BUSINESS MANAGER

MARCH 2021 3

10Naveen Kumar

In e

very

Iss

ue 05 RESPONSE 07 Reality Check: Case Of

Energy & More

Guest Column by Dr.Vinayshil Gautam

08-09 HR NEWS 06 FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK

In This Issue

HR Captains

in 2021

SIEZE theMOMENT

Dr. T.V. Rao

INTERVIEW

HR will have to shift from servingemployersto serving multiplestakeholders :Dr. T.V. Rao

12-15

Empathy atWORKPLACE

Cover Feature

A Annapurna Dr. Farah Naqvi

Anupreeta Lall Harini Sreenivasan

Shobhit Tyagi

Gunjan Tiwari Gurleen Baruah

Sunitha Lal

Dr. Tanaya Mishra Rujuta Pendharkar

Empathy is a powerfultool in leadership belt -A Annapurna

Empathy has to bemodeled in leader'sbehaviour- Dr. Farah Naqvi

Empathy plays major rolein rebuilding the teamcohesion -Anupreeta Lall

Empathy buildspsychological safety -Harini Sreenivasan

Rigid hierarchy is aconstraint to empathy- Dr. Tanaya Mishra

Embed EI & Empathy intoorganisation CulturalDNA -Rujuta Pendharkar

Empathy cannot bepracticed in isolation-Gunjan Tiwari

Empathy is a doubleedged sword

-Gurleen Baruah

Time for organisations tofind digital route toempathy- Shobhit Tyagi

Organisations cannot affordto relegate empathy at backseat -Sunitha Lal

19-4

8

BUSINESS MANAGER

4 MARCH 2021

In This Issue

57G.M. Saini

49

LINEAnil Kaushik Management Expert -HR & IR

Labour Problems & Solutons

Solutions provided here are incontext to narrated facts & not ingeneral.

51 Recent Important Labour Judgments

From the

Court Room

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very

Iss

ue

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ue 60 Case Study 61 Case Analysis-I 63 Case Analysis-II

EVENT REPORT

HR at Cross Road?-BM Editorial Team

Instead of abruptwithdrawal,merge theincentives withfuture increment

-Dr. TanjulSaxena

Need towork onimprovedrelationshipwith boss

-MihirGosalia

‘Wages’ in new codes- Inclusions &Exclusionsmake it more complex

59H.L.Kumar

65 Book Learning

Life in organizationsAuthor : Prasad Kurian

SOFTENING THE EDGEAuthor : Mimi Nicklin

16Pavithra Urs

Agile HR - A Journey

LIMITLESS MISERY of workers in China

66Reshmi Manna

DEMYSTIFYINGpeople analytics

66AHRD organised Dr. Udai Pareekmemorial panel talk

FEBRUARY 2021 ISSUE

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CHIEF EDITOR

ANIL KAUSHIK

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JAYSHREE DUTT

DESIGN & DIGITAL

SATENDER TEJ ARUN

HON'Y EDITORIAL BOARD

Dr. T.V. Rao

Dr. Vinayshil Gautam

H. L. Kumar

Dr. Rajen Mehrotra

MARCH 2021

India s Best HR Magazine

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ReverseInteresting! I like this article , as thosethat have experienced Emerging Hi TechDigital world in all sources have reallyseen the bright impact on our personal& social background. Thus the reversemodel of working due to pandemic hasmade us feel homely corporates wherethe real business tycoons have it in theirown premises or building. It in general abetter way of working model.

- Snehankita Mene

AwesomeThat's awesome, Preeti Bose and it'ssuch a great topic too. I mean thepandemic has entirely changed thescenario.

- Tyrone Braganza Bauer

ThoughtfulWell written and thoughtful . Notonly HR, I feel the entire workecosystem needs a relook.Compliments Rajan sir.

- Capt. Virender Singh

CandidCandid & Analytical. An excellentarticle in the aftermath of the Cvd19.

- K S.

InspiringInsightful article, Subir Verma ! KeepSharing, Keep Inspiring, Keep Growing.Best regards. - Aditya Sareen

2020 learningVery true and insightful thoughts @subir verma. I am not sure about others but I would definitelylike to remember 2020 not because of pandemicor pandemic related difficulties which all of usexposed to but for the sake of learning this yearhas provided, for the realisation of our potential asan individual as well as a country. This year hasprovided, the learning to manage similarsituations in future, understanding the values ofnear and dear ones and so on so forth. In fact Ithank the year for testing our limits and making usrealise about so many things in life. Best regards.

- Akhilesh Sinha

ResonanceGreat thoughts! And I truly resonate with Focus onlife and business will follow , the new normaltaught this which otherwise we would hardly haveever given priority :)

- Deepti Keshari

Much neededVery nice article... really liked the inclusion offamily in employee engagement... very interestingconcept and much needed.

- Vinod V

Wonderful insights Dr. Prasanth.

- LS Murthy

Provocative. Insightful. Sharp. Compliments.

- Rajan Sinha

Insightful and good initiative!

-Rajiv Sharma

Great thoughts Preeti Bose ma'am..

-Vivek Brown

Great read! - Ajaya Kumar Sahoo

Well said Preeti! - Bhawna Gandhi

Thought provoking message for HR!

- Rajesh Dutta

Looks like an interesting edition Anil Kaushik.

- Lopamudra Banerjee

BUSINESS MANAGER

6 MARCH 2021

From the Editor’s Desk

March 2021Vol. 23, No. 09

After Covid, all of a sudden the need of empathy in the workplace is much talked inbusiness world. It reaffirms the assumption that empathy has often been missing fromworkplace since long. This is, perhaps, because the way businesses are done andmanagement theories are propounded, it concluded into the profit or money making assole and prime objective leaving behind the people importance in contributing to thesame. The mindset of buying service for money converted the people in to mere resourceemphasizing money as the sole motivator. This has persuaded all to accept differentbehaviours at workplace. Business does not warrant inhumanness. Hiring people forservice and paying them in exchange does not mean that people are to be treated assoulless resource.

Now the thought process is changed. It is established that money is not the only solemotivator for people at work to achieve meaningful objectives. Many research studies haveindicated that people prefer for agile, autonomy, vibrant, trustworthy and purposeful workculture to stay and deliver. To achieve all this, empathy plays a key role. It is not a fixed trait.It is a skill that enables leaders to know more about their people, understand them betterand collaborate with them more successfully .Most of the managers and leaders are illequipped to develop this skill and unfortunately it is overlooked as performance indicator.Now managers cannot afford to be away from this skill. It is time for the managers andleaders to be more people focused.

Empathy neutralizes negativity. It imbues you with a softer approach to conflicts. It givesyou control over challenging work situations. It is a powerful tool that opens gridlockhelping conflict resolution. It has powerful impact on individual performance, jobsatisfaction, motivation and overall productivity. Research studies have found thatmanagers who practice empathetic leadership towards their subordinates are proved asbetter performers. Empathy is threefold- Think, Feel and Go. Develop the ability tounderstand what others think, share their feeling and then take possible steps to reducethe plight. It builds culture of compassion and understanding.

Mangers should not be mistaken that adopting empathetic attitude at workplace meansendorsing poor job performance of agreeing to other's point of view in all situations ratherit helps responding on work issues with less prejudices, animosity and more maturity,fairness and objectivity. The challenge for managers is that empathy is learned, developedand practiced at individual level. Neither it trickles down from top management nor comesfrom rule book. It requires individual to understand their people closely. A compassionateworkplace which is the need of time requires a conscious, organization- wide effort. In thiswhole process, setting limits is crucial to a more compassionate environment becausebeing empathetic, sometimes it may be more draining emotionally and mentally as itneeds investing more time at personal level thus putting your own personal life in to stress.

This edition’s cover story experts talk about nuances of empathy, its importance atworkplace, how leaders should learn, develop and practice this skill and overall presentinsightful guide.

If you like it let us know. If not, well, let us know that too.

Happy Reading!

A powerful tool

@ tdanilanilkaushik

anilkaushik

Anil Kaushik

Cover Feature

At least one good thing,Covid-19 has done to business and people andthat is bringing backEmpathy in center stage. It'sneed grew leaps andbound. Which was till now"a good to have skill' forleaders, has now become a"must have." Empathy is tobe embedded in to culturalfabric of the Organisation.The Demonstration of "Weare all together" leads toincredible team buildingthat drive better performance.Many leaders may believethat they need to be effec-tive and empathy may dentthat effectiveness but it is

wrong. Lack of compassionto build effectiveness wouldbe a misplaced. You canbe effective and empathet-ic both. Employees in theorganization always wantto see a human being inleader and not a robot.Accepting your reality tounderstand well and relatewith others makes you alasting leader.It is time for practicing empathy, nurturing thatskill, building the empathymuscle, harnessing yourempathy quotient withmore self awareness andhow it can be done, knowin the following pages…

Empathy atWORKPLACE

- BM Editorial Team

A Annapurna Dr. Farah Naqvi

Anupreeta Lall Harini Sreenivasan

Dr. Tanaya Mishra Rujuta Pendharkar

Gunjan Tiwari Gurleen Baruah

Sunitha LalShobhit Tyagi

BUSINESS MANAGER

MARCH 2021 19

BUSINESS MANAGER

24 MARCH 2021

COVER FEATURE

Empathy atWORKPLACE

Empathy has to be modeled in leader's behaviour

Dr. Farah Naqvi

Associate Professor (OB & HR) at Gulf

Centre for University Education

(GCUE), Kuwait

Empathy is the ability to see another person's thoughtsand feelings from their point of view, rather than from

one's own. Overcoming this barrier shall requireindividual effort to minimize unnecessary distractions, to

create time for self-introspection and paying attention tothe needs of others.

video calls at the end of each day. The meetings were not about workupdates, but well-being check-in a time to pause, share, and listen toeach other and share tips on navigating through the new normal.

Empathy has a strong positive impact on workplace culture. A study byJane Dutton et al. (2014) from the University of Michigan found thatempathetic workplaces foster a greater level of morale, particularlywhen employees are suffering a hardship. According to research byBusiness Solver (2017) a technology benefits company, empathy has adirect impact on employee productivity, loyalty, and engagement.Companies with empathetic work culture reap significant, meaningfulreturns. The research report showed that 77% of workers would bewilling to work more hours for a more empathetic workplace;meanwhile, 60% would accept a slashed salary for the same. 92% of HRprofessionals note that a compassionate workplace is a significantfactor for employee retention. 80% of millennials indicated that theywould leave their current job if their office became less empathetic. Anempathetic work culture not only serves to attract and keep the besttalent but also positions an organisation positively post crisis bybuilding resilience and good faith.

How empathy can be built up and brought to practice at the workplace?

FN Empathy can be facilitated in organisation through behaviours, norms,policies and benefits. Leaders can foster empathy in organisation by notmerely naming it as an important organisation value or by conductingtraining programs around it but by modelling it in their behaviour.Research on pro-social conformity by Erik et al. (2016) suggests thatpeople imitate others pro-social behaviour so generosity, altruism, andempathy can be contagious. Leaders can demonstrate empathy in smallactions like practicing empathetic listening when interacting withemployees, avoiding interruptions, or effective communication andfollow-ups. Doing this, they will not only send a message that they

Why the element of empathy hasgained importance in theworkplace post covid phase andhow it impacts the work culture?

FN Pandemic triggered a range ofphysiological and psychologicalresponses owing to increaseduncertainty, social isolation and lostsense of normalcy escalatingindividual sensitivity and distress.A survey by Grover et al. (2020)under the aegis of the IndianPsychiatry Society found that 40.5%of the participants reported anxietyor depressive symptoms. Aboutthree-fourth (74.1%) reported amoderate stress level, and 71.7%reported poor well-being. In a crisis,connecting with people's needs andresponding to their insecuritiesbecomes critical, making empathyan indispensable element. Pandemicset this realization for manybusiness leaders that one of the bestways to look after their employees'well-being in such times, is byinfusing their culture with empathyand compassion. For instance,during the lockdown DellTechnologies' marketing directorKelli Hodges responded toemployees’ fears by holding open

About the Author

Dr. Farah Naqvi is an academician, writer and behavioral scientist with more than a decade of experience with academic, training & consulting institutions located in India andKuwait. Currently she is associated with Gulf Centre for University Education, Kuwait as management faculty and holding a position of Senior Researcher (pro bono) with IndianInstitute of Business Psychology (IIBP).

BUSINESS MANAGER

MARCH 2021 25

genuinely care about their employees' professional and personaldevelopment but set the tone for other managers. Initiating a mentoringprogram that encourages leaders, managers and employees toparticipate can also infuse the culture with a sense of fellowship,empathy, respect and esprit de corps. Soft skills often are givensecondary importance in comparison to efficiency and professionalism.However, this has been of the key differentiating factors of companiesthat made to Fortune's 2020 list of 100 best places to work. They give toppriority to equity, inclusion, work-life balance, employee well-beingalongside providing the right set of opportunities, pay and benefits. Intimes when work boundaries have changed significantly and a largesection of employees are working from home, organisations canincorporate and practice empathy in myriad ways. It could be offeringflexibility to employees so that they can effectively manage work andhome responsibilities, access to mental health support, opportunities tovolunteer in their communities and incentive to grow and develop theirskills as the economy changes. Employee Assistance Programs andother benefits offering short-term counseling or referrals can beanother good way to operationalize empathy.

What can be the barriers to empathy at work and how to overcome that?

FN Research shows that when people perceive empathy as a 'trait' that theyeither have or not, it seems out of reach to them (Jamil Zaki, 2016). In afollow up study where evidence was presented that empathy is less likea trait and more like a skill, they responded by working harder at it.Hence the first barrier towards building empathy could be the beliefthat it's a personality component that has less ambit of being developed.Overcoming this barrier shall require consistent efforts to identify,practice and reinforce empathetic behaviours like active listening, self-reflection and actions that foster a culture that is sensitive to itsstakeholders' needs. Training, mentoring sessions with timely feedbackand opportunities for utilitarian communication must be encouraged.The second barrier to empathy is the digital distractions in our regularlife. People are constantly bombarded with emails, texts, social mediafeeds, call and alerts that not only act as time stealers but leaves lesstime for quality human interaction. Empathy is the ability to seeanother person's thoughts and feelings from their point of view, ratherthan from one's own. Overcoming this barrier shall require individualeffort to minimize unnecessary distractions, to create time for self-introspection and paying attention to the needs of others.

It has also been found that when companies promote highly competitivework environment and place secondary importance to team work, itcreates an environment that stifles empathy. Leaders can generateexcitement by highlighting the positive consequences of competition(rewards) or create anxiety by singling out low performers and sharingthreats of being laid off or losing income. Research by Anna et al. (2017)revealed that when employees experience 'anxious competition', theyare more likely to sabotage one another. Companies like Facebook,Google, Microsoft, and LinkedIn found high in empathy index create anatmosphere that enables diverse teams to work amicably. One thingfound common in these companies is their ability to create a workplacefull of opportunities that balances the weights placed on thesignificance of company growth, individual productivity and emphasison synergistic collaboration.

While keeping the presence of empathy in work culture, howorganisations should deal with digital distraction, which mayleave employee feel distant and distracted?

FN We are currently confronted with an economy in which developers andadvertisers are being rewarded to seize our attention. Employees areexpected to be responsive at all times which is having a

counterproductive effect on employeeengagement and productivity. Accordingto Gloria Mark who studies digitaldistractions at the University ofCalifornia once a person is distracted, itnot only takes an average of 23 minutes torefocus their attention back on theoriginal task but also leads to increasedstress and reduced performance. Dealingwith the drawbacks of digital distractionmay require open dialogue andconfronting the issues in a constructiveway. Leaders should encourage offlinework for at least for 2-4 hours to focus oncritical task without interruptions.Psychologists use the term 'onlinecompulsive disorder' to describe thosewho can't help clicking on a new screenevery few minutes. As per CBS MinnesotaReport, two out of three people tune out offace-to-face meetings to communicatedigitally with someone else. Plannedstrategies need to be implemented to dealwith this increasingly common addictionto web based activity. Employees shouldbe assured that emails and messages,unless highly urgent, do not need to beresponded immediately. Organisationscan also block applications that have littleconnection with work but a major sourceof distraction. Creating creativelydesigned spaces for employees to take ashort break to disconnect and rechargethemselves can also be helpful. Employeesshould be encouraged to make this aphone free break as the constant use ofmobiles depletes their finite cognitiveresources. They can spend this time inmeditation, connecting with colleagues,reading, moving around or simply doingnothing. A study of 450 workers in Koreaby Sudong et al (2016) found thatindividuals who took a short phonefreework break felt more vigor and lessemotional exhaustion than individualswho took their phones with them onbreaks. Empowering and trainingemployees on effective time managementand organizing their daily routineseffectively is equally crucial. They shouldbe educated how influx of notificationsmesses up the brain's dopamine responsemaking them lose their focus. Usingsimple tips like marking times oncalendar when they don't want to beinterrupted and using an auto responderto let others know of what they are doingand when they will be back can be useful.Lastly, when investing in a digitalworkplace companies should utilize theknowledge of not only the IT experts buttake feedback from the end users too. Thetechnological interface should not beunduly complex to avoid wasting preciousminutes.

COVER FEATURE

Empathy atWORKPLACEEmpathy has to be modeled in leader's behaviour

BUSINESS MANAGER

26 MARCH 2021

FN Empathy can be mentally and emotionally taxing affecting ourjudgment. People can experience empathic distress when they are ableto empathize with the others situation but are not able to take any actionto extend help because of personal or organisational constraints. Suchdistress can produce feelings of dissatisfaction, apathy and withdrawal.Secondly, empathy can be a source of organisation politics if itsextended to select in group members by the leader. As per research byMina et al (2017) empathy is biased - we are more likely to empathizewith those who are from similar social, racial and political circles. Riseof extreme empathy to in groups or low empathy towards out groupscan lead to intergroup conflict. Thirdly, showing empathy and trulyfeeling the pain of others by people in helping professions like doctors,caregivers, police officers can lead to burnout if they fail in regulatingtheir own emotions. Inadequate training to perform such emotionallabour and managing emotional workload can further worsen it.Fourthly, empathy can have its ill effects if inadequate attention is paidto who is the 'empathy recipient'. Having standard norms is good butpoor judgment by the leader before choosing to exercise empathy canlead to employees misusing organisation norms or taking it lightly.Such misplaced empathy can also prevent a person from beingempathetic and acting compassionately with the very people whoactually need it. Lastly empathy can have grave consequences if peoplenatural empathic tendencies are evoked and manipulated with wrongintentions for personal motives by those in management or by the tradeunions. Just like politicians and activists sometimes deploy empathy tomake a case of 'us versus them' and justify unjust acts.

How to balance empathy with meeting out business resultswithout affecting mental well being of employees?

FN Measuring business performance, tracking business metrics isparamount for achieving business goals. This requires managers tohave key focus on performance indicators and employee execution. It ishowever important that managers balance accountability with empathy.The effects of workplace pressure on employee mental well-being arelikely to be reduced if the organisation succeeds in creating a culture ofcare and trust. In a research by Paul Zak (2017) compared with people atlow-trust companies, people at high-trust companies reported 74% lessstress, 106% more energy at work, 50% higher productivity, 76% moreengagement, 29% more satisfaction with their lives and 40% lessburnout. Leaders need to successfully create a balance between what isbest for the organisation with being kind and considerate to individualemployees. Empathy can be a great way to connect with employees, butleaders need to balance it with assertiveness so that both employeesatisfaction and productivity can be achieved. Leaders who can't keepappropriate emotional distance and rely heavily on affective empathyare more susceptible to burnout. By relying more on cognitive empathyleaders can not only create a comforting friendly environment but alsoexcel in their executive skills. Research by Anthony Jack at CaseWestern Reserve University, describes two of the major neural networksfunctioning in our brains as the analytic network (AN) and theempathic network (EN). The analytic network helps us make sense ofthings and events when we are solving problems and making decisions.The empathic network enables us to be open to new ideas and otherpeople. Creating a strategic vision, hiring people with personality jobfit, establishing performance metrics is critical for performance.However balancing empathy with meeting business results requiresleaders to be mindful of their dominant neural network andsuccessfully toggle back and forth as per the unique demands of thesituation. Lastly many a times employees not only crave clear directionand tangible objectives but freedom to choose a work style that suitsthem and is conducive to work environment too. Placing faith andgiving autonomy and flexibility to such employees not only leads tomeeting business metrics but heightened employee well-being andorganisational trust.

How to evaluate empathy in the workplace?

FN Measurements of individual empathyfall in two broad categories situationalempathy and dispositional empathy.Situational empathy is measured byasking subjects about their experiences,studying their behavioural indices andphysiological measures such as heartrate immediately after exposing them toa particular situation. Dispositionalempathy is understood as a person'sstable character trait. It may bemeasured through self-reportmeasures, client feedback, peerjudgment and independent observerjudgement. However, when it comes tocorporate empathy, some see it as anintangible quality difficult to measure.Others see it as a collective capacity ofan organisation to demonstrateempathy to all its stakeholders -employees, customers, shareholders,suppliers, authorities andcommunities. If individual empathycan be measured by studying thecognitive, affective and behaviouralelements, there must be some way ofexamining corporate empathy. After allwhat makes some organisations moreempathetic than others? Research onorganisations perceived to be highlyempathetic reveals that key features ofan empathetic organisation getreflected in multiple ways. Some ofthem being, how sincerely theorganisation practice diversity andinclusion? How satisfied are existingand past employees? Do they strive tonurture a responsive, self-managementculture or a typical hierarchy with atop-down communication? Do theyunderstand the connection betweenprofit & purpose? When it comes tomarketing, does it resort tomanipulative advertising ignoring thevalue orientation and societalimplications? Does it strive to work inan environmentally sustainablemanner or is driven by cost cutting notbothering about the damage toenvironment? To measure corporateempathy, one has to study all suchfactors embedded in the corporateculture and values. This can be done byfirst taking into account all such factorsthat make an organisation empathetic,and then evaluating the organisation onthose factors individually by way ofassessments, qualitative study orfeedback.

What can be the ill effects of empathyin the workplace?

COVER FEATURE

Empathy atWORKPLACEEmpathy has to be modeled in leader's behaviour

BM