Shanis Windland, Vice President of Diversity & Inclusion, VMware sits down with Lisa Martin for VMware's Women Transforming Technology event. #wt2sv #vmware #womenintech https://siliconangle.com/2020/05/18/empathy-becomes-an-unexpected-essential-for-pandemic-business-survival-wt2sv/ Empathy becomes an unexpected essential for pandemic business survival It’s easy to dismiss the effects of the pandemic on tech workers who established telecommute routines prior to the pandemic. But working under COVID-19 isn’t normal working from home. “This is working from home, not having help, dealing with homeschooling, still trying to succeed at work, and a variety of other things,” Shanis Windland said. It is important for managers to have empathy and offer support for workers feeling burned out or disengaged due to COVID-19-related stress, according to Windland. “VMware announced pandemic leaves for all of their employees to allow exactly that. If you need to take a break, take a break. No questions asked,” she said. The company is also sponsoring activities that foster connection and offer a diversion from the stress of daily life. These include virtual coffee meet-ups and parties. “We did a sort of variety show as an all-hands and had 20,000 employees calling in to it,” Windland said. Like Sutter, she sees the change becoming a permanent, and positive, part of the company’s structure. “It’s been this huge impetus to grab onto this as an opportunity to build the future of the company to tap into new talent pools and to really embrace how and where our employees want to work,”she said.