Building empathy | Judge's dramatic sentence for abusive customer raises key HR questions

Empathy within the workplace should be an HR concern at all times.

Only by being perpetually cognisant that each individual you’re dealing with has their own wholly unique circumstances influencing the outcome of their actions, can you truly seek to create a workplace in which each individual feels supported.

A dramatic example of the need for empathy took place in Ohio recently when Emily Russell, a Chipotle worker, fell victim to a violent attack. An enraged customer, Rosemary Hayne, agitated that her order was reportedly made incorrectly, hurled a hot bowl of food in her face, leaving the worker in distress. The event actually led to the worker leaving her job.

However, it’s not the incident that holds a key less for HR, it’s the outcome.