Helping employees who are grieving
Supervisor’s Guide to Dealing with a Grieving Employee
Supervisor tips for dealing with grief in the workplace.
Managing people: When a Colleague Is Grieving
Grief is a universal human experience, yet workplace culture is often inhospitable to people suffering profound loss. Managers come to work prepared to celebrate births and birthdays, and even to handle illnesses, but when it comes to death, they fall silent and avert their gaze. The default approach is to try to spare the office from grief, leaving bereaved employees alone for a few days and then hoping they’ll return expediently to work.
This article provides guidance on how to humanely help team members return to productivity.
People manager guide: Compassionate bereavement support
Practical advice to help managers properly support grieving employees by providing compassionate and flexible responses in the immediate aftermath of bereavement and in the longer term.
Master this vital life skill
How to console our friends, work-colleagues and family members who face death, loss or grief.
Helping Someone Who’s Grieving
Is someone you know grieving a loss? Learn what to say and how to comfort someone through bereavement, grief, and loss.
Managing Employees During a Time of Grief
When grief is complicated
When grief continues to disrupt activities of daily life long after the loss has occurred, a person may be experiencing something commonly referred to as complicated or unresolved grief.
How to Respond to Co-Worker and Employee Bereavement
When bereavement and grief happen to your coworkers, you can be profoundly affected, too—and you also want to know what to do. The employer and coworkers can offer support and assist employees to deal with personal tragedies in the workplace.
When an Employee Is Grieving
This brochure is designed to help you (the employer) and your colleagues understand how to provide the best support for an employee coping with grief, especially after the loss of a child, sibling or grandchild.
When an employee dies
What to Do When an Employee Dies
A death in the workplace can feel like a death in the family. Whether it’s sudden or expected, the death of an employee can be traumatic for staff and management. The following tips may help you navigate the needs of your company and your employees during a difficult time.
How to navigate the death of a team member. A manager guide.
The death of a colleague, especially as a manager, is one of the most difficult situations you might face in your career.
Throughout my career as a Head of HR, I sadly had to manage this situation multiple times. It was incredibly emotionally taxing on the organization, the CEOs, my HR team, and on me. Thankfully, I was able to lean on HR peers who gave invaluable advice.
We’ve created a guide for managers on what to do in this situation. (Something I wish I had at the time).
Working Through the Death of a Colleague
Leadership trainings and company handbooks don’t typically prepare managers for one of the most difficult things they might experience: the unexpected death of a team member. The author, who works in cancer care, recounts the difficult challenges she faced after losing an employee — and friend — and offers advice for managers in the same shoes: 1) Be authentic with your team; 2) Remember that your plan is not everyone’s plan; 3) Communicate your grief clearly; 4) Use the buddy system when it’s time to hire a new colleague; and 5) Find a way to keep the memory alive.
How to Provide Workplace Support When an Employee Passes Away
Handling a death in the workplace is never easy. Here’s how to best care for your team during a difficult transition.
How to Handle the Death of an Employee in Your Small Business
5 things to do after the death of an employee
Checklist: Death of an Employee – from SHRM; may require registration to access
Additional grief & loss resources
Learning Center: Grief – webinars, apps, books, podcasts. and more