MANAGING PEOPLE
When a Colleague Is Grieving
How Can We Provide the Right Kind of Support?
Every human experiences grief in their context — yet, workplace culture is often unwelcoming of it, being inhospitable to people suffering from complex, profound loss.
Regardless of the cause for bereavement, societal pressure and stigma cause more problems for those in grief, according to a study by the University of Oxford. The death taboo, as they call it, is still widely talked about in society. The amount of literature on it is vast; many studies have discussed how it has changed over the years but it still stays as a phenomenon, plaguing society, diffusing into the workplace.
At Google, Laszlo Bock decided to make a change in 2011. “…If the unthinkable happened, the surviving partner should immediately receive the value of all the Googler’s unvested stock,” said Bock in his book, Work Rules!. For the next ten years, the survivor will receive 50% of the Googler’s salary. “Obviously, there’s no benefit to Google,” added Bock, “But it’s important to the company to help our families through this horrific if inevitable life event.”
A plethora of tactics can be applied in the workplace to manage grief: time-off policies, sensitive leaders and open conversations will make a huge impact on…
