Being Compassionate

Understanding the role of compassion beyond retention

In this series we’re exploring how to transform the wellbeing and retention for newly recruited international colleagues. Within a context of many other solutions, we’re answering how creating a compassionate, inclusive culture – starting within each person – contributes to a sense of belonging, connection, being valued, and growth within healthcare teams.

This article looks at how being compassionate is integral to creating the cultures that support workforce retention, with a particular focus on supporting newly recruited international healthcare professionals.

Introduction

We each have a role to play in retention which goes beyond convincing people not to leave. Nearly 1 in 3 (29.12%) of respondents to the NHS Staff Survey (2023) said they ‘often think about leaving this organisation’. Furthermore, with almost half of newly joined nurses and midwives being trained outside the UK a focus on sustainable retention strategies to internationally recruited colleagues is essential to maintaining the growth of the workforce (NMC data report, September 2023). At its core, retaining staff is about enabling people to feel valued, a sense of belonging, safe, supported, fulfilled, and have opportunity to grow and contribute within their place of work. 

There are many different areas of action to take to support retention within care, namely: compassionate leadership, pay, development opportunities, schemes, programmes, engagement opportunities, and culture. We believe that culture change goes beyond the idea of retention as a statistic and considers the quality of experience, starting within each person’s contribution. In this article, we’re focusing on how being more compassionate – no matter your role – contributes to people feeling supported and a sense of belonging. These are integral experiences to a compassionate and inclusive culture and to the wellbeing and retention of international colleagues. 

Aligned with their “People Promise”, the NHS agreed that one of their key ambitions is to ‘have more people, working differently in a compassionate and inclusive culture’. As well as to ‘improve staff experience’, help them feel ‘valued’, ‘happy at work’, and be ‘supported to achieve their individual ambitions in the workplace’. To affect sustainable culture change and to consistently enable these experiences, (from the recruitment process all the way to leadership level) person by person; action by action; we each create this compassionate and inclusive culture which contributes to ours and our colleagues’ retention.

Foundations of compassion

We generally understand compassion (noun) as a desire to alleviate the suffering for another, or a desire to support and empower another. Its root is from the Latin, ‘compati’: to suffer with, however its meanings have evolved over time and we invite you to see it, not as a pity for, but as a desire to be in support of someone whether or not they are suffering.

Compassion often arises from empathising with someone’s situation, but we’re curious as to whether listening and empathy always precede compassion, or if we can act compassionately before we listen or empathise. For example, is the choice to show up as a better listener to someone already an act of compassion? In choosing to really listen to someone, are we already saying, “your voice matters”, “your experience is valid”, and is this compassion? 

To be a compassionate person, one must recognise each person’s experience as unique and value their contribution to the world. Compassion is not about being the healer for the wounded, it's about recognising the shared humanity in every person. There are certain worldviews and beliefs that underpin someone’s capacity for compassion. For example, ‘every voice matters’, or, ‘though our experiences are different they are equally valid and real’. 

What values and beliefs are foundational to you being compassionate?

Capacity for compassion

Holding compassionate values and beliefs can take practice, which can take energy, and when your energy is drained from a difficult experience at work or a long day, it won’t come as naturally to you to value everyone’s experience and want to hear all about it. If this is the case, we invite you to consider,

What do you need to be able to practice compassion towards another?

What might it take for you to be able to show up for this other being and hold those foundational values and beliefs? Do you first need a cup of tea and two minutes to breathe and steady yourself? In times when being compassionate towards others feels like heavy lifting, we invite you to reflect and offer yourself some self-compassion. Give yourself permission to re-charge your energy. Afterwards, perhaps you’ll have the capacity for another. 

Checkout this resource on managing compassion fatigue from Royal College of Nursing

Compassionate Leadership

Considering, then, compassion in the context of being a leader, how might one’s practice of self-awareness, self-compassion, compassionate beliefs, and good listening contribute to retention?

What are the underpinning beliefs and values that make a compassionate leader?

We know, within the NHS, line managers ‘play a key role in supporting engagement at a team level where it will have the most impact’, increasing productivity and reducing sickness absence. 71.02% of staff ‘agreed that their immediate manager cares about their concerns’ according to the most recent Staff Survey (2023). Regular check ins to listen and offer support enables your team to feel valued and supported – both key factors of retention. For newly onboarded international colleagues, experiencing a sense of isolation, alienation, and feeling left out is not uncommon. It is vital to offer them – especially those from minority groups – compassion check-ins; a supportive space to be heard. Additionally, compassionate peer-support networks are an effective way of making a positive difference to sense of belonging and long-term retention.

Leaders also have the opportunity to implement schemes and programs which promote a caring, compassionate culture.  Examples of compassionate leadership include proactively listening to staff feedback, empathising with the big picture and putting into place schemes and programs which alleviate the suffering of, or support and empower, their teams overall. 

Read this example of how BHRUT started the country’s first nurse mentoring service

Compassion and wellbeing

Compassion in the workplace supports better wellbeing of the workforce. Supporting wellbeing should not be just a ‘nice to do’ and should be integral to an organisation’s retention strategy; taking compassionate action to support the wellbeing of ourselves and our colleagues is vital to retaining staff and reducing burnout and staff sickness.

The combination of being self-aware, self-compassionate, and understanding the foundational beliefs and values of practicing compassion enables us to be more compassionate beings and create organisations with a compassionate culture and teams with high morale and wellbeing. This is integral to retention because staff feel respected, supported, and re-charged, enabling them to continue contributing their unique value to the organisation.

Especially for newly recruited international professionals

Experiencing a sense of isolation, alienation, or feeling left out is not uncommon in the first few months upon arrival in the UK for healthcare colleagues from overseas. In addition to possible language barriers, the cultural differences between colleagues, and added challenge of settling into a new working environment, can impact a person’s sense of belonging and wellbeing. It is vital to offer international colleagues a supportive and compassionate space to be heard and connect with others in a similar position. Social groups, or support groups, for international colleagues, where they have the opportunity to share their experiences, be treated with compassion within a difficult settling-in period will make a positive difference to their long-term retention within an organisation.

New Horizons is a new, innovative support and development program for international healthcare professionals as part of their recruitment onboarding process. The program is an opportunity for participants to share experiences and new thinking, be heard and supported, and strengthen their sense of belonging within a peer network and with involvement from line managers, led by an experienced facilitation team.

Find out more

Talent for Care programs

Talent for Care provides experiential learning and development programs to transform the wellbeing, engagement, and retention of the health and social care workforce in the UK.

Participants are introduced to new ways of thinking about relationships and communication, as well as ongoing, supportive practices in listening, processing, and relating to themselves, the world, and those around us. The learning is experiential where the conversations themselves are generative and success is measured by the transformational impact upon the participant’s life. 

In our experience, the most reliable outcome measures come from participant feedback and self-assessment, which we capture through a simple, robust and anonymous framework, via an end of program questionnaire on MS Teams. We ask all participants for their consent to share their anonymised feedback.

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