‘Organisations must create an empathetic culture for employees’

The discussion highlighted the importance of how organisations and leaders must create a more empathetic and understanding environment at work place

Corporate sector has a huge reach and it can make a difference when it comes to providing an empathetic space to people, said Anjali Gopalan, Executive Director, The Naz Foundation, at the 4^th edition of e4m PR and Corp Comm Women Achievers Summit.

During a conversation on ‘Art of Empathy and Compassion’ with Gayathri Sharma, Head of Communication, India and South Asia, Rolls Royce, Gopalan urged that organisations should encourage empathy without making employees feel they will be sidelined in any way.

“A lot of training is required. Being open to or creating an environment where people can learn to be empathetic without feeling they will be sidelined in any way, is needed,” she said.

Gopalan, who closely works with the marginalised sections of the society, spoke about managing the growing mental health issues at work and asserted that empathy has to be taught.

“Empathy is a learned behaviour. It has to be taught. I feel we are not spending enough time with our young people to do that. The kind of pressure being put on young people is unbelievable,” she said.

When Gayathri Sharma mentioned that empathy is a buzz word being used by all organisations and there is often a lot of confusion between sympathy and empathy, Gopalan responded that sympathising is easy but empathising requires self-work first.

“It is very easy to sympathise but empathising is always problematic as it requires you to work on yourself first. Suppose, my work involves working with marginalised communities. So, I can either be sympathetic or work with them to be able to create an environment for them to take them to the next level.

“Most people don’t appreciate sympathy because they feel they are being looked down to. It is something we need to teach ourselves. Because the corporate sector has the kind of reach it does, they are the people who can actually make a difference. If I talk about diversity and inclusion, it all has to come from the mind and the heart. If that does not happen. I don’t think we can accomplish much. It is important to look at issues through a different lens,” she said.

Taking the discussion forward, Sharma said that there are enough examples and references in Indian mythology when it comes to accepting diversity as a society.

“We have been one of the most evolved societies and probably somewhere along the way we lost it. Now, we are increasingly, rather than looking inwards, we are looking a lot towards the West and adopting their way of thinking,” said Sharma.

Adding to this, Gopalan said, “We live in a globalised world and we will have to look beyond. What is important is to remember that we do have our own values and traditions which we should not lose. But why can’t we learn the good things from the West, like being professional at the workplace? Closing our minds in any way is not a good thing to happen.”

She also spoke about how it was equally important to be kind to animals and the environment.

“We are living in very difficult times but each one of us has to commit to bring about a change. Climate change is doing its thing and we need to act responsibly too. I also work with animals and we recently removed 64 kilograms of plastic from a cow,” she said while showing a plastic water bottle which she did not open despite being parched as a protest against plastic.

She said that you can judge a society by the way it treats animals and urged the society, particularly young individuals to do their bit without worrying about how much difference it will make.

“I am making a politically incorrect statement but I want to tell young people, do not look at the big picture. I am saying it because when we do look at the big picture, we get paralysed. Each one in this room can touch one life and make a difference. We have so much and we must give back. It is important to do it. That’s when change will happen,” she said.

“Each one of us is an influencer and let’s make a little bit of a difference in our own spheres,” said Sharma.