Compassion in the Workplace

According to Chip Conley, "The most forgotten fact in business is that we are all human." Perhaps this is why research has found that fifty-two percent of employees thought of quitting, changing jobs, or declining a promotion because they were unhappy. Fortunately, there is a new and exciting body of research emerging that shows the key to good employee health, organizational well-being, and an improved bottom line is the cultivation of compassion in organizations. Compassion has been used by some most famous and accomplished world leaders (Mother Theresa, Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, and more), as well as in highly successful organizations such as Google, General Mills, Vision Service Plan, CISCO Systems, and Facebook.

By creating a culture of compassion in organizations, research has found that employees are less stressed and fearful and more satisfied, loyal, engaged, and resilient. With compassion, employees nurture their capacities to be kind, forgiving, and helpful which leads to a more efficient, productive, and pleasant place of work. This is how businesses and humans can thrive together.