Employee benefits

Guest Post: 10 Ways to Increase Empathy in the Workplace

Empathy is the ability to understand the feelings and vulnerabilities of those around you. Having a strong standing team that is able to notice when someone may need help, or have a good sense of direction when navigating a tough conversation is key. As your small business starts to expand and more team members start joining your team, exercising this skill is crucial.

Whether you are putting your time and energy towards building a more positive working environment this year, or you’re wanting to grow your client list, empathy is a great place to start. Research shows that over 60% of employees would take a pay decrease to work on an empathetic team—proving that investing in your employee’s well-being should be a top priority for industry leaders.

On the flip side of this, showing empathy for your employees doesn’t just happen overnight. There are a few small changes to be made for a long term impact on your team.

Different Types of Empathy

Empathy has various different pros and cons when it comes to a work environment. There is such a thing as being too empathic, or not showing enough empathy. Educating your team about the different types of empathy and which to portray is a great starting point.

1.Cognitive Empathy

Also known as “perspective-taking,” this type of empathy focuses heavily on understanding one’s emotional state. This empathy type provides a comfortable and flexible company environment to help build your team’s ability, goals, and aspirations for growth.

2. Emotional Empathy

This type of empathy is also known as “effective” or “primitive” empathy as it triggers an emotional feeling on a deeper level, affecting one personally. For instance, if someone got in trouble for a project gone wrong, you might develop fear over losing your job or making the same mistake.

3. Compassionate Empathy

Compassionate empathy is the most actionable of all three. This involves seeing someone go through pain, experiencing it emotionally yourself, resulting in an instant desire to help. For instance, say an account executive isn’t meeting their goals that month and have been put on a performance plan. Compassionate workers will do everything in their power to help direct prospects to that team member, schedule additional educational meetings, or give sales directly to them.

Increasing empathy on your team can have a positive impact on your team’s productivity, in turn, optimize your initial salary investment on your employees. Show your team you care this year with Fundera’s roadmap to practicing proper empathy in your workplace.

10 Ways to Increase Empathy in the Workplace

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Meredith Wood Vice President and Founding Editor at Fundera, Meredith Wood is the founding editor of the Fundera Ledger and a vice president at Fundera. She launched the Fundera Ledger in 2014 and has specialized in financial advice for small business owners for almost a decade. Meredith is frequently sought out for her expertise in small business lending. She is a monthly columnist for AllBusiness, and her advice has appeared in the SBA, SCORE, Yahoo, Amex OPEN Forum, Fox Business, American Banker, Small Business Trends, MyCorporation, Small Biz Daily, StartupNation, and more. Email: meredith@fundera.com.

Guest Post: How HR department can improve your business

Many small business owners spend countless hours developing human resource (HR) policies and procedures, especially those lacking an HR department. If this statement defines you, as an entrepreneur, you’d probably instead focus on other elements of your business such as your clients and customer service.

Human resources consulting firms take on the challenges you face as an employer, and in these days of recruiting, hiring and retention, HR support is a necessary must! Still, many businesses fear the costs of consultants when in reality the benefits outweigh the expense.

Not depending on the business industry and its employers’ numbers you have an HR consultant or department can help in some of the following ways:

  • Recruiting – The entire recruiting and hiring process can be harsh and lengthy. One must be savvy in assessing, interviewing, the legalities of pre-employment screening and background checks and compensation packages. HR experts can handle this entire process to improve employee retention and satisfaction.
  • Policies & Procedures – If you don’t have a set of HR policies, you will be in for a tough time when it comes to labor disputes, employee warnings, and terminations and general company rules. HR specialists can develop your policies based on your needs with your input and also ensure they follow federal and state guidelines.
  • Forms – Do you know if your job application, written warning forms, and required employee posters are legal and current? HR consultants will ensure they are.
  • Voice of the Employee – By utilizing employee engagement surveys, HR professionals can gauge the likes, dislikes, and needs of your employees and tell you how to use their feedback to increase motivation and productivity.
  • Training – Employees want training; they want to be able to advance in their careers. Human resources consulting firms can create training programs and help you implement them onsite or off.
  • Safety – OSHA requires every employer to ensure a safe workplace environment. It comes with specific policies and procedures, safety meetings and employee awareness. HR experts are versed in these policies and can provide a plan suitable for your needs.
  • Benefit Packages – These can be complicated and expensive, but HR consultants can help you design benefit packages within your budget. Today’s workforce seeks companies that offer benefit plans to cover health, employee assistance programs (EAPs) and retirement benefits.
  • Performance Reviews – Along with training, offering annual performance reviews is second in line when it comes to employee desires. They want to know if they’re improving and where they’re strong and weak areas lie. HR professionals can also help you create performance reviews designed for your industry and help you implement employee guidance plans—even mentoring programs.

These are just a few of the ways an HR consulting firm can improve your business—and the employer/employee relationship. Small business owners are knowledgeable about their product and services and know what their target markets are. They also know their customer’s wants and needs but many lack knowledge in the employment arena.

Perhaps the most significant contribution HR advisors can offer taking care of the “human” management side of your company. Employees are not just numbers, and HR experts are educated professionals that can provide a range of services to choose from or take care of all your HR needs.

So, doesn’t matter what kind or size of business you have, for any company it’s essential to have the HR  specialist or department.  With the help of their correct work, you will gain only impressive results for your company as increasing of the KPI, productivity, and quality of all staff job  and growing of your business.

 

About the Author: Carol James is a writer and senior editor at writing service, so you can order essay template on any topic from EssayLab. She has MA degree in social sciences and writes articles, reviews on the different actual subjects. So, if you have any questions regarding the writing, feel free to ask her.

#BetterCallPaul – November 2017 Recap

November’s Recap of Awesome, featuring:
DayStarr Communications, Fraser Trebilcock, Pleasantview Medical Care Facility and Meridian Area Business Association


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Paul has been a visual storyteller for as long as he can remember and decided to turn that into a career. He chose video as his medium and his award winning style has been seen nationally as well as praised locally. A self-proclaimed community proponent and pro-Michigan advocate, he owns and is creative video strategist for UnoDeuce Multimedia which is celebrating its 6th year in Lansing. Paul was just recently awarded the 2015 Entrepreneur Institute Micro-Entrepreneur of the Year.

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