How Empathy Can Lead to Equity in the Workplace

BY Michael Stahl | July 29, 2020

The phrase often repeated during the protests over racial injustice, energized by the police killing of George Floyd, is that this time “feels different.”

In one of many media commentaries offering hope for lasting change, CNN’s John Blake, who covered riots sparked by the Rodney King police-brutality verdict and the death of Freddie Gray in police custody, wrote, “[A]fter the George Floyd demonstrations I find myself filled with a guarded optimism.”

Amplifying that feeling was the response of Corporate America, which rushed to answer the bell. Though not without criticism, business giants pledged billions of dollars to community-outreach programs. Many have promised to address shortcomings in diversity and inclusion through new initiatives.

Yet to prove they’re not just “woke-washing” their reputations, these organizations will need to take concrete steps toward real change. How they might do that was the topic of a panel discussion at From Day One’s July virtual conference, The New Push for Workplace Equity. In a conversation moderated by Lydia Dishman, an editor and writer for Fast Company, five leaders in the field of diversity and inclusion offered suggestions to corporate leaders who are eager to enact change:

Start With an Expression of Empathy  

The renewed focus on the well-being of employees, which has arrived after a half-century of corporate fealty to shareholders, has been sharpened by the emotional impact of watching people of color killed by police and the struggles of workers throughout the COVID-19 crisis. Now is a time when business leaders need to show that they care.

“There are issues of bias and inequity in COVID, and thinking about who is affected most, who are considered essential workers, what are the infection rates within different neighborhoods,” said Dion Bullock, who leads strategy on equity, inclusion and belonging at Bravely, a coaching platform. “How do you work, and how do you have this conversation about racial equity within this context of, quite frankly, mass infection and death, and mass unemployment and loss?”

From Day One's panel on workplace equity, let by moderator Lydia Dishman (upper left) of Fast Company
From Day One's panel on workplace equity, let by moderator Lydia Dishman (upper left) of Fast Company

When Bravely employees started working from home this spring, leaders sought ways to address employee morale–if only after some prodding, he said. “Part of the challenge was to get our leadership from, ‘Here’s how we just keep the lights on,’ to ‘OK, but the people who help us keep the lights on also need our support,’” Bullock said. “We really need to make sure we’re checking in with folks.”

A wave of internal communications were sent to workers, with leaders boosting transparency. They outlined strategy considerations, remote-work best practices, safety procedures, and employee-support options. That same active approach, with some tailoring, can be applied to other difficult periods, notably the nationwide protests over racial injustice.

Develop Comfort and Trust So Difficult Conversations Can Occur

The Coca-Cola Co. did not shy away from taking a public stance on racial injustice, which the  CEO called “a wound in the fabric of America.” The company announced four pillars in its  efforts to enact change, centered around “listening, leading, investing, and advocating.” The organization has developed “allyship guidebooks” and “talking points for leaders to use during difficult conversations,” said Valerie Love, SVP of HR at Coca-Cola of North America, who acknowledged that some leaders within the corporation “need help” in engaging the issue. But for the sake of building trust, those leading the company’s D&I push have told them, “We’re gonna meet you where you are.”

“I like that one of our associates said, ‘The table is set for the conversation,’” Love recounted. “‘We’re gonna slow it down and we’re gonna speed it up for wherever you are on this journey.’ … We’ve asked our leaders and our employees to be patient, and have empathy, and realize not everyone is at the right place to start the conversation.”

Matt Orozco, an organizational-change consultant at Peakon, a platform that measures employee engagement, said his company has developed metrics for measuring progress in D&I. But he acknowledged that the collection of voluntarily submitted data won’t tell leaders much if employees don’t feel as though they can honestly express their opinions on fairness, equity, diversity, inclusion, and support in the workplace. And leaders might not even want to ask the tough questions in the first place.

“Not many people feel comfortable telling their friends about those kinds of things,” Orozco said. “We’re trying to help [leaders] get comfortable with the discomfort of asking questions and getting responses they haven’t received [before], but also building trust.”

Orozco urged managers to consider the question: “How do you create a foundation of trust so that people feel OK giving you this information, with the intention of using it in a thoughtful way, rather than in a not-thoughtful or adverse way?”

Establish a D&I Task Force and Actively Listen

With much of the world’s economy temporarily hitting the pause button during the pandemic, many corporations are taking major financial hits, which may inspire them to disregard D&I initiatives and focus on exploring new revenue opportunities. Ruchi Jalla, chief D&I officer of BAE Systems, a multinational defense, security, and aerospace company, said that her company instead decided to double-down on its diversity commitments.

“We have goals, specifically tied to diversity and inclusion in our leadership population, and we had a conversation [with leadership] about that as a recipe objective, and they said, ‘We’re keeping on course; there’s going to be no give here,’” Jalla said. She implied that it was as if BAE’s leadership, in an effort to keep morale strong, told company leaders: “If you can’t make your financial [goals], you better make sure that you’re meeting your goals around safety and diversity and inclusion.”

BAE has recently formed what Jalla called “Racial Equity Vision Teams,” in collaboration with the company’s Black and African-American employee resource group, to “help inform” and “ensure that we don’t march along thinking we know the answer without asking employees that are impacted.” These teams will offer insight into how BAE can make, according to Jalla, “equitable progress within all of the representative categories, whether it be processes, practices, and people.”

Establishing such a group within a company is only an initial step, however. One of the primary keys to any company’s D&I mission is its leadership’s listening ability. “One of the things that was very exciting for everyone around the globe was having a weekly webinar,” said Olga Yakimakho, director of leadership and organizational development at Special Olympics International, a nonprofit whose very existence is to drive inclusivity. During these webinars “we really shine the light on our athletes,” Yakimakho said, giving neurodiverse people a chance to tell their stories about how they have been marginalized and excluded. “So now the entire world is able to understand how they feel when they can’t go outside, when they stay at home, the loneliness, the disconnect.”

Yakimakho said the webinars have had an impact on the organization’s in-house team as well. Yakimakho admits that even this group, which could be seen as a beacon of inclusion, has room for improvement.

“Any organization, any company has work to do,” Yakimakho said. “It’s a journey; we’re never quite there [and] so we’ve been trying to learn from [the athletes], learn from their resilience, learn from them how they overcome their challenges.”

Play Games With a Purpose

Nothing will change if employees, as well as leaders, aren’t engaged in the journey. Sitting in an auditorium and watching a PowerPoint presentation won’t cut it. (Besides, in these pandemic times, such a gathering isn’t even allowed to take place.)

Bullock says Bravely has developed a role-playing game called Just-in-Time Coaching, taught to company clients. If an employee has a performance review approaching, for example, they’ll act out the roles of both manager and employee, with the goal of leaving both sides more mindful of “different dynamics when going into those conversations.”

Yakimakho discussed a similar role-playing game designed to illustrate different perspectives among diverse employees. “We have a blind colleague with an intellectual disability and he would do a session blindfolding everyone in the room,” she said. The colleagues would spend 30 minutes blindfolded, engaging with each other. “When you really step into his shoes, you understand why we don’t have boxes in the corridors so he couldn’t trip.”

Such an exercise, though now by necessity a virtual one, would likely lead to a better comprehension of the viewpoints of others. Once that kind of understanding takes hold, empathy–so vital to change today–could find a way to flow much more freely.

Michael Stahl is a New York City-based freelance journalist, writer and editor. You can read more of his work at MichaelStahlWrites.com, follow him on Twitter @MichaelRStahl, and order his first book, the autobiography of Major League Baseball pitcher Bartolo Colón, at Abrams Books


RELATED STORIES

How to Leverage AI to Make Room for the Important Stuff

With HR technology revolutionizing how organizations operate, companies that embrace innovative tools can boost employee engagement, streamline processes, and strengthen their bottom line. At From Day One’s November virtual conference, Sonya Echols, vice president of HR at Comcast, shared her insights on HR technology in a fireside chat moderated by Denver Post reporter Megan Ulu-Lani Boyanton.Echols highlighted strategies for integrating technology that elevates HR from a traditional administrative role to a strategic business partner. “There are just so many choices that people have today,” Echols said.  “And really trying to differentiate ourselves is something that we continue to focus on.”At Comcast, the focus on employee development informs their approach to technology: first, choose the right tools, then integrate them effectively. “Making sure that we have a robust learning and management system that meets the needs of our teammates is key,” Echols said. Choosing the Right TechnologyThere are three critical factors to consider when introducing HR technology to an organization, says Echols:Return on Investment (ROI): Investing in HR technology should bring significant value to the organization. "There’s so many things out there that seem exciting, and we all get distracted by the shiny new thing,” Echols said. “But if we’re going to really invest in HR technology, we need to make sure that it’s going to pass the sniff test around ROI.” Organizations must assess whether a new tool will truly enhance operations and deliver measurable benefits.Must-Have vs. Nice-to-Have: HR teams must prioritize essential tools over optional ones. “There are things that we as HR really, really need to be investing in, and then there’s things that are nice to have,” Echols said.  By focusing on must-haves, organizations can free up time and resources for high-impact work. The goal is to choose technology that allows HR to concentrate on strategic tasks rather than administrative processes.Buy or Build?: Deciding whether to purchase or develop HR technology in-house is a crucial step. Echols encouraged companies to weigh the pros and cons of each approach. “When you think about buying HR technology off the shelf, you need to ask yourself, ‘Is this going to be customizable at all, or can I configure this at all?’ Even that could be a little bit costly,” she said. Organizations must also consider whether they have the technical expertise to manage custom solutions.Additionally, Echols stressed the importance of asking the right questions when evaluating technology vendors. “As soon as we deploy this, is it going to be outdated? Is there a newer version coming out? When are there upgrades that we will automatically be able to get from this vendor?” Understanding these dynamics is essential for making informed decisions and avoiding unnecessary expenses.Sonya Echols of Comcast, right, spoke with Megan Ulu-Lani Boyanton of the Denver Post (photo by From Day One)By focusing on ROI, prioritizing must-have solutions, and carefully evaluating the decision to buy or build, organizations can ensure their HR technology investments are effective and future-proof.Thoughtful Integration Is KeyHaving the technology is one thing—integrating is something entirely different. Companies must approach integrating new technologies of any kind as thoughtfully as possible, starting with trust.A culture of trust is imperative. Echols says this should be developed constantly over time. When it comes to building trust during integrating a new technology, open communication is crucial. “Your communication cadence with your folks is also going to be important in building that trust,” Echols said. If you’re not open with employees, people are going to be afraid to ask questions. “But if you let people know, ‘Hey, this is where we’re going, and here’s how we’re going to get there,’ people are receptive to that.”Echols also highlighted the importance of involving end-users early in the process. “Getting more of the users involved sooner is probably the biggest lesson learned,” she said. “Having the people who are going to use it day in and day out get their hands on it as quickly as possible is key.”Interactive training programs, tailored to different user groups, help ease the transition. Additionally, limiting workarounds ensures employees adopt the technology rather than bypassing it. “The number one thing that helps folks adopt new tools is to limit the workarounds,” Echols said. “If people have no choice but to use it, and you show them the way and gently nudge them, they’ll get there.”Change management plays a critical role in integration. Organizations must understand potential resistance points, communicate frequently, and show employees how the technology will improve their work lives. By treating the rollout like a marketing campaign—tailored to address user pain points—companies can foster a smoother adoption process.Helping Employees Take OwnershipOne great feature of modern HR tools is that they allow employees to take ownership of their experiences, creating room for HR teams to focus on strategic initiatives.“When we think about HR technology, most people think about a human capital management system, right? We use Workday here at Comcast,” Echols said.  “It has helped us in HR a lot by empowering our employees, both business leaders and non-people leaders, to own their experience. They can go in, they can look at their information at any time.” Instead of HR personally handling every employee request, technology enables individuals to access information themselves. This evolution is reshaping how HR is perceived within companies. “I think a lot of technology is moving toward self-service versus the white-glove service that we in HR typically provide,” said Echols. “Now that is shifting and evolving so folks can self-serve and allow HR to really be seen as business leaders who happen to sit in HR seats.”By empowering employees with self-service tools, prioritizing strategic technology investments, and focusing on seamless integration, companies can elevate their HR functions from administrative to transformational. Companies should approach HR tech adoption thoughtfully by focusing on ROI, scalability, and trust-building to unlock its full potential.Carrie Snider is a Phoenix-based journalist and marketing copywriter.

Carrie Snider | January 02, 2025

Technology and Humans: How to Reinvent the Working Relationship

A lot of conversation around generative AI in the workforce feels dire, and many are speculating that when the dust of the AI revolution clears, humans, in many professional roles, will no longer be relevant. The counterpoint, however, is that AI will change how work is done but not necessarily as a replacement for humanity, but as an enhancement. “My team wakes up every morning thinking about, How do we discover and understand the new patterns of work, and where is work going?” said Matthew Loys Duncan, the head of Future of Work Thought Leadership at Microsoft.“I think people are scared about change, right? But in general, I think it's the concept of change, and how willing are we to really know that with change comes growth and new opportunities. And we’ve never seen that more so than recently with AI." Duncan spoke with Nicole Smith, the editorial audience director for Harvard Business Review, in a fireside chat at From Day One’s December virtual conference. They discussed the emerging patterns between technology and humans, and how AI will enhance humanity in the workplace. Distinguishing Fad From the Actual Future“First and foremost, let’s put the facts on the table. AI has been around for 40 years. It’s helped us correct our sentences [for years]. So it's been in our world; it’s just been behind the scenes.” Duncan believes AI’s potential impact on the workforce is going to be as big as the industrial revolution or the emergence of the internet. “I remember a day when there wasn’t a .com and we didn't have all this massive information. We can’t imagine a world where we don’t click and shop and it’s at my front door in a matter of hours. It’s going to have that profound of an effect.”Matthew Loys Duncan, the head of Future of Work Thought Leadership at Microsoft (Company photo)However, the profound impact and change is not going to come from one direction, and people will have to experiment with it. Duncan points out that people already are, indeed, experimenting with AI. “We’ve never seen such a massive experimentation—millions of people basically, overnight, started using it.”“The challenge is always, with anything new like this, you have to experiment. [U]nderstand how it’s applicable. And what’s unique at this moment with generative AI is its usefulness. It’s only a breakthrough when it’s useful." From planning a vacation to a big event at your kid’s school to freelance writers experimenting with it to condense information and produce workable outlines to generating ideas—everyone is still experimenting with AI. “I think it starts with individuals, but what we’ve seen in the last almost two years is leaders that believe this is a new way of how you’re going to create greater efficiency and productivity. Or a new opportunity to innovate and create like we've never done before. I’m sure everyone’s seen the meme: It’s not that you're going to lose your job to AI, you're going to lose your place in the market to those that are applying AI,” Duncan said.One of the ways Duncan points out AI’s inventiveness is in how it’s able to take the overload of information, all the historical data of, say, one organization and make good predictions from that data. “If you apply AI to that, you can actually, for the first time, layer over all that data and information and start to understand your business very explicitly.”AI is transforming how businesses approach customer retention and sales as well, Duncan observed. In customer service, AI can analyze subscription data to predict churn by identifying patterns, such as reduced usage or complaints, or signaling when a customer may cancel. This allows businesses to intervene with personalized outreach—both digital and human—to retain customers. In sales, AI acts as a copilot, helping sales representatives sift through leads to pinpoint those with the highest conversion potential. It also provides real-time coaching, offering suggestions and strategies to close deals effectively. As Duncan put it, AI enhances decision-making “at the right time and right place.”AI Could Potentially Make Us More HumanAnother fear of AI, and indeed a problem with automated customer service already, is that it’s taking the humanity out of our interactions. This raises the question, as Smith pointed out: Will there be room for human emotional intelligence in the workplace of the future? Duncan seems to think so. “I have a premise that AI will make us more human.” He cited research Microsoft has done on human performance that points to 68% of people saying “they struggle with the pace and volume of work.” After surveying 31,000 people in 31 countries about where they focus most of their time, 60% of that time goes to emails, chats, and meetings. For every email someone sends, they have to read four. “There’s not enough time in the day, not enough energy to get it done. That’s where, oddly enough, AI and generative AI, in this more useful natural-language reasoning world, become[s] our assistant and really help[s] us break through.” Duncan says that if AI can take over mundane tasks, then it can give us back about 10 hours per month, which he says can help “unlock” what makes us and allow us to focus more on “communication, connection, empathy and relationship with other humans.”Expanding on with that theme of lost time regained with AI, Smith pointed out a ubiquitous sentiment out there in the world: Technology hasn’t freed us from overwhelming work obligations. In fact, it has made us feel that we always have to be on. “Do you think AI is going to intensify that pressure to stay connected? Or do you think it can help us break free from our digital addiction?” Smith asked.“When was the last time, or where were you, when you had your last great idea?” Duncan said. “I usually hear in the shower, on a run, walking my dog. What’s common there is, we’re at a place with our own mind, where we have space to think and be creative and focus, and we need to bring that back.”Duncan touched back on the research they’ve done at Microsoft showing how AI, when utilized effectively both at work and at home, can recoup many hours of time a month lost to drudgery. “And what do you want to use with those 10 hours? And my answer is, whatever is going to make that human do better. The reality is, it’s meant to refuel and re-energize and give people the space to actually innovate and create like we’ve not been able to do for a while.”Matthew Koehler is a freelance journalist and licensed real-estate agent based in Washington, DC. His work has appeared in the Washington Post, Greater Greater Washington, The Southwester, and Walking Cinema, among others.(Illustration by Moor Studio/iStock by Getty Images)

Matthew Koehler | December 30, 2024

Enhancing Global HR Tech: Balancing Data, Automation, and Human Touch

Ankit Saxena, now the global head of people insights and HR technology at PPG Industries, has had a long career in data analytics. He has seen it all, from fraud to operational to financial to people analytics. In his experience, there are four critical takeaways: a clear business case, good storytelling, solutions, and action plans.“Whether you work in any kind of an analytics or technology environment, you have to have a clear business case. The second thing is the storytelling. Unless you connect the dots, your story is not impactful. The third thing is the solution. So you told me the problem. How do you fix it? [Finally], the action plan you're going to have. And those principles, whether you work in X analytics, y analytics or HR analytics, remain the same across the board.”Saxena spoke to the editorial audience director for Harvard Business Review, Nicole Smith during  From Day One’s November virtual conference. They discussed the importance of maintaining a human touch in a rapidly evolving AI world and retrofitting existing technology with the new.When making a big move in any organization, especially one centered around people, you have to have your finger on the pulse of a lot of analytics. Saxena says it’s typical to pay attention to internal movements—how the company is performing, how the market is shifting, what major internal events are taking place, and more.There’s also people insight, which is all about gathering and analyzing employee data to understand their motivations and engagement.“If you’re looking to make a very broad kind of a decision, if you’re looking to understand what needs to be the future way of the organization from the people perspective, you have to have a pretty clear line of sight of what is happening externally as well,” said Saxena.Saxena points to how external events like Covid and inflation created ripple effects within organizations by influencing talent supply, attrition, compensation, and career dynamics. “As a professional in the analytics space, you keep a tab on all those things, not just your internal but also externally. During my career of 15 to 17 years, I have realized that if you are myopically focused internally, you will lose sight of the external environment, and if you focus too much on the external, you will lose sight of the internal.”To not get overwhelmed on managing all the external and internal metrics, Saxena says all organizations are focused on how they are [using] automation and AI.To narrow down the aperture of information and really focus on what is needed, Saxena says it’s imperative to look at the internal use case for technology. “What exactly is the benefit that you’re going to generate for your end stakeholders? Is there any kind of a buy-in that you see? Because AI is a prime example where everyone wants to jump in, but they don’t know exactly what the outcome is.”To answer that essential question above, Saxena developed a framework based on five ‘whats’:What’s the use case? What benefits do the different technologies generate? What’s the cost of implementation and maintenance? What are the future growth opportunities for any specific technology? And, what does change management look like?“Every organization struggles with their technology implementation if they don’t have robust change management,” Saxena added.Nicole Smith of the Harvard Business Review interviewed Ankit Saxena of PPG Industries “There are a lot of traditional technologies that do exist and will continue to exist. And I think that is important for us to understand that a lot of companies invest into technologies, but they are not able to make them work.”Saxena believes there’s an opportunity here with companies making their existing technology work. At previous companies, he said they would buy a technology but not fully implement it. “I think making your existing technology or tech stack work appropriately and providing you the full benefit” is a theme he's seeing in the market.Another piece of advice he offers is that before you look at the next big AI product being offered, look internally. “Rather than buying an AI technology, you should kind of look upon your current tech stack and how it kind of aligns with your AI capabilities.”“Make sure that you are using [traditional technology] to the fullest capability. Second, before you go outside [to buy] any AI capability, you should explore what tools you have and if they offer any AI capability. And can you leverage it for certain use cases to show some success and have an investment for the future?”Saxena emphasizes the importance of evaluating technology investments carefully to ensure they align with a company's vision and strategy. He notes that technology companies frequently introduce new capabilities to stay competitive in the AI space, which can create a challenge for businesses locked into long-term contracts.“Companies are not going to invest into anything new unless you have made the existing ones work, so this is a kind of a catch 22. Once you invest into long term contracts, you have to make them work,” Saxena said.Matthew Koehler is a freelance journalist and licensed real estate agent based in Washington, DC. His work has appeared in Greater Greater Washington, The Washington Post, The Southwester, and Walking Cinema, among others.

Matthew Koehler | December 20, 2024