E D I TOR’S NOT E
Empathy Now!
It Takes All Kindness family-owned business a kinder place. The exec has been hyper-focused on ARE YOU TOUGH enough to be kind? improving the company’s culture since he took the helm five years ago. He I recently came across this question as a lyric hidden has incorporated 360 feedback, a policy that encourages employees to pipe deep within a U2 song, thanks to a bout of insomnia and up anytime with suggestions or complaints. He just issued the company’s iTunes. I’m glad I did, because like any good art—e.g. an first-ever Thanksgiving bonus, and its flexible work-from-home policy Irish poet’s witty juxtaposition—it got me thinking about remains in place, among many other initiatives. Moehring reports that the the tremendous fortitude it takes to be kind, particularly efforts are paying huge dividends; the company scored its best sales in its hisin the business world, where the overriding model has tory in 2020 and is forecasting to top that this year. He credits tremendous long been to increase sales and profit margins at all costs teamwork as a key factor in this success. People have stepped up and filled in and to treat employees as a lowly cost center. Compawhere they were needed. In fact, Moehring says, “the perfect weapon against nies that institute cutbacks, furloughs and layoffs when the pandemic is a great corporate culture.” times get tough are often praised for their business acumen and rewarded by Mark Worden, CEO of Shoe Carnival, the subject of our retail profile Wall Street. Mean, for lack of a better word, is good. (p. 26), is also on a mission to improve the workplace environment for its But is it really? Might a kinder business model be more productive and 5,000-plus employees. That includes higher average hourly rates, increased prosperous in the long term—for both employers and employees? Many studlevels of time off and a robust benefits plan. ies have shown that a happy worker is a more The goal, Worden adds, is to differentiate the productive one. That’s a win-win scenario. 377-store family shoe chain by offering work Studies have also shown that unhappy and environments that employees “enjoy and that stressed workers are less productive, and that ultimately are career paths they can grow with negativity is often carried into their personal a growth retailer.” (Shoe Carnival is on multilives, where all sorts of bad things can happen. billion-dollar growth plan over the next decade In contrast, companies that show empathy that includes expansion, acquisitions and market toward employees experience an increase in share conquests.) overall workplace positivity. Empathy can spur Shoe Carnival’s commitment to being kind employee innovation, engagement, retention, —Karl Moehring, CEO, to its employees was perhaps best exemplified inclusivity and better work-life balance. Being Washington Shoe Company when management decided not to furlough or kind, in this regard, is good. lay off a single employee amid the pandemic. Of course empathy alone is not enough of Many businesses, in contrast, relied on the mean a draw in today’s labor market, considered approach, issuing furloughs and pink slips by the tightest in history. The pandemic-induced the boatload. The risks tied to Shoe Carnival’s Great Realization has awakened the workforce decision were huge because cash had stopped to the fact that they don’t have to take just any flowing in. Yet Worden says management chose job—even if the pay is good. They don’t have the kinder, albeit much tougher, approach, to settle. Employees now demand flexibility believing it was “just the right thing to do as human beings.” in where, when and how they work. They want to believe in the company’s So, as Bono asks, “Are you tough enough to be kind?” Shoe Carnival defimission and values. They want to like their coworkers and appreciate their nitely is. What’s more, Worden says the decision has been hugely successful. boss. Life’s too unpredictable and short to slog through a miserable commute, Not only did the retailer get a massive head start on the competition when working for a mean boss at a soulless company. stores reopened, it has also generated tremendous employee loyalty. In fact, Employers must now be kind on a whole different level. A tectonic shift is Worden says that, in hindsight, continuing to employ its people was “probably under way. In addition to better pay, employers big and small are now offering the best decision of the entire pandemic so far.” incentives like career development programs, tuition reimbursement plans, These are just two industry examples of a kinder approach to business appreciation and referral bonuses, removing barriers like degree requiremanagement. Many more employers are reimagining what it means to “go ments, and bending over backwards in terms of flexible work environments. to work”—and making it better. It’s an exciting time. Great disruption often Perhaps not since the early days of unions has the focus on kindness toward brings even greater opportunity to change and improve. While the panemployees been greater. demic has brought unprecedented pain and suffering, perhaps an unfolding Karl Moehring, CEO of Washington Shoe Company and subject of this issue’s Kind Revolution is one way for us all to heal. Q&A (p. 10), is all-in on efforts to make the 130-year-old, fourth-generation,
“The perfect weapon against the pandemic is a great corporate culture.”
Greg Dutter
Editorial Director
4 footwearplusmagazine.com • february 2022
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