The human touch | Cultivating compassionate leaders within your business

In a recently-published Workplace Training Report from Corndel, 30% of HR leaders reported that their greatest skills gap was empathetic leadership. And this is at a time when empathy in the workplace is needed more than ever.

In this thought leadership piece, James Kelly, CEO and co-founder at Corndel, explains why empathetic managers are valuable assets, who retain talent and foster strong teams based on openness and trust....

The UK workforce has had to endure a lot since 2020. First lockdowns, furlough schemes and remote working caused stress and uncertainty for many. Now, in a post pandemic world, a cost of living crisis has engulfed the country leaving us battling one of the highest inflation rates in Europe. Energy costs have rocketed and the price of basic groceries is increasing on almost a weekly basis, which is leaving salaries stretched thinner than ever. It’s no wonder that 16% of HR leaders we surveyed see more staff on the verge of burnout than ever before.

Now is the time for organisations to show compassion because life is extremely hard. Traditional management styles incorporating high levels of control, command and hierarchy will only perpetuate burnout and exacerbate staff turnover, which would be disastrous given the current candidate shortages that we’ve seen since over the past couple of years. More than anything else, in 2023, employees need leaders and managers they can turn to for support.