A senior manager recently came to Federico Demarin, the chief people officer for advertising giant GroupM’s Latin American business, seeking advice on how to manage his team’s pandemic-induced burnout.

“He said, ‘I keep fighting for more resources so my team can have a break,” Demarin recalled to attendees at From Day One’s recent Miami conference on “Workers and the Corporate Values Revolution.”

Unfortunately, there were no additional resources to be had–something that this manager knew well. So Demarin instead focused on the manager’s behavior. “I asked him what he himself was doing on a daily basis to help his people. ‘Are you stepping up? Are you giving your hours so they have more time?’’’

For Demarin, this experience was a prime example of how business leaders need to “show that they really mean business” when cultivating a high-performing yet compassionate workplace–the topic of a panel discussion moderated by Trina Robinson, a Miami NBC News anchor.

The Pandemic Has Changed How Managers Create Compassionate Workplaces

“The pandemic taught us that you have to be the voice to put people first,” said Demarin of the power of HR professionals in a post-pandemic world. “Your decisions matter, and you need to show how you care for employees.”

Debi Yadegari, founder and CEO of Villyge, a digital platform that helps managers lead with empathy, asserted that the major change in a post-pandemic HR environment has been employee expectations. “Pre-pandemic, most employees were narrowly focused on benefits,” Yadegari said. Now, there is an increased focus on the overall experience of workers, including initiatives to promote a healthy work-life balance.

“Employees have had their lives turned upside down,” continued Yadegari. “We need to respond to that.” This is particularly true for Millennial and Gen Z employees, who place an outsized importance on having their voice heard.

Yadegari added that showing empathy can drive profit. “We need to empower managers to care for employees. We’ve seen that reminding them to do something as simple as check in on their employees can lead to a positive return on investment.”

Spreading Compassion From the C-suite to the Whole Company

For Tracey Haynes, HR director for Microsoft’s U.S. Commercial Business, a compassionate attitude must start in the C-suite. “First, it is important to define what empathy means for us. How do employees demonstrate empathy? What are the behaviors to look out for and encourage?”

Haynes said that storytelling plays a key role in spreading these values at Microsoft. “We need to give managers the messages they can evangelize,” she said, noting the usefulness of symbolism in everyday things like coffee cups with inspiring messages.

Isabel Montes, VP of HR at gold-mining company Newmont, asserted that the key to compassion is curiosity. “We have to be very active listeners and show that we as leaders are open to devising solutions that are tailored to their needs.” Montes urges executives to get out of their office and visit workers in the field, where they can hear about and see their experiences first-hand. “We listen thoughtfully to our people and respond to their needs,” she said.

David Bator, managing director of the Achievers Workforce Institute, the research arm of the employee-recognition platform Achievers, agreed with Montes’ perspective. “Rarely do the best ideas come from the boardroom,” he said, noting a disconnect between the business that executives are building and the lived experience of workers.

“We can create an experience that makes employees feel welcome, feel known, included, supported, and connected,” said Bator. “By talking with employees and understanding who they are as individuals, we can recognize the things–small and large–that drive their success.”

What Does Empathy Look Like in Competitive Workplaces?

Employers must delicately manage motivating employees while also showing sensitivity. “Empathy does not scale, but it’s an investment we need to make,” said Bator. “We need to disabuse ourselves of the notion that everything we build for emotions will scale,” and that’s OK, he asserted.

For example, starting a team huddle by asking how employees are doing is not necessarily a scalable activity. But, in Bator’s experience, it can go a long way in reminding employees that their employers prioritize their well-being.

“Driving empathy in the workplace is not just telling your employees to be nice,” Yadegari added. Instead, the key is continuing to push productivity forward while meeting the needs of employees today. “There is a direct correlation between compassion and productivity,” she said.

Haynes echoed this sentiment, further emphasizing the business case for compassion. She shared a story of a Microsoft employee who created technology to enable a blind colleague to read menus at restaurants, so he could go alone. This innovation was eventually deployed more widely across the company. “That is a great example of how building empathy can bring real business solutions,” she said.

Demarin offered some practical advice for building an empathetic and compassionate workplace. “In the infinite game of human progress, you can’t worry about moving mountains. But you can move a stone. Always focus on progress, on evolution.”

He encouraged the audience to think about their personal role in large-scale change. “We all have this opportunity. What are you doing? What is the little stone you are moving?”

Riley Kaminer is a Miami-based journalist, researcher, and content strategist. As a freelance tech writer and researcher, he has profiled more than 400 of the world’s top entrepreneurs and investors. His work has been featured in Forbes, the Times (UK), Rest of World, LatAm Investor, Refresh Miami, Cities Today, and more.