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A recent study by This Can Happen Global, an organization dedicated to supporting mental health in employees, revealed that current bereavement leave policies are falling short for many employees. 51% of respondents who had experienced a bereavement felt unsupported by their organizations, 46% said they didn’t have enough time to grieve, and 32% felt pressured to return to work. These numbers are from the UK, but in general, UK companies actually offer more bereavement leave than in the US, plus the UK has several laws that the US does not have mandating bereavement leave. Therefore, satisfaction rates in the U.S. are likely even less favorable than in the UK.
For those of you who lead or manage an RIA, large branch office, or any office with multiple advisors and staff, these statistics highlight a crucial area for improvement in your workplace policies. Bereavement leave that offers only minimal time off can leave people feeling overwhelmed, misunderstood, unsupported, and disconnected. How excited are they to stay at a firm like that?
Another caution: Many policies are very rigid regarding “allowable” relationships. Consider the fact, though, that many families are broken, blended, or conflicted. If someone has been raised by their aunt rather than their actual parent, the death of that aunt triggers profound grief deserving of greater leave time. I’ve seen many other cases in which a best friend was significantly more important than a sibling. Even in healthy families, the death of a young child or of a spouse certainly requires more than the minimum time off.
Now is the time to advocate for better bereavement policies that reflect the reality and diversity of grief. Not only is extending and creating more flexibility in bereavement leave the right thing to do on a human level, it’s beneficial for the company’s bottom line as well. Grieving people literally cannot think as clearly or concentrate as well. It’s not a refusal to focus on work; it’s a normal, expected chemical response in the brain. Consider that a substantial 76% of employees in the survey “felt that their loss had affected their performance at work in their immediate return.” With a longer time to grieve, employees are more likely to return to work engaged, focused, and productive.
In addition to revisiting leave policies, it’s important to train managers and leaders to respond empathetically to grief in the workplace, so employees feel understood and supported during personal crises. All of the training and guidance that Corgenius provides in serving your grieving clients also applies to supporting your grieving advisors, staff, and co-workers.
Open communication, flexible policies, and a supportive environment are key to helping employees manage their grief without added stress. Doing so helps create workplaces where emotional well-being is prioritized, benefiting both employees and the organization. Together, let’s be drivers of change to improve bereavement leave policies at our places of work.
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