According to DDI research, 57 percent of employees who quit their jobs do so because they can no longer put up with their bosses. Another 32 percent of the employees have considered or are seriously considering leaving because of their managers.

Diversity in the workplace and letting people bring their whole selves to the workplace have become hot button topics. Since most of what I write about concerns how to improve organizational processes and procedures, I’d like to look at these type of topics through an economic lens.

Gallup estimates that employee disengagement costs U.S. business between $450 billion and $550 billion a year due to poor productivity. While 32 percent of employees are actively engaged in work, 50.8 percent of employees aren’t engaged and 17.2 percent are actively not engaged.

If you apply a return on investment strategy to wages and benefits, the more employees return for each $1 spent the better. If you dig deeper, you can find information relating to the amount of return you’re getting for employees who are actively engaged, not engaged and actively not engaged. Actively engaged employees will return 202 percent, not engaged employees 50.8 percent and actively not engaged employees 17.2 percent.

In other words, for every $1 you spend on actively engaged employees, you see a $2.02 return. Employees who aren’t engaged return 51 cents for every $1 invested in them. Employees who are actively not engaged return 17 cents on the dollar.

It gets worse. For every employer who has an average of 100 employees, there’s a pretty good chance the employer has at least three disgruntled employees. One disgruntled employee will cause a loss in revenues of up to 15 times that employee’s yearly wages and benefits.

The answer? Empathy.

Empathy enables us to feel connected — one with another. Nowhere does empathy imply one has to fully embrace or adopt another’s position, religion or viewpoints.

Perhaps a little more empathy in the workplace — and in society at large — is really what we need.

Communication is key, but so is a sense of understanding. If I tell you something, but you’re not willing to consider where I’m coming from, then what’s the point of saying anything?

Allow people to bring their whole selves into work. Sure, they might have differing opinions. But so do your customers.

Your organization is a microcosm of the society in which you operate. Want to maximize your return? Invite the largest amount of people under your tent.