The whiplash of 2020 events elevated employee care as a key business driver. So goBeyondProfit conducted a statewide poll asking Georgia employees for insights into what they want and need. 

Employed Georgians gave employers a B grade. They would give an A grade – and likely greater productivity and retention – for companies and leaders demonstrating greater empathy and care.

For the most part, employers are doing well delivering on what matters to employees. A gap analysis shows two significant areas where behaviors are highly important but corresponding ratings are low: empathy and racial/social conversations.

Empathy gap. The largest gap appears where employees value leaders’ demonstrations of empathy toward employees (79%) and the community (76%), with performance gaps of 18 and 14 points respectively.

Racial issues/conversations. Similarly, high majorities of respondents value addressing racial issues/conversations (75%) and addressing social issues I care about (73%). Those register performance gaps of 15 and 13 points respectively.

Unsurprisingly, there are statistically valid differences based on age, ethnicity and location of respondents. 

For example, on the question of addressing racial issues and conversation, Black employees are more likely than white employees to rate their employer as Poor/ Terrible (20% vs. 10%) while white employees are more inclined to give an Excellent or Good rating (68% vs. 52%). Black employees are also more likely than white respondents to rate their senior leader as “terrible” at demonstrating empathy towards members of the community (13% vs. 5%).

The full report covers specific behavioral and tactical recommendations for leaders to prioritize in 2021, plus employee connectivity insights at work and how to balance individualized needs.

Check it out and please let us know what you think.