Finally, finally, finally it's showing up in headlines more than ever that treating people like human beings at work is worthwhile. (Of course we already knew that.)

You could say it's a program-of-the-month, but I don't think so. We now have the stats to prove the impact on ROI. And it's up to us to expect more and keep the momentum going.

You could say it’s about employee engagement, employee satisfaction, morale, spirit, vitality or any other similar buzzword of the day.

Organizations create programs around those topics. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Intention and commitment at the leadership level is imperative. Yet to me it is a value to be embodied and applied in our day-to-day interactions. This is as important as a structured program.

It's business AND it's personal.

Long ago, before I became an HR professional, I sent out an email at the request of an employee. She was off work for a prolonged period of time, having experienced a serious accident. She asked me to give her coworkers an update on her condition.

An HR generalist was on the list. He called me immediately and told me to never do that again. I was not respecting the employee’s privacy.

There are many reasons why I shouldn’t have sent that email. HIPAA was just entering the scene. I get it. Yet what bothered me the most is that the HR rep was not sensitive in delivering that message to me. He was correct in his assessment of the situation. It was his job. He had the right to give me feedback. 

I won’t say he enjoyed the embarrassment I felt, but he was indifferent to it, which is almost as bad. I didn’t feel like he treated me like a human being that day.

A pro-human organization walks the talk. 

You’ve probably heard this from many companies, “Our employees are our most valuable assets.” Many companies have “respect for people” on their list of company values.

Others conduct employee surveys to gauge the level of employee satisfaction, motivation and morale. Some claim employees are one of their major stakeholders. What would it take to be consistent to ensure the human beings who happen to be employees are feeling valued, and benefit by that?

Studies show that organizations that display empathy, among other human-related attributes, are more successful. In the book Firms of Endearment author Raj Sisodia et al. state the “firms of endearment” that are publicly held returned 1,026 percent for investors over the 10 years ending June 30, 2006. Compare that with 122 percent for the S&P 500.

NOTE: Be sure to check your inbox tomorrow for part 2, where we discuss simple things you can do immediately to create a more pro-human workplace.