Empathy can go a long way in at the office

For decades, says Patnaik, individuals have been expected to suppress emotions and think, “it’s just business. It’s not personal.” Well, he adds, “You leave all your instincts behind as well.”

General Motor’s former CEO Rick Wagoner, he says, “is the classic example of a CEO who lost empathy. The destruction of the American auto industry was a train wreck and he was completely out of touch.”

Too many CEOs are out of touch with their workers, customers and suppliers because they live in the bubble of boardrooms, corner offices and make decisions based on Power Point reports, he maintains.

Patnaik has something called an Empath-O-Meter on his Web site, WiredToCare.com where he allows readers to rate the empathy levels at their companies.

The three with the highest empathy ratings:  Commerce Bank, Harley-Davidson and IBM.

The three with the lowest ratings: Citibank, Delta Air Lines and Kraft.

“Businesses have gotten out of touch with reality,” he stresses. “Empathy is about getting in touch with reality.”

Lay offs vs. other cuts
Sometimes making the empathetic decision may not always be the best business decision.

Take John Brown, president of Primary Freight Services, a shipping and logistics company in Rancho Dominguez, Calif.

Brown saw his family-run firm’s revenues drop 24 percent last year and despite many of his competitors slashing 30 percent of their workforces he decided to buck the trend. He chose instead to cut executive pay, including his own, and moved his staff to a four-day work week, thus saving 18 jobs and medical coverage for his employees.

“It would have been a lot easier to look better if I laid off staff,” he says about his company’s balance sheet.

“But service is all I have,” he explains. “If I took away the core of what I have I would have taken away from what made the company successful in the first place — my employees.”

To boost morale, the company has instituted a Wii bowling tournament with cash prizes that kicks off June 22 and will include workers at headquarters and offices in Chicago and Union, N.J.

Workers were asked to build avatars of themselves and the management team, and the whole process has taken some of the doom and gloom out of the company’s present situation. “I haven’t heard so much laughter in a while,” he points out.

Michelle Perez has been the warehouse supervisor at Primary Freight for a year and a half and expected layoffs when the downturn in the economy started to impact the company but was pleasantly surprised at the steps Brown took to keep jobs intact.

“It helped the morale of everybody to know they care,” she says. “They appreciate employees and that makes us want to go above and beyond everyday.”

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