (1) = 17.10, p < .001), men of color (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.
  39. There is a significant difference for women of color (Χ2 (1) = 48.20, p < .001), White women (Χ2 (1) = 24.93, p < .001), men of color (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.
  40. The detrimental impact of Covid-19 on gender and racial equality: Quick Take. (2020). Catalyst; Rattner, N. & Franck, T. (2021, March 5). Black and Hispanic women aren’t sharing in job market recovery. CNBC.
  41. 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 of color, 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 of color’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 of color or White men.
  42. 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 of color, ps ≥ .05.
  43. There is a significant difference for women of color (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 of color, ps ≥ .05.
  44. 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.
  45. 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.
  46. Travis, Shaffer, & Thorpe-Moscon. (2019).
  47. 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.
  48. 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).
  49. 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.
  50. Including women of color 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 of color’s general workplace burnout b = -.20, t (298) = -3.18, p < .01.
  51. For women of color, 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 of color, White women, and White men; for these groups, senior leadership empathy was not a significant predictor of intent to leave.
  52. Clark et al. (2019); Flip the script: Empathy in the workplace. (2021). Catalyst.