Managers who take the time to understand what their employees are thinking, feeling, and dealing with are usually far better at building trust and maintaining good working relationships. That ability to see situations from another person’s perspective is what workplace empathy is all about.
How to improve empathy in the workplace
- Develop emotional intelligence
- Practice active listening
- Understand employees’ perspectives
- Encourage psychological safety
- Train managers to lead with empathy
To have the most productive and happiest possible workforce, ensuring that managers are trained and have an understanding of empathy is vital.
A manager with good empathy skills is one who has a good rapport with their employees and who is able to show compassion and understanding when it comes to the feelings and emotions of their staff. So, how can we improve empathy in the workplace and improve employee engagement?
Empathy helps managers understand not only what employees say, but also what may be influencing their behaviour, motivation, and wellbeing.
What Is Empathy in the Workplace?
Empathy in the workplace refers to having a good understanding and ability to show compassion and to understand the emotions, experiences, and thoughts of other employees.
Staff who feel that they are being led by a manager who understands them and has compassion for them are more likely to respond more positively at work.
Numerous studies have shown how greater empathy at work improves overall productivity levels and helps to generate a happier workforce.
Empathy is a key part of compassionate leadership, where understanding your team’s emotional needs becomes a leadership strength, not a soft skill.
If you’re looking to build a more empathetic workplace culture, our Psychological Safety Training Materials offer a practical framework to support emotional intelligence, trust, and open communication.
Empathy lays the groundwork for psychological safety, where team members feel safe to express concerns, share ideas, and admit mistakes without fear.
What Is the Difference Between Cognitive and Emotional Empathy?
Cognitive empathy is about understanding someone’s perspective, while emotional empathy is about actually feeling what they feel.
Both are essential for building trust and a genuine connection at work.
How to Improve Empathy in the Workplace
Let’s look at 10 relatively easy ways and tips to better understand how to improve empathy in the workplace, with ways that you can easily integrate into your work life.
1. Create a Culture of Emotional Intelligence
When teaching managers and other employees about Emotional Intelligence in the workplace, some of the solutions are also relevant for improving workplace empathy.
Consider, for example, doing the following:
- Using people’s first names
- Practice some small talk (enough to build some rapport and to be friendly)
- Develop back-pocket questions (these are general questions that are easy to ask)
- Be open about yourself
- Show interest in other people
- Don’t give mixed signals
- Remember the small but important things (such as thanking and complimenting people when they do a good job)
- Take feedback well and give it fairly
- Be dependable, reliable, and honest
2. Understanding Menopause When Managing Others
Training that is aimed at both men and women so that all managers have a better understanding of how many female colleagues can be impacted by menopause is worth considering.
Since such a high percentage of managers and team leaders are men, having a basic understanding of the facts around menopause can greatly build greater empathy with colleagues you manage.
A basic course such as a 1-hour crash course for all managers can include the following :
- Advice for managers, HR, and employees
- Symptoms of the menopause
Such a course aims to help employees, such as managers and team leaders, to better understand how they can support those going through menopause. This course is especially useful for teaching male managers and staff.
3. Learning to Listen Properly
Listening is such an important skill, especially when it is done correctly.
When we truly listen to others, we pick up far more information than we do when we half-listen, i.e., when we are too preoccupied with thinking of our own reply that we want to say, rather than what is being said.
Listening is a skill, and it can be acquired with practice!
How does someone know if you are listening to them?
- Eye contact
- Verbal and non-verbal cues, i.e., head nodding
- Because you ask follow-up and related questions
- Because you show empathy and understanding in relation to what they are saying
>> See the Active Listening Skills Training Materials
Listening with empathy is particularly important when managing challenging situations. Learn how to apply these skills when dealing with difficult employees to defuse tension and maintain respectful communication.
4. Provide Support for Managers and Employees
In order to help improve workplace empathy as a company or human resources department, you need to support your managers and employees.
There should be a clear line of support for everyone at every level in the company.
Whether we are dealing with a new employee, a manager, a frontline employee, a senior manager, or someone who works in HR, every employee should have access and know how to find personal support when they need it.
Consider building a workplace support network such as by:
- Using your company intranet to provide clear information on all points of contact in the company for a range of issues
- Having a mentor to help new employees for the first 90 days of their employment (as this is the key time period during which a high percentage of new employees otherwise leave and that means high rehiring and retraining costs)
- Having managers who are trained in understanding how to support colleagues, i.e. through empathy training
While encouraging empathy is essential, it’s equally important to recognise the signs of empathy burnout, when the emotional toll of supporting others starts to wear down even the most caring managers.
Creating support systems and knowing when to step back is key.
If you’re training leaders on this topic, our Burnout Awareness Training Materials are a great resource for preventing burnout while promoting a healthy, empathetic culture.
5. Work Towards Eliminating Bias in the Workplace
It is far easier to create a work environment where empathy is the norm when common biases are reduced.
We can never, in reality, be completely free of bias. We all have biases based on our upbringing and past.
It is when these biases negatively and unfairly affect other people that these biases become unacceptable.
The good news is that we can improve our awareness of our own biases, i.e., we can become more conscious of our own thought processes and put in place techniques to create more equality at work.
Providing training such as a short 1- or 2-hour workshop in Unconscious Bias training can be a great way to:
- build a workplace where colleagues feel better treated
- and, as a result of this, you find that empathy and understanding will be greater between colleagues
6. Build Rapport with Colleagues and Those You Manage
As a manager, if you can find a way to connect with each employee, you in essence are building a rapport, and this makes it easier for you to genuinely feel and show them empathy.
The easiest way to build this rapport is to find something that you have in common with them, and you can do this in a number of ways:
- Invite anyone new to the team to do a brief (i.e., 3 minutes) presentation to the team about themselves, i.e., to include their previous experience but also what they love to do in their spare time
- Hold a team-building morning or afternoon and use team-building activities that focus on employees discussing their hobbies and interests. Bring out these interests so that you and your colleagues can all discover new interesting things about each other.
- In weekly or monthly staff meetings, have one or two people each time do a brief presentation about themselves so that colleagues can get to know them better (i.e., what do they also love to do outside of work).
- In one-to-one meetings that you hold, i.e., annual reviews when you discuss their career development plan, spend a few minutes chatting with colleagues about their interests and hobbies or anything that gives you a chance to get to know them better, but without being in any way intrusive (i.e., if they are clearly uncomfortable discussing their interests).
7. Consider Using AI Empathy Software
Considering that we send and receive so many emails every day, and we sometimes also use Twitter, Instagram, and other social media as a part of our work, there is always the chance of easily miscommunicating via digital correspondence.
With all of these messages that we send and receive, it might not be a surprise to you to hear that emotions and feelings are sometimes misunderstood in these messages.
With digital communication, without our body language being visible, the content can sometimes be lost.
It only takes one misunderstood email, for example, to potentially lose a customer or to upset an employee.
This is where AI (Artificial Intelligence) software potentially plays a role, as several companies are now developing empathy software to help you ensure that any messages you do send show the right empathy levels.
8. Try and See Things from the Employee’s Perspective
One of the simplest techniques for developing empathy skills is to always spend a moment to really think and consider the situation from the employee’s perspective.
Make it a habit to include this before making a decision. Seen from a different perspective, your viewpoint might well change.
Furthermore, use 1-to-1 meetings to try and get to know more about each employee on a personal level, i.e., learn something about them so that you understand their motivation and anything that will help you to better understand how they think and work.
One useful tool to develop this skill is empathy mapping, a visual method that helps managers walk through what their employees think, feel, say, and do in different situations.
9. Organize Team Building Events
Many of us work in hybrid teams these days, where some employees work remotely, others in the office, and then some of us do a mix of both.
For this reason, getting employees together, i.e., a whole team for team-building events, might seem difficult,t but you can easily run such events virtually if need be.
The idea of team-building events is, of course, nothing new, but nonetheless, they should not be underestimated when we are thinking about how to improve empathy in the workplace.
Take a look at the 21 fun team-building activities & games we’ve written that you can use for free, as these activities get employees:
- Working together to solve problems
- to work together
- to learn about each other
- and to interact in a fun and non-pressure situation.
In order to build this sense of empathy, we need to create greater understanding between colleagues, and training activities can be a good way to get started.
Empathy and collaboration go hand in hand, so if you are looking to start cultivating empathy in the workplace, start by bringing participants together in a fun and simple way, such as through a couple of team-building sessions.
10. Learn How to Ask Open-ended Questions
I am not sure if you noticed in workplace interactions, but people love to talk about themselves!
When people feel listened to, they tend to feel happier, and one of the easiest ways to be seen to show empathy and understanding to others at work is to learn the art of asking open-ended questions.
Asking open-ended questions means asking questions that allow the other person to open up more easily.
>> Learn how to ask open-ended questions to build trust.
Examples of Using Empathy at Work as a Manager
Having looked at how to improve empathy in the workplace, it might also be useful to give some examples, so here are two examples below:
Scenario 1: An Uncertain Future
Scenario
PabloDesign, a fitness apparel company, is undergoing a period of change. The manager, Chris, notices that some employees are feeling uncertain about their roles.
Chris organizes one-on-one meetings, expressing understanding of the team’s concerns and providing clear communication about the company’s vision.
Outcome
- Employees feel heard and motivated.
- The empathetic approach helps ease anxiety, fostering a more positive atmosphere, and the team becomes more adaptable to the changes.
Scenario 2: Understanding Under Pressure
Scenario
In the fast-paced environment of Simmons Publishing, Mark, a team leader, notices signs of stress in his team during a particularly busy period.
Instead of pushing harder, Mark conducts a team meeting to discuss the challenges and openly acknowledges the pressure everyone is facing.
Outcome
- Team members appreciate Mark’s empathy, which reduces stress levels.
- The team collaboratively finds solutions to improve workflow efficiency, resulting in a successful project delivery without compromising employee well-being.
Summary: 10 Practical Ways to Improve Empathy at Work
If you’re short on time, here’s a quick summary of the 10 ways you can start encouraging more empathy in your workplace:
- Encourage emotional intelligence across teams.
- Offer training that helps all staff understand menopause.
- Focus on proper listening – not just hearing, but really understanding.
- Make sure every employee knows where to get support.
- Run unconscious bias workshops to help raise self-awareness.
- Build real rapport by finding shared interests.
- Consider using AI tools to help communicate more clearly.
- Take time to see things from the employee’s point of view.
- Hold simple but effective team-building sessions.
- Ask open-ended questions that allow people to speak freely.
Empathy doesn’t need to be complicated, and these small steps can make a real difference in how your team connects and works together.
Empathy in the Workplace Statistics & Summary
If you were to wonder how important or not empathy at work is, then some interesting statistics from ‘Business Solver’ are food for thought. They report that:
- No more than 25% of employees feel that empathy is taken seriously enough in their company
- Over 80% of CEOs of companies believe that better empathy in the workplace would improve business results and productivity
- Over 70% of employees say that they would be more motivated if empathy were stronger at work
It is sometimes difficult to quantify the effectiveness of intangible effects such as feelings and emotions at work. The studies that have taken place, though, show plenty of evidence of the importance of empathy at work.
Traditionally, one would look solely at the work itself when analyzing productivity levels. These days, though, a much greater understanding exists that by looking after employees themselves, the company will directly benefit.
It is now accepted by most companies that empathy plays a valuable role when it comes to employee satisfaction and the resulting levels of productivity, according to Catalyst’s research on empathy in the workplace.
The employee feels better understood, the manager sees more responsive employees, and the company achieves better results. Furthermore, though, as a company, we also have a duty of care to all employees. So empathy is important!
FAQs
Why is empathy important in the workplace?
You might not notice it right away, but yes, it makes a big difference. When people feel that their manager actually sees them as a person, they’re more likely to speak up, share ideas, and be more productive in their work.
What if I’m not naturally the “empathetic” type?
That’s completely fine. Empathy isn’t about being emotional; it’s just about paying attention. You don’t need to pretend to be someone you are not. Start small: listen a bit more, check in with someone, or pause before jumping to conclusions. It’s more about habits than personality.
I want to run empathy training, but I’m worried people will roll their eyes. What do I do?
Keep it grounded. You could tie it into things people care about, like handling difficult conversations or making remote teams work better. People respond well when they see how it helps them do their job, not just tick a box.
Further Resources
To put empathy into action, try our 12 Empathy Training Activities for Workplace Trainers.
>> View the Training Course Materials for Organising Employee Training
