When a Co-Worker Dies:

• Know the company’s bereavement policy
• Arrange for a company meeting or a company-wide notice
• Allow co-workers time off to attend the funeral
• Allow time and space for employees to grieve and share their feelings
• Contribute to a special cause in memory of the person
• Create an office memorial board or a scrapbook of memories to give to the family
• Support one another

When a Co-Worker is Seriously Ill

• Respect the sick person’s desire for privacy
• Call and visit the person from time to time
• Send cards, letters, emails, short office videos, food deliveries
• Acknowledge the possibility of anticipatory grief among co-workers

Grief is a natural human response. It is not something that can be "fixed." It is not resolved by the time employees return from bereavement leave. It may continue for weeks or months or even years.

Is your workplace prepared to handle grief reactions? Are you and your workers able to recognize grief reactions? Can you balance a humane response with a focus on work performance?

Reactions to grief and loss can include:

• Lower energy and productivity

• Decreased concentration and forgetfulness

• Poor judgment or decision-making ability

• Anxiety and irritability

• Increased absenteeism

• Emotional outbursts and chronic sadness

Our workplaces are not immune from loss and grief. We know this first-hand from the hard lessons learned in the aftermath of terrorism, natural disasters, and tragic shootings over the last few decades. Yet, we are somewhat less aware of, or perhaps less prepared for, the emotional impact when loss and death occur on a much smaller scale. For instance:

• Death of a co-worker:

  • After long- or short-term illness

  • After sudden death by accident or violence

• Serious illness of a co-worker when death is the likely outcome

• Death or illness of a co-worker’s loved one (grieving co-workers)

Often, workplace losses don’t happen one at a time, Over the course of months, multiple losses can occur, losses that must be processed through grieving.

Frequently, workplace grief goes unacknowledged and unexpressed. We ignore the symptoms until they just go away. Or, we withdraw from ill or grieving co-workers out of frustration for not knowing what to say, out of concern for invading their privacy, or out of fear of our own vulnerability, our own mortality.