The Underutilized Secret to Exceptional Workplaces
Alexa Starks is an award-winning workplace culture innovator and founder of Executive Moms. She partners with organizations to deliver parent-forward reentry workshops and coaches working moms with tools and systems to thrive in their first year back.
When I walk into a room full of senior leaders and ask, “Which of you leads with compassion?” the silence is often deafening. Yet ask them whether they believe compassion matters, and almost every hand goes up. In fact, in a global survey of more than 1,000 business leaders, 91% said compassion is very important, and 80% said they wish they had stronger compassion skills.
That gap between belief and implementation is where many workplaces falter. Compassion is not fluff. It’s a strategic lever, and one that transforms culture, retention, performance, and human potential. Let me show you why and how.
The case for compassion in leadership
Better performance, less burnout: Highly compassionate leaders report 66% less stress and an astonishing 200% lower intention to quit compared to leaders less aligned with compassion. In environments where compassion is active, employees show higher psychological safety and reduced risk of burnout. One empirical study in South Korea found that compassion positively influences job performance, mediated by employees’ positive work identity and psychological capital (resilience, confidence, and hope).
Stronger engagement, deeper loyalty: Compassionate leadership strengthens trust and cooperation, two foundations of high-functioning teams. Research also shows that when leaders show empathy, employees are more likely to feel included and engaged. Seventy-six percent of workers under empathetic leadership said they felt more engaged compared to 32% under less empathetic ones.
Aligning compassion with returns: The belief in compassion is strong, but translating it into action yields real ROI. In one survey, 84% of respondents said a compassionate workplace leads to greater productivity through cooperation, yet 68% of workers believe their workplaces are more competitive than cooperative. That discrepancy signals an opportunity.
Why compassion especially matters in parent-forward cultures
As someone who coaches leaders to build environments where parents can show up fully, I see three critical touchpoints where compassion becomes the competitive edge:
Reentry after parental leave: Many mothers and fathers returning to work feel invisible or penalized. Compassionate reentry plans, such as ramped workloads, mentoring, and flexibility, signal value, not limitation.
Flexible outcomes over rigid hours: Compassion isn’t about avoiding accountability, it’s about removing unnecessary barriers so parents can deliver.
Bias awareness and training: Compassion includes calling out the “motherhood penalty” and creating feedback processes that guard against it. In my workshops, I help leaders craft scripts and structural checks so compassion doesn’t become performative but consistent.
As I often say in my sessions: “Compassion doesn’t lower the bar. It removes the unnecessary barriers so people can rise higher.”
Navigating the paradoxes of compassion in the workplace
Compassion isn’t entirely frictionless. A recent study highlighted six paradoxes leaders and employees face when compassion is in play, including navigating hierarchy, balancing fairness, and maintaining boundaries. That’s why compassion must be paired with wisdom, knowing when to stretch, when to push, and when to hold space. Harvard Business Review similarly emphasizes that compassion alone isn’t enough, it must be combined with sound judgment and leadership competence.
Your next move: Move from intent to impact
Let’s make compassion strategic, not sporadic. Here’s a mini blueprint you can start with:
Audit touchpoints in your employee experience (reentry, manager check-ins, performance reviews) and ask, “Where is compassion absent?”
Train managers not just in empathy but in compassionate leadership, including how to hold hard conversations with humanity.
Design structures such as phased reentry after parental leave, outcome-based metrics, and support policies that make compassion repeatable and institutional.
Measure impact: track turnover, burnout, and engagement before and after.
If you’re ready to transform your workplace culture, I’d love to bring a compassion-centered leadership workshop, keynote, or parent-forward design session to your organization. Reach out here, or visit my website, and let’s strategize a path to a workplace where compassion is not a nice-to-have but the backbone of performance.
Read more from Alexa Starks
Alexa Starks, Workplace Culture Innovator & Leadership Strategist
Alexa Starks is an award-winning workplace culture innovator, leadership strategist, and founder of Executive Moms. After a decade in corporate operations, she witnessed how outdated systems force working parents, especially moms, out of leadership pipelines. Today, she partners with organizations through her acclaimed workshops, creating parent-forward cultures that retain top talent and foster equity. As a mom of two, Alexa blends lived experience with corporate expertise, making her a leading voice on reentry, resilience, and the future of work. Her work has been recognized nationally, earning her the title of Best Workplace Culture Innovator in the U.S. in 2025.
