Compassion and Corporate America

Compassion and Corporate America

Michael Perdew

Compassion, a Necessary Skill in Corporate America

Webster’s Dictionary -

Compassion is an awareness of and sympathy for another’s suffering.

Many people view compassion as a weakness and claim that it has no place in Corporate America; this way of thinking is prehistoric. Companies that do not understand the importance of compassion towards its employees will become history like the dinosaur.

According to a survey conducted in 1996 by Cornell's Johnson Graduate School of Management, executive’s from fortune 1,000 company’s say, “Compassion will be one of the most important characteristics business leaders will need for success a decade from now.” The majority (58 percent) of the executives strongly agreed that corporations have a responsibility to address social issues such as work and family, diversity, equal rights and the environment.

Corporate America is beginning to show compassion towards employees showing signs of burnout and stress by offering employee training in stress management and support for mental stability in order to prevent situations that might lead to unethical business practices, or worse. In 2006, MSNBC reported that a postal worker that had been placed on medical leave for psychological problems shot five people to death and then killed herself at a mail-processing center in Goleta, California (MSNBC 2006). A similar case happened in 1986 when a fired postal employee returned to the post office and killed 14 people before turning the gun on himself. Workplace violence is not just a postal service concern; cases like these have become more relevant in the work place due to stress, longer workdays and “Bull Dog” management tactics. According to The Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA), nearly 2 million American workers are victims of workplace violence each year (OSHA 2002).

The seriousness of violence in the workplace regarding burnout and stress is an issue that demands the immediate attention of company owners and corporate CEO’s. Even though many companies have established safety and security measures throughout the company such as, requiring security cards and or identification badges for employee entrance to the building, handbook’s defining workplace violence and the consequences, workplace violence training for employee’s and management; these measures are not enough in preventing an employee from “Going Postal”.

Showing compassion and understanding in the early stages of employee stress, (whether it is personal or professional) is the true prevention of work related violence. Once upon a time we were taught to keep personal issues at home and to keep professional issues at work, these standards no longer apply; more and more people are working longer hours and or taking work home with them in order to meet required deadlines, postponing vacation’s, and coming to work sick. Some companies have redirected their sights on preventing stress and burnout before it has the chance to become a violent issue, rather then if it becomes an issue. By offering compassion and understanding to their employee’s in the form of vacation time, paid leave of absence, better insurance with mental health coverage, stress management classes, early retirement, positive recognition, assigning difficult projects to multiple employee’s, and better salaries, Corporate America can better manage employees that have a higher risk of committing workplace acts of violence. Standard business practice should reflect the need to prevent