Suicide at Work: What Business & HR Leaders need to understand.
Suicide is not a hashtag trend. Or a buzzword. Or a trends post. Or a hot new technology. Or a “best of expert list blog post.” Or an SEO play.
It is uncomfortable. It is real. It is the 10th leading cause of death in the US.
There are nearly 40,000 suicides a year in the US. And that number is growing.
It is also something we don’t like to talk about in our “real” lives, let alone at work — but with suicide rates surging to a 30 year high in the US it is a conversation that needs to be had. I grew up with a broken family due to my step-fathers suicide. I have watched people I love kill themselves slowing with addiction. I have seen the grief even years later of a family who lost a child to it.
It isn’t something that simply happens to other people.
Suicide doesn’t simply effect those closest to the person, it effects their colleagues and the workplace as well. But when suicide happens at work, the impact and after effects can have an unimaginable, and often unmanaged, impact on coworkers and an organization.
Suicide in the Workplace
While suicide rates overall are peaking, there is a disturbing trend for people committing suicide in the workplace. More than 1,700 people in the US killed themselves at work between 2003–2010 and globally the number is thought to be more than 10,000 since 2007 according to a recent Atlantic article on the topic.
In 2000, a HP employee opened a hatch on an employee commuter plane and jumped out in front of horrified co-workers that tried to save her.
In 2013, 270 people in the US committed suicide at work — a 13% increase over the prior year, according the The Atlantic Article.
In 2014, 10 workers at French Telecom Orange committed suicide in the first three months of the year. It was the second round of mass suicides at the company.
In 2015, a German pilot committed suicide and killed a plane full of people with him — while actively in therapy for suicidal tendencies.
Just yesterday, we learned about the suicide of an Apple employee in their conference room.
The annual cost of workforce related suicide is nearly $13,000,000,000. (13 Billion) in 2005. Statistically, a company with 100,000 employees will have the loss of an employee or their immediate family member every seven days. In addition, 25 more will be seen and treated for an attempt — with an impact on health insurance (especially for self-insured), stress levels and productivity according to the QPR Institute.
How to Handle Depression and Grieving at Work
I am not a psychologist, or an expert at this by any stretch. But I have had to grieve a major loss while working and found it nearly impossible to actually focus. Beyond that, colleagues didn’t know how to handle it or what to say so they say nothing.
It is often very hard for employees of the co-worker that committed suicide to move forward — feelings of blame, guilt, anger, sadness can overwhelm the staff. The WSJ has a great article talking about the impact much later on the co-workers of the HP suicide.
At a minimum, as employers we should offer solid EAP programs for our worker and their families. And not something that is mentioned at orientation, rather something that is openly discussed, promoted and not stigmatized. Encourage people using it. From overstressed at work to medical issues to death of family members to pending divorce at home, work suffers when the rest of life isn’t aligned properly. It is an investment worth making. For every death by suicide there are 25 others that attempt it.
As much as we hope we wouldn’t ever use it, every CHRO, VP of HR and HR Leader should have in place an Emergency Guideline in the event a co-worker commits suicide or is killed. It is something that you will need to be able to move on quickly — and at the time is not when you will want to be figuring out resources and procedure. If you work in a close office, have something similar in place for if an immediate family member of an employee dies. I have seen first hand the positive impact these types of programs can have on the morale and closure for a team.
