Do you have a compassionate workplace? 

Answer these 10 Questions to find out.

After our immediate family and inner circle of friends, our work colleagues significantly impact our lives. This stands to reason when you consider that most of us spend a minimum of 40 hours a week (or one-third of our overall time) with them daily. 

Our workplace is a community of its own. Most of us are conscious of the community we surround ourselves with after hours or on weekends, but what about the work community? 

What kind of community are you working in? And as a manager, what kind of community are you creating?

Are you working in a compassionate workplace?

 

Before we tackle this question, let’s first look at what constitutes a compassionate workplace’.

Your work environment could be considered compassionate if: 

• It provides a safe place for staff to be healthy, happy and heard

• It fosters a space where staff are encouraged to reach their full potential while knowing they are supported by the community along the way

• It is a space where individuals can connect, share, help and support each other

• It is where staff can come together to celebrate their wins and feel supported when experiencing losses or during hard times – regardless of their nature

How do you know if you are working in or cultivating a compassionate workplace? 

 

The following 10 questions will help get you started.

1) Does your workplace celebrate the highs of life together? e.g. birthdays, marriages, new babies, new homes, promotions

2) How does it manage the lows? e.g. divorce, mental health challenges, grief and loss

3) How does your workplace support staff in difficult situations, or is this outsourced?

4) If you had a staff member needing time off to look after a terminally ill spouse or child, do you know: 

• What the process is? 
• Where to look for leave and entitlement information? 
• How to find appropriate resources to help support them? 

5) How many of your staff or employees do you know on a personal level? 

6) Have you ever attended a funeral, life celebration, or social gathering of a work colleague/staff member?

7) How often does your management team connect outside work, e.g., team building activities

8) What further training could you or your team complete to become more compassionate? 

• Inclusion and Diversity? 
• Grief Awareness and Support?

9) Does your team celebrate wins together?

10) Do you have a reward/recognition/appreciation process and system that is used consistently?

 

How do you create a compassionate workplace?

Get to know your staff and be genuinely interested in them and how they are feeling. This will help you quickly notice changes in behaviour, attitude, mood, and attendance patterns. It is a simple way to identify a problem or mental health challenges early on and could go as far as saving a life. 

Create a culture where employees are encouraged and feel comfortable sharing their issues or concerns with a supervisor or work colleague. They will have a better chance of overcoming challenges when they work together. Learning and teaching how to provide positive, not critical, or judgmental feedback can provide an excellent foundation for finding solutions. 

Hire and train managers to be compassionate leaders who can set the standard for everyone else. These individuals are focused not only on the needs of clients and service providers but on the staff and employees they work alongside daily. Compassionate leaders can inspire through kindness, flexibility, and empowerment.

When a workplace is so focused on achieving outcomes that they no longer care about, they often no longer care about how they are achieved or at what cost; they also cease to recognise the impact this has on the employees. Often a sign is a commencement and continual problem of staff turnover.

Managers and supervisors aware of individuals’ capabilities and being across their workload can prevent burnout and call for reinforcements and assistance when required. They can also provide opportunities for further career development through higher duties and responsibilities and enhance skill levels by offering next-level training.

At the end of the day, most employers would prefer a workplace filled with people who want to be there. 

Treating others with compassion creates an environment of hard-working employees who want to work with you and are, therefore, more loyal, dedicated and engaged. 

The result is a workplace with reduced stress levels, higher job satisfaction, strong engagement, and increased productivity.

The old saying goes, “people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”

 

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