Carolyn Geason-Beissel/MIT SMR | Getty Images
A consulting manager found herself taking after-hours calls and late-night texts from anxious employees amid corporate uncertainty and AI transitions, exemplifying the growing expectations for leaders to show empathy and compassion. Across industries, employees’ stress and worries about economic challenges and AI’s impact are rising, increasing the demand for leaders to offer emotional support. However, women leaders disproportionately carry this emotional labor, often dedicating over 30% of their workweek to caring tasks such as listening to anxieties and offering encouragement — an invisible, unpaid ’empathy tax.’ This care fatigue, stemming from constantly managing others’ emotions, can lead to burnout and attrition among women in leadership roles. Research shows women are expected to demonstrate warmth and compassion, and when they don’t, face negative perceptions, further entrenching this unequal burden. The empathy tax manifests in absorbing others’ emotions, being graded on compassion, and sacrificing time essential for core responsibilities. To counteract these effects, women need to set boundaries and reject harmful narratives about self-sacrifice, while organizations must assess care fatigue, support boundaries, and promote empathy in all leaders, including men. Only by recognizing and sharing emotional labor can organizations sustain empathic leadership and retain female talent.
