It’s so common to hear about driven, hardworking, emotionally intelligent and forcefully stubborn business leaders. Being kind, compassionate and attentive is rarely associated with businessmen and women in the media, however, it very much should be. There are countless individuals suffering from harmful examples and expectations of the corporate world: unfair working conditions and complete abolishment of private lives, treating workers like machines and blaming others for mistakes or delays is everyday practice in today’s world. Not only is this behavior unsafe for everyone involved, but it directs our whole society into a direction none of us really stands for. We let the constant stress, performance indicators and professional achievements be the determining factors of our success for too long. Let’s start 2022 by taking a step back, reassessing the values along which it’s sustainable to work, and adapting to the improved set of priorities in the new year.

Empathy as a pandemic response

As a recruitment agency, our daily responsibilities include informing ourselves about candidate needs and wishes. These last two years, we have experienced more and more people settling for friendlier working conditions rather than a higher pay grade. The pandemic has shown employees that spending more time with their loved ones has a positive impact on their daily mood, performance and quality of life, and there’s hardly anyone wishing for the constant pressure to be back. The message is clear: kindness and humanity in today’s working world is not a luxury only a few are lucky to have. It’s a necessity that none is willing to give up anymore.

The truth behind fancy promises

“We put our people first”

“We care for our workers”

“We offer cafeteria and quarterly satisfaction surveys”

Do any of these sound familiar to you? The market is flooded with companies employing exquisite HR professionals or copywriters to include similar, amazingly catchy phrases in their advertisements and job posts. However, the number of the ones that are willing to act on their promises is still not high enough. Thankfully though, there’s a clear tendency of improvement in all sectors now. Younger generations have new, people-centric demands from their employers, and more experienced professionals were taught by the recent time period that it’s time they enforced their standards too. This shift resulted in more and more leaders recognizing the value of more empathetic conducts and practices, and we are overjoyed to experience it.

What does kindness in practice really mean?

Let’s start with the definition, according to Forbes: The leadership practice of considering, balancing and satisfying your own needs, your people’s needs and the needs of the wider organization in ways that foster group well-being, innovation potential, and productivity. This most definitely does not mean the well-curated well-wishes at the end of every corporate mailing. Rather, it’s all about paying active attention to each other, supporting and lifting each other, and finding ways to express how things could change for the better. It’s important to have an atmosphere where the feelings and thoughts of everyone are welcome, conscious communication is being practiced and nobody feels left out. Some things you might want to introduce to achieve that:

1. 1. Clear expectations, targets and benchmarks
2. 2. An effective workflow
3. 3. Equal share or responsibilities
4. 4. Compassion for people who need help
5. 5. Appreciation for efforts, all kinds

What can you expect?

Kindness will help your organization achieve its highest potential. New business connections, improved work relationships and motivated employees are just fractions of the countless benefits you will encounter. We firmly believe that humans strive in environments where teamwork is made easy, knowledge is shared without boundaries and people focus on each other just as much as on progress. We hope to see even more businesses keeping up with these trends in the following years, and see a new business structure rise. We wish everyone a happy and productive new year!