Compassion is the Heart of Employess Engagement (Guest Post)

Monica C. Worline
Jane E. Dutton

Great organizations need great people. People who are actively involved in and enthusiastic about their work. People who will go the extra mile for a customer. People who will lend a hand when a coworker needs help. People who are respectful, trustworthy, and loyal. And that is the essence of employee engagement—great people working at their best on behalf of your organization.

Since the late 1990s, the Gallup organization has surveyed more than 25 million employees in 195 countries. They find that engaged employees are significant predictors of an organization’s overall profitability and productivity. Engaged employees also tend to create engaged customers. And as the Gallup’s researchers say: “Engaged employees create engaged customers, and those engaged customers spend more money, more often with their preferred brands.”

In discussing our research, we often point out that compassion is the hidden heart of employee engagement. Gallup uses 12 key questions to assess engagement, and one group of those questions relates directly to whether supervisors and others at work “care about me as a person.”

Caring relationships are a source of intrinsic motivation. Most people want to care about others at work. Often people will volunteer or seek out opportunities to do more at work if they are also opportunities to get to know others who care.

Compassion flows from care. Compassion is a crucial response to suffering when it strikes. In our book, Awakening Compassion at Work, we tell a story of employee we met, Isabel. When she was diagnosed with breast cancer, she told us she “was flooded with hugs, prayers, gifts, and tons of support” from people at work. The compassion for Isabel was sustained over time as she endured a number of surgeries and chemotherapy. As she describes it: “I was so overwhelmed when food was delivered to my house to feed my family by this group of very caring people from work. I have never felt so loved. This experience has given me a deeper commitment to my coworkers, and I find myself contributing to all other calls for sharing and giving.”

In Isabel’s story, we see how an experience of receiving compassion from coworkers translated into increased engagement at work. Isabel is more enthusiastic about her job and more likely to help out her colleagues. She cares about her customers and they care about her too.

Many organizations are working to build greater employee engagement. Not many are approaching it through the door of compassion. Is compassion the missing heart of your employee engagement strategy?

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Monica Worline, PhD, is CEO of EnlivenWork. She is a research scientist at Stanford University’s Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education and Executive Director of CompassionLab, the world’s leading research collaboratory focused on compassion at work.

Jane Dutton, PhD, is the Robert L. Kahn Distinguished University Professor of Business Administration and Psychology and cofounder of the Center for Positive Organizations at the Ross School of Business. She has written over 100 articles and published 13 books, including Energize Your Workplace and How to Be a Positive Leader. She is also a founding member of the CompassionLab.

Their new book, Awakening Compassion at Work, available now on Amazon, reveals why opening our eyes to the power of compassion is smart business.