All but the most ruthless employers understand their employees will need time off in the immediate aftermath of a bereavement, but it’s all too easy to forget that the pain and sorrow they have suffered will continue for many weeks, months or possibly even years after they return to work. If you find yourself dealing with a grieving employee, here are a few tips on how to ensure they feel fully supported at all times.
Be flexible
Although an employee may seem absolutely fine and, in many cases, throw themselves even more deeply into their work in order to take their mind off recent events, it’s important to be fully aware they may be hurting inside. Although everyone reacts differently to personal grief, your previously careful employee might start making mistakes or lack the energy they previously had.
Consider such workers to return on a part-time basis over a period of time or allowing them to work from home. The key is to show that you are every bit as committed to the wellbeing of the employee as you are to the success of your company. The more you can demonstrate this, the more the employee will trust you and want to return to the top of their game.
Consider specialist assistance
While you may have many sympathetic members of staff within your HR department, it may be that the best available help for such employees is likely to be outside of the company itself. If you sign your enterprise up for an employee assistance program, you will be able to put your workers in touch with specialists who can help them not just with grief, but also with a wide range of other issues they may encounter during the course of their employment, such as legal, financial or mental health issues.
Leading employee assistance programs such as those offered by ESI, offer a wide range of circumstances and can ensure that a grieving employee’s path back to full productivity is as smooth as possible.
Plan ahead
Despite having a wealth of other issues to deal with, a phone call to the boss is usually high on the list of priorities for anyone dealing with the loss of a loved one. This is because the immediate need is for time away from the office. As an employer, this means you are likely to be one of the first people to learn about the tragedy, and it is important to ensure your response is an appropriate one.
Regardless of what your company is dealing with at that time, regardless of how inconvenient the loss of a key member of staff may be at that time, you need to show your employee that you understand what they are going through.
Many companies have a pre-established bereavement time off policy in place so that employees know exactly what is expected of them, but it is also a good idea to have a system in place to ensure the temporary loss of a key staff member does not disrupt your entire business and that others are able to immediately absorb that person’s duties into their own workload.
