12 Workplace Moments From This Week That Show Compassion Can Transform Someone’s Entire Day (June 15-21 Edition)

06/16/2026

12 Workplace Moments From This Week That Show Compassion Can Transform Someone’s Entire Day (June 15-21 Edition)

Authority gets people to show up. Compassion makes them want to stay. A study published in Harvard Business Review found that leaders who lead with kindness and empathy consistently outperform those who rely on power alone.

These 12 moments from this week prove that bosses who chose compassion over authority didn’t just earn respect. They changed the way their teams understood what a great leader looks like.

I suddenly got my period at work. I quietly asked my female coworkers if they had a pad. No one did. So I said, “I’ll use tissues then.”
My manager Eric overheard us and made a face. He looked disgusted. The whole office gasped when he frowned and said, “Absolutely not! Wait here.”
We found out this man had a period kit for his wife and daughters in case of emergencies. He went out to his car, put 3 pads in a paper bag and handed it to me.
Now he keeps a second period kit in his office. So whenever we’re in a period emergency, we know Eric’s got us covered. Best boss ever.

I showed up to work one morning completely falling apart after a rough night. Tried to hold it together, but my manager took one look at me and called me into his office. I expected a talk about professionalism.
Instead he said to take the day off and go home, then he closed his laptop like that was the end of it. When I thanked him he said, “You can’t pour from an empty cup,” and went back to his meeting.
I’ve worked in a lot of places. I’ve never forgotten that.

My boss found out I was taking the bus to work because my car broke down and I couldn’t afford the repair yet. Didn’t say anything to me directly. Just started scheduling my shifts to start 30 minutes later so I could catch the earlier bus and not be rushed. I only figured it out two weeks in.
When I brought it up she said the schedule works better this way. It did not work better this way. She just didn’t want me to feel embarrassed about it.

I was a new hire still in my probation period when my mom got hospitalized. I was terrified to ask for time off so I came in anyway and tried to focus. My supervisor noticed something was off and pulled me aside.
When I explained she said, “Go right now, we’ll figure out coverage, your mom needs you more than we do today.” I was gone for three days. My job was exactly where I left it when I got back and nobody made me feel guilty about a single hour.

Our team had been working insane hours for two months straight on a project that kept changing scope. The day we finally launched, our director walked in with envelopes for everyone. Inside was a handwritten note and a gift card.
The note wasn’t generic, it was specific to each person, what they contributed, what he noticed, what he appreciated. Mine mentioned something I had done in week one that I didn’t think anyone saw. He saw everything. He just waited until it was over to say so.

I told my manager I needed to leave early once a week for therapy appointments and I didn’t go into detail because I didn’t feel like I owed an explanation. She said “of course” and that was it, no questions, no looks, nothing.
A few weeks later she mentioned in passing that she goes too and that it’s the best thing she ever did for herself. She didn’t make a big deal of it. Just wanted me to know I wasn’t alone in it. That meant more than the time off honest.

I made a pretty costly mistake my first month on the job, the kind that makes your stomach drop when you realize what you’ve done.
I went to my boss fully prepared to be let go. He listened to the whole thing, asked a few questions, and then said, “Okay, what do we do to fix it?” That was it. No lecture, no threats, just problem solving.
I worked harder for that man than anyone I have ever worked for because I knew he saw me as a person first and an employee second.

We had a team lunch and one of my coworkers who follows a strict diet sat there with nothing to eat because nobody had thought to check beforehand. Our manager noticed halfway through, got up without making a scene, and came back 20 minutes later with food from the place down the street that she could actually eat.

My boss called me into his office and I was convinced I was in trouble. Instead, he slid a piece of paper across the desk.
It was information about a grant for the certification program I had mentioned once in passing three months earlier. He had looked it up himself and even filled in part of the application with my work details already. He said he thought I’d be great at it and that the company would cover whatever the grant didn’t.
I had mentioned it once. He remembered and did something about it.

I went through a brutal breakup and came back to work probably way too soon. I thought I was holding it together until my manager called me in at the end of the day.
I prepared myself for the conversation about focus and performance. She said, “I just want to check in, how are you actually doing?” I completely fell apart in her office. She handed me tissues, didn’t look at her phone once, and sat there until I was done.
Then she said, “Take tomorrow too if you need it.” I didn’t expect kindness like that from a boss.

Our office was going through layoffs and the atmosphere was awful, everyone scared and second guessing everything. Our manager called each of us in individually just to tell us where we stood honestly and what he was doing to protect our positions.
He didn’t have to do that. He could have said nothing until decisions were made. He treated us like adults who deserved to know what was happening. I don’t know that I’ve ever respected a boss more than I did in that stretch.

I have a stutter that gets worse when I’m nervous and presentations have always been my nightmare.
My new manager found out and before my first big one she pulled me aside and said, “Take all the time you need up there, the room isn’t going anywhere and neither am I.” Then she sat in the front row for the entire presentation and just nodded every time I looked up.
I got through the whole thing. Best presentation I ever gave.