How To Show Respect At Work So Employees Don’t Feel Invisible

We all need appreciation and respect as opposed to feeling invisible at work. It’s like I defined it to a leading global corporation, respect honors individuality and serves as a catalyst, enabling employees to embrace their personal brand, self-advocate and prevent burnout.

Disrespect may show up subtly, like talking over someone in a meeting or ignoring their comment, to more blatant forms, like taking credit for someone else’s work or a microaggression. Yet, regardless of how it manifests, we must self-reflect and work hard to ensure no one feels unseen and disrespect is stamped out.

Recent data from Workhuman found that nearly 30% of workers have felt invisible at work, and 27% have felt flat-out ignored. Beyond feelings of invisibility, there are also the following “invisible skills” going unnoticed in the workplace:

1. Empathy and compassion (27.4%)
2. A sense of curiosity (19.8%)
3. Listening skills or emotional intelligence (15.4%)

When asked to rank which groups at their jobs received the most recognition, workers ranked the following in the top three:

1. Leadership (managers, executives, etc.)
2. People who have a longer company tenure
3. People who have a large network

I recently connected with Meisha-ann Martin, Ph.D., Senior Director of People Analytics and Research at Workhuman. We spoke about how to minimize employees feeling invisible, building connections and belonging, and the role of learning and development in creating cultures of respect.

Rachel Montañez: What day-to-day changes can leaders implement to ensure people on their team don’t feel invisible?

Meisha-ann Martin: Make appreciation an everyday action, and it becomes the culture. Another day-to-day change leaders can make is to have weekly check-ins with their direct reports. Not only does this give them another space to show gratitude, but it’s also an opportunity to build trust; according to our research, employees who have these weekly touch-bases are twice as likely to trust their manager and feel a sense of belonging at work. For a company to grow sustainably and successfully, leadership must take care of people’s needs to erase these feelings of invisibility and foster a sense of belonging. People are at the core of every business, and it is time to take care of them.

Montañez: What are some tangible things employees can do daily to stay connected?

Martin: Our research found 66% want more opportunities to celebrate life events at work - and 54% of organizations aren’t currently doing this. Take the first five minutes of a team meeting to talk about weekend plans, favorite shows, and other personal highlights. Recognize and celebrate a colleague for a personal milestone in the same way you might a professional one.

Find opportunities to connect on hobbies and activities outside of work that enable you to deepen those connections. By reaching out in small ways, first, employees can build better relationships with their coworkers and feel that bringing their whole selves to the table adds value to their organization.

Montañez: Learning and Development has become a more strategic organizational function, according to 72% of surveyed professionals. What specific role can learning and development leaders play in creating cultures of respect?

Martin: Learning and development at work should not only be confined to learning about subject matters; it should also encompass learning from each other – what works, what doesn’t, and perhaps most importantly, how to create a psychologically safe environment. Bias and stereotypes play a role in receiving gratitude or recognition. Our research supports this, as Black and Hispanic employees are less likely to report equitable recognition than white employees.

Only 19% of Black and 21% of Hispanic employees strongly agree they receive similar recognition as other team members. Learning and development leaders should enroll employees in courses on what psychological safety looks like, then use recognition to reinforce those behaviors. Then, as this cycle continues, use an employee engagement survey to determine whether the courses are actually working. By assessing and course-correcting based on that data, organizations can create a positive work environment that emphasizes respect and equal treatment of everyone.

Montañez: Sponsorship is a way for high-performers and emerging talent to increase visibility and be supported by company leaders and influences who can help them experience career advancement. Yet despite aspiration levels, only 5% of up-and-coming Black employees succeed in winning sponsorship compared to 20% of their white peers. What are some best practices to increase sponsorship for people of color?

Martin: Many companies tend to believe that representation equals success when it comes to DEI goals. However, there is so much more to consider and measure if companies truly want to identify and retain top performers. To this end, sponsorship should be thought of as a form of allyship: leaders should be encouraged to find the promising, diverse talent they can mentor towards success. Studies show that 62% of women of color feel disadvantaged by not having an influential mentor. Employers should think of sponsorship to engage their diverse employees, bolster their leadership pipeline, and cultivate and retain talent that may have previously gone unnoticed.

Perhaps most alarming in all of the discussed WorkHuman data is that only 3.4% of workers who felt invisible sought outside help like coaching. Disrespect has such a crippling effect, and if we don’t employ upstream strategies, we run the risk of quiet-quitting, burnout and a limit in creativity and impact. Respect is the lifeblood that circulates throughout every organization. Without it, engagement stops.