An employee communications
& culture conference by Workshop

How to Create a Culture of Empathy at Work

Are you doing what it takes to help your people survive, stabilize, and thrive at work? 85% of workers report a decline in their overall wellness over the last year. Your people feel over-whelmed and under-equipped; they crave meaningful support.

The need for empathy at work has never been more urgent. A recent report on workplace empathy showed that 76% of employees directly linked productivity to the presence (or absence!) of empathy. How your organization communicates and supports people in the midst of hard times matters; it drives retention, helps to attract talent, alters brain chemistry, and lets people know that you truly care.

What is you, as a communication pro, could both shape narratives that convey care and feel personally competent to show up in moments that matter? In this interactive, reflective session, workplace empathy expert Liesel Mertes empowers people to be workplace first responders, offering human-centric skills when it matters most.

You’ll walk away with:

A clear, shared understanding of what empathy at work actually means — and why it matters more than ever Practical, personal frameworks for communicating with care during disruptive life events (without overthinking every word) Real ways to cultivate empathy champions at work who help democratize care and make it part of how work actually happens

About Liesel:

Liesel Mertes is an acclaimed keynote speaker, trainer, and workplace empathy expert. After the death of her daughter, Mercy Joan, Liesel emerged with a deep understanding of what people need to feel supported at work after a disruptive life event.

As the Founder of Handle With Care Consulting, Liesel works with companies and event organizers who want to enable empathy in the workplace, elevate performance and create meaningful connections across audiences and teams.

As a nationally-recognized empathy expert, Liesel works with organizations around the globe like Winnebago, MetLife, the Canadian Government, and Fannie Mae. Her favorite clients are those who understand and know the value of supporting their employees with empathy and compassion.

Liesel’s expertise is broad — death and loss, combatting change fatigue, and life’s inevitable curveballs — and no disruption is considered less significant. On these topics, Liesel is a dedicated keynote speaker, writer, workplace consultant and host of the Handle With Care podcast. A calming presence in stressful situations, Liesel provides tools for organizations to help their employees survive, stabilize and thrive in the aftermath of adversity.

Measuring the (immeasurable) value of internal comms

Internal communicators see it every day — the moment when a message finally lands, a team meeting feels more aligned, or a little extra context changes how work gets done. Those moments matter, even if they’re harder to measure! And they’re often where the real value of internal comms lives.

Devin Owens-Pugh takes a closer look at that “immeasurable” impact and why it deserves more attention (especially from the people behind the magic!). This session offers a practical, people-first perspective on how internal comms shapes culture, the employee experience, and company-wide goals, and a few pointers on how to make that influence crystal clear in conversations with leaders.

You’ll walk away with:

• A clearer definition of value in internal comms that goes beyond ROI
• Practical techniques for identifying culture, connection, and employee experience wins
• Frameworks you can use to tell a more complete story about your impact

About Devin:

Devin Owens is the Communications Manager at Workshop, an email-first internal communications platform headquartered in Omaha, NE. She’s spent the last decade working in marketing and communications, turning information into something people actually want to engage with (and belong to!) through thoughtful, people-first storytelling. With the support of her team at Workshop, she recently launched an old-school advice column called Ask Devin, where internal communicators can submit questions, explore past responses, and tune into a monthly podcast covering trends and strategies in internal communications.

Right Message, Right Moment, Real People: Personalization That Works

As organizations grow, internal communications often get louder—but less effective. Messages are sent to everyone, leaders are asked to cascade information without tools, and team members struggle to see how company-wide updates connect to their day-to-day work. Mollie Pratt shares how Simmons Foods shifted from a one-size-fits-all messaging to a more intentional, human-centered internal communications strategy.
Through real-world examples, you’ll learn how alignment, personalization, and enablement can create a culture of informed and engaged team members, how leaders and HR teams become confident communicators, and how using the right channel at the right moment improves clarity and increases engagement.

You’ll walk away with:

• A simple lens for evaluating internal communications
• Practical techniques for personalization that scale, including smart segmentation, tone alignment, and keeping people—not process—at the center
• Ways to remove friction and drive adoption of internal comms tools

About Mollie:

Mollie Pratt is a communications leader who believes great internal communication is built on clarity, creativity, and connection. With more than 12 years of experience across corporate, higher education, and agricultural organizations, she specializes in translating complex information into messages that engage and align teams. Mollie currently serves as Senior Manager of Engagement at Simmons Foods, where she built the company’s internal communications strategy from the ground up, connecting more than 10,000 team members. Her career began in social media, including developing Arkansas Farm Bureau’s first-ever social media strategy and leading communications for the National Sorghum Producers. A proud Arkansas native and University of Arkansas graduate, Mollie spends her free time cheering on the Arkansas Razorbacks, traveling with friends, and analyzing human behavior through her favorite “case study”: Bravo TV.