The Empathy Gap at Work Is Showing

Camille Bradbury is Editor-in-Chief of HRinsidr, where she translates evolving compliance and employment law developments into practical guidance for HR leaders. She has partnered with entrepreneurs, corporate teams, nonprofits, and government agencies to navigate legal complexity and operational growth, supporting organizations from early-stage startups to multimillion-dollar enterprises. Her work focuses on helping HR lead high-stakes people decisions with clarity and confidence.

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We are not “post-crisis.” We are living in sustained disruption.

Political division. Immigration enforcement. Economic anxiety. AI displacement fears. Layoffs that keep cycling. Global conflict streaming into our phones 24/7.

The nervous system does not differentiate between a headline and a lived experience. It just registers threat. And that threat is walking into work every day.

Nearly 90% of adults experience at least one traumatic event in their lifetime. That means most of the behaviors baffling leaders right now—withdrawal, irritability, defensiveness, sudden drops in performance, conflict escalation—may not be attitude problems at all. They may be stress responses.

HR is sitting at the intersection of all of it.

What looks like:

• A disengaged employee
• A team member who snaps in meetings
• A manager who avoids hard conversations
• A candidate who shuts down mid-interview

Can sometimes be unresolved trauma, chronic stress, or psychological injury.

That does not mean HR becomes the therapist.

But it does mean we stop mislabeling symptoms as character flaws.

Since the pandemic, civility complaints, emotional dysregulation, and unpredictable behavior have surged. Many HR professionals quietly left the field because absorbing this level of emotional intensity without tools is exhausting.

Yet this moment also calls HR back to the core of the profession: holding the human side of work with steadiness and skill.

There was a time in my own career when psychological safety on my team was eroding fast. Leadership dismissed concerns. Accountability went nowhere.

When I finally met with HR, I expected procedure. What I received was empathy.

No promises. No grand interventions. Just a calm, grounded human response.

That single interaction changed my loyalty to the company more than any bonus or promotion ever could. It cost HR nothing to offer empathy. It paid dividends in retention, trust, and engagement.

That is not soft. That is strategic.

Empathy Is a Business Skill

Research consistently shows empathy is one of the strongest drivers of performance, engagement, and retention.

When employees feel their leaders are empathetic, the overwhelming majority report they can better navigate work and life demands. And employees routinely say they would leave—or even take a pay cut—for a more empathetic employer.

Why?

Because psychological safety fuels innovation, collaboration, and risk-taking. And psychological safety begins with feeling understood.

Katharine Manning, who has spent decades working on trauma and victimization—including high-profile federal cases—defines trauma as an emotional injury that affects performance and well-being.

Leaders are now responding to trauma whether they were trained to or not.

The question is whether they will do it skillfully.

Empathy does not mean overstepping boundaries. It does not mean absorbing emotional labor without limits. It does not mean abandoning accountability.

It means responding in a structured way.

A practical five-step model HR can teach and role model:

1. Listen

• Manage your own reactions first.
• Pay attention to body language.
• Ask open-ended questions.
• Hear what is not being said.

2. Acknowledge

Recognize the courage it takes for someone to disclose something difficult. Name it. “Thank you for sharing this with me.”

3. Share

• Provide clarity about process.
• Explain what you can and cannot do.
• Restore a sense of control with information.

4. Empower

Offer resources—EAP, leave options, reporting pathways, accommodations. Let the employee choose their next step.

5. Return

• Create a path for follow-up. Trauma impairs memory and processing.
• Invite them back with questions.
• This framework keeps HR in its lane while still responding with humanity.

One of the biggest pushbacks from leaders is this:

“If we lean into empathy, won’t we lose performance standards?”

The opposite is true.

When people feel psychologically safe, they can receive feedback without spiraling into defensiveness. They can stay regulated long enough to improve.

Empathy addresses the emotional undercurrent that often blocks performance improvement in the first place.

You can say:

“I care about what you’re dealing with.”

“And we still need to talk about expectations.”

Both can coexist.

We are navigating:

• Polarized workplaces
• Enforcement fears
• AI bias litigation
• Economic instability
• Generational tension
• Burned-out managers

HR cannot solve all of it.

But HR can model steadiness.

Role modeling empathy in high-tension moments dismantles conflict faster than policy alone. When leaders see difficult dynamics soften because someone listened well, they begin to adopt the behavior themselves.

Empathy becomes cultural—not performative.

And in a divided, overstimulated world, that may be the competitive advantage organizations are underestimating.

The information contained in this site is provided for informational purposes only, and should not be construed as legal advice on any subject matter.