How to Create a Workplace That Helps Employees Persevere Through Tragedy
The ongoing global health crisis has underscored the importance of workplace policies that support grieving employees during times of loss. While most employers offer life insurance, they often don’t offer true bereavement or grief support. Employee Assistance Plans (EAPs) might provide some of this support, but the vast majority of providers lack the resources for an EAP alone to be adequate.
All that said, with millions of people coping with the death of a loved one due to the pandemic, the time for more comprehensive change is now.
A New Perspective on Grief
Grief in the workplace has come into the spotlight like never before, yet only one state has passed legislation requiring employers to provide bereavement leave. Given that personal loss has a human and emotional toll and can impact employee engagement and productivity in a variety of ways, establishing bereavement benefits that help employees manage the end-of-life experience and then reintegrate themselves into the workplace — on their terms — should be a critical objective for employers, legislation or not.
Here are two steps you can take to ensure employees have the resources they need when grieving:
1. Strengthen workplace culture through training.
Creating a supportive workplace culture starts with empathetic leaders who understand how grief can impact an individual, even if they’ve never coped with a personal loss in their own lives. This understanding can be developed through dedicated grief training, which should occur annually or semi-annually — similar to sexual harassment or DEI training — to equip leaders and HR teams with the tools to support grieving employees. Consider implementing organization-wide workshops to teach employees how to best support a colleague in mourning, and recognize team members who go above and beyond to offer solace or fill in for an employee on bereavement. These trainings can help managers develop the skills and instincts they need to be fully present for employees in mourning and to effectively manage the boundaries between their employees and the workplace. They won’t be able to “fix” a tragedy, but they can mitigate the isolation, pain, and hopelessness employees feel as a result of a loss.
2. Create flexible bereavement policies.
Often, traditional bereavement leave is only available to employees after the death of an immediate family member — traditionally defined as a spouse, parent, or child. However, for many Americans, “immediate family” might include people who aren’t necessarily blood relatives, and bereavement plans should account for that. They should also accommodate other kinds of loss and grief, like miscarriage or caring for a loved one with a terminal illness. While standard policies offer three days of leave, anyone who’s experienced grief knows that there is no linear timeline. Rather than arbitrarily capping bereavement and making employees feel as though your sympathy has an expiration date, set a minimum duration for bereavement leave, and work with employees to establish a return-to-work date based on their unique circumstances.
Finally, speak openly about the importance of relying on these benefits when tragedy strikes. It’s hugely important to show employees that they’re supported and remove the stigma around asking for help. Ultimately, your employees will remember the way you treat them when life is most difficult. By providing the resources they need when they’re needed the most.
Liz Eddy is the co-founder and CEO of Lantern, a public benefit corporation on a mission to change the way we discuss and manage end of life and death. After losing her dad at a young age and later planning her grandmother’s end-of-life arrangements, she built Lantern. She launched her first company at the age of 15 and led communications for the nation’s first free 24/7 crisis support line, Crisis Text Line. She’s also a board member of Experience Camps, a free summer camp for grieving kids.
