Grief in the workplace: Why Canadian employers should step up

'Having employers be grief-informed and proactively think about what it means to support employees around grief… helps everyone'

Grief in the workplace: Why Canadian employers should step up

Grief has a profound impact on workers and businesses, so employers should be adopting grief-informed practices to support employees, according to one expert.

“All employees are going to experience grief at some point in their work life, and therefore having employers be grief-informed and to proactively think about what it means to support employees around grief... helps everyone,” says Maxxine Rattner, an executive member of the Canadian Grief Alliance, speaking with Canadian HR Reporter.

Grief costs employers significantly, according to past research. In 2003, the Grief Recovery Institute estimated that grief from the death of a loved one cost U.S. employers US$37.5 billion annually. 

Adjusted to 2023 rates, that figure amounts to roughly US$60.5 billion, according to the report Grief in the Workplace: Challenges and Solutions.

More recently, in 2023, Workplace Healing—a human recovery platform provider—noted that unsupported grief in the workplace costs companies up to US$225.8 billion, citing data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

“Even though it touches everyone and is a really human, natural experience, it’s generally not well understood, both within workplaces and outside. And so what we know is that workplaces are often ill-equipped to deal with employee grief and its impacts,” says Rattner.

Previously, two experts spoke about the importance of supporting workers after a workplace tragedy.

How does grief affect workers and the workplace?

Grieving employees often feel pressured to return to work quickly, even when their workplace lacks adequate support. This, Rattner says, is counterproductive.

“Being supportive and compassionate is counterintuitively better for long-term productivity and workplace culture.”

Grief in the workplace affects not only the person who has experienced the loss but also their colleagues. Co-workers may be unsure how to respond and can benefit from clear direction from management on how to offer appropriate support.

“There can be awkwardness... people generally don’t want to make someone upset,” she says. Encouraging staff to ask what kind of support would be helpful, or whether the grieving employee prefers distraction, can ease the transition back to work.

Supporting employees through grief, despair and moving on is important, according to a previous report.

Addressing grief in formal workplace policies

To better support grieving employees, Rattner recommends that employers begin by acknowledging the loss, checking in regularly, and adapting support as needs evolve. She also stresses the importance of expanding bereavement policies to include non-traditional relationships and types of loss, such as the death of a pet or a chosen family member.

Despite a growing focus on workplace mental health since 2020, grief remains underrepresented in most corporate training. Rattner advocates for integrating grief education into broader mental health programs and ongoing staff development initiatives, says Rather.

“Employers can be proactive in implementing grief education and training for managers, for HR professionals. We know that grief… is just kind of assumed and therefore falls through the cracks in terms of its impact. And so workplaces can [provide] compassionate support for their employees by bringing in grief specialists, training, and ongoing support.”

For employers, providing bereavement leave makes sense, according to a previous report.

Just like there are many ways to grieve, there are many ways employers can help their grieving employees. Here are a few examples, according to Tilson HR:

  • Offering paid time off specifically for bereavement
  • Providing grief counselling in addition to time off
  • Partnering with vendors that specialise in grief management or end-of-life planning
  • Expanding health and mental health benefits to include grief support
  • Allowing grieving employees to work reduced hours

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