3 Reasons Why The Continuing Covid-19 Pandemic Illustrates The Need For Compassionate Leadership

The pandemic era may feel like the optimum moment for leaders to take control and lead from the front, but leading from the front must not be synonymous with failing to regard those who follow behind. It is incredibly important for leaders to read the fears and anxieties of employees and colleagues and help them work through their own responses to these trying times.

As part of a report titled The Next Great Disruption Is Hybrid Work – Are We Ready? Microsoft discovered that 54% of GenZ workers and 41% of the entire global workforce could be considering handing in their resignation. 

Below are a few reasons why this implies a "now or never" moment for leaders to follow compassionate leadership:

Deteriorating Mental Health

Without a doubt, COVID-19 has been associated with an increase in mental health issues. This pandemic has affected you, me, and all of us. When a crisis like this occurs, a wide array of physiological and psychological reactions can be triggered.

According to the Centre of Disease Control and Prevention anxiety and depression have gone up drastically amid the pandemic. Our mental health has taken a huge hit with the imminent risks and danger of another wave. We are social animals at the end of the day and working remotely has only exacerbated the problem.

Still not too late to start the conversation on employee mental health

Your response to stress can either be conscious or unconscious. Even as the third wave hits countries across the world, leaders have yet another opportunity to start the conversation on mental health.

Leaders must remind themselves that vulnerability, which is often viewed as a weak characteristic, is actually the strongest quality a leader or a person can possess. A visible vulnerability in a leader's communication sends a powerful message that employees can trust them and that they can rely on them for constructive use of shared knowledge. Once you, as a leader start by courageously exposing your vulnerable side, only then everyone will realize that they can do so too. You, your team, and the process need to be patient for trust to grow.

For companies, a work-from-home culture has been a necessity since 2020. But there is a misconception that remote working provides more work-life balance. That is not the case. Leaders need to acknowledge that workflow and life flow are more like the axles of a see-saw that go up and down depending on the immediate circumstances and must be addressed as and when the balance takes a hit.

Burnout and lack of satisfaction at work

The Covid-19 era has caused more physical and mental exhaustion to employees than ever. People have lost loved ones, experienced incredible mental stress, as well as endured physical and medical trauma. As of May 2020, WTW reports 92% of its employees have experienced some level of anxiety in the wake of the pandemic, and 55% are feeling moderate to extremely anxious. 70% of employees are distracted from work due to COVID-19 issues. In such a scenario, an organization must, first and foremost, understand its employees' emotional wellbeing needs.

What can you do as a leader?

Leadership has been carrying a heavy emotional load for the past two years: guiding teams to recover from the pandemic and boosting the mental health of their employees. When determining workplace health, leaders need to take into account lifestyle factors, the prevalence of diseases, and barriers to healthcare affecting one's mental health. Empathy plays a huge role in helping employees deal with these responsibilities. In addition to the contribution empathy makes to organizational culture and mental health responses, it also drives employee engagement. The ability to empathize may not be a brand-new skill for leaders, but it now carries a new level of significance. Empathy is the leadership competency of the future that leaders with compassion must develop and demonstrate. 

Turnover Tsunami

At some point, all of us have felt frustrated at work. But the percentage of people considering leave their jobs has increased substantially over the last two years. 36% of millennial employees, and 34% parents with children enrolled in remote learning at home, anticipate leaving their current jobs once the pandemic is over. A high employee turnover rate can have devastating effects on corporate reputation, productivity, and morale, all of which negatively impact the bottom line.

A recent study by Businessolver found that 93% of employees are willing to stay with an empathic employer and 82% will leave their current organization to join an empathic one. As such, it is evident that, if managers and employees are able to develop a psychologically safe workplace through empathy and compassionate leadership, employees will feel free to discuss difficult topics, and leaders will find more spaces to lead creatively.

Leaders must demonstrate empathy and compassion in the once-again-developing scenarios, and deal with the escalating human issues as their first priority. The opportunity has come to show how a leader with empathy can bring a positive change to the organization. It’s now or never.