Employees don't think their COVID, racial equity policies are genuine

More than half of employees surveyed in a new report believe that their companies' racial equity- and COVID-related policies are not genuine.

The study, Words Aren't Enough: The Risks of Performative Policies, was conducted as employers and workplaces across the world adapted to changes brought about by the pandemic and social movements.

However, the report from Catalyst revealed that 68% of employees don't think their organisation's COVID-19 policies are genuine.

On the other hand, the minority who think their organizations' efforts were sincere reported experiencing more inclusion, engagement, feelings of respect and value for their life circumstances, ability to balance life-work demands, and intent to stay.

In terms of racial equity policies, three-quarters of the respondents (75%) said they don't think their organizations were sincere about them. Employees from marginalised racial and ethnic groups were less likely to view such policies as genuine (23%), compared to white employees (29%).

On the other hand, employees from marginalised racial and ethnic groups who think their organisations have genuine racial equity policies reported more inclusion, engagement, feelings of respect, ability to balance life-work demands, and intent to stay.

Key to leadership

Following these findings, report authors Tara Van Bommel, PhD; Kathrina Robotham, PhD; and Danielle Jackson, PhD, said leadership empathy is key to how employees perceive racial equity- and COVID-related policies.

"We are amid a paradigm shift that compels companies and leaders to take a stand on the defining social and environmental issues of our time," said Van Bommel in a statement.

"Empathy is a vital skill—one that can be learned, developed, and strengthened, and when CEOs and other senior leaders are empathic with employees, they are able to address employee priorities in a vision that will bring deep change and success to everyone."

Read more: Why empathy is the most important leadership skill in 2022

This is further substantiated by the report's findings, as employees who believe their organization's COVID policies are genuine and had empathic senior leaders reported less burnout than others.

Employees from marginalised race and ethnic groups who think racial equity policies are genuine, while also enjoying greater sympathy from senior leaders, reported more experiences of inclusion, with women more engaged because of it.

Lorraine Hariton, Catalyst president and CEO, said in a statement that the findings should be a "wake-up call" for organisations still seeing high turnover rates.

"This report is a wake-up call for CEOs and other senior leaders at a time when employers are still facing high turnover due to the Great Resignation," said Hariton in a statement.

"When faced with the next unprecedented disruption, leaders must be able to address it with empathy and authentic, meaningful actions."