DES MOINES (September 13, 2016)–Businessolver, a leader in SaaS-based benefits administration technology, today announced it has developed a proprietary online tool that assesses users’ empathy levels. The E Type Assessment tool, which will be unveiled at the HR Technology Conference & Expo (Oct. 4-7 in Chicago), aims to help further a national conversation around the importance of empathy in the workplace.
The E Type Assessment is a unique offering that allows individuals to better understand their personal level of empathy. With the results, users can learn where gaps in their empathy exist and work toward closing them to achieve greater professional and business results. As an advocate for empathy in the workplace, Businessolver built the E Type Assessment tool to extend discussion fueled by the Businessolver Workplace Empathy Monitor. The first-ever annual report provides key insight into how CEOs, HR leaders, and employees view empathy, and offers steps employers can take to build a more empathetic workplace culture.
With the E Type assessment, users are shown a series of photographs and asked to choose one of four multiple-choice options to identify the emotion displayed by the person in each photo. The higher the number of correctly identified emotions, the higher the user’s level of empathy. The tool categorizes users into one of four E Types, from less empathetic to highly empathetic: Learner, Leader, Teacher, and Expert.
Psychologists characterize low empathy with a tendency to avoid connections with people or tasks that involve a high degree of teamwork, a struggle to put feelings into words, and high inflexibility and pessimism, while also being highly independent and autonomous. Conversely, highly empathetic individuals exhibit effective listening skills, emotional resilience (able to bounce back quickly from failure or being wrong), and an ability to effectively read verbal and nonverbal cues in others. People with high empathy also tend to express feelings clearly and directly, and build team cohesiveness and trust.
“Our research shows that just 24 percent of employees view their organization as empathetic, and 31 percent believe their organization cares more about profit than people,” said Rae Shanahan, Chief Strategy Officer, Businessolver. “That’s harmful enough to any business; however, we also found that 42 percent of consumers would refuse to buy from a company that isn’t empathetic, and 35 percent of employees would switch jobs for equal pay to work for a company that was more empathetic. Engaged employees and loyal customers are the heart of any business – empathy is the key to maintaining both.”
Building Empathy into Technology
Businessolver infuses empathetic thinking into the product design and user experience for its benefits administration platform, including its recommendation engine MyChoiceSM. With MyChoice, employees using the Businessolver system are asked how they feel about certain real-life benefits situations – such as a large, unexpected medical bill or major life event like getting married, having a child, or undergoing surgery – as well as their saving habits to gauge financial preparedness before offering plan recommendations.
“It’s easy to present someone with the lowest-cost plan; it’s more difficult, but ultimately more valuable, to give someone personalized information about what plan might be right for them, based on their needs and habits,” Shanahan said. “That’s the difference that empathy can make.”
Attendees at the 2016 HR Technology Conference & Expo can visit booth 2518 to take the E Type Assessment, learn their E Type, and get detailed results from the Businessolver Workplace Empathy Monitor. The assessment will be available online after the conference at www.businessolver.com.
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About Businessolver
Since 1998, Businessolver has delivered market-changing benefits administration technology supported by an intrinsic responsiveness to client needs. It creates client programs that maximize benefit program investment, minimize risk exposure, and engage employees with easy-to-use solutions and communication tools to assist them in making wise and cost-efficient benefit selections. Founded by HR professionals, Businessolver’s unwavering service-oriented culture and secure SaaS platform provide measurable success in its mission to provide complete client delight.
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