Personnel Today
  • OHW+
  • Resources
    • Clinical governance
    • Disability
    • Ergonomics
    • Health surveillance
    • OH employment law
    • OH service delivery
    • Research
    • Return to work and rehabilitation
    • Sickness absence management
    • Wellbeing and health promotion
  • Conditions
    • Mental health
    • Musculoskeletal disorders
    • Blood pressure
    • Cancer
    • Cardiac
    • Dementia
    • Diabetes
    • Respiratory
    • Stroke
  • CPD
  • Webinars
  • Jobs
  • Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • OHW+
  • Resources
    • Clinical governance
    • Disability
    • Ergonomics
    • Health surveillance
    • OH employment law
    • OH service delivery
    • Research
    • Return to work and rehabilitation
    • Sickness absence management
    • Wellbeing and health promotion
  • Conditions
    • Mental health
    • Musculoskeletal disorders
    • Blood pressure
    • Cancer
    • Cardiac
    • Dementia
    • Diabetes
    • Respiratory
    • Stroke
  • CPD
  • Webinars
  • Jobs
  • Personnel Today

Mental health conditionsWellbeing and health promotionOHW+

Eight ways to support bereaved employees

by Debra Clark 24 Nov 2021
by Debra Clark 24 Nov 2021 Shutterstock
Shutterstock

Next week is National Grief Awareness Week, meaning there is an opportunity for employers and OH to be stepping back and reflecting on the health and wellbeing they offer to employees dealing with grief or the loss of a loved one, highlights Debra Clark.

Bereavement has affected more people than usual over the past year amid the turmoil of Covid-19. According to the Office for National Statistics, the weekly death rate for England and Wales is still some 13% above the five-year average.

With many employees also still working from home and having lost some of their social networks, coping with grief is perhaps harder than ever.

The fact, too, it is National Grief Awareness Week from next week (2-8 December) means there is an opportunity for employers – working with occupational health practitioners – to step back and reflect on the health and wellbeing support they offer to employees dealing with grief or the loss of a loved one.

Covid has brought bereavement and grief to the fore. While everyone deals with grief differently there are certain practical and emotional resources that can be of help across many different circumstances.

For employers, it is not only about helping the individual directly affected, but also building skills among their colleagues so that they too can cope and offer support.

Here, then, are eight ways in which employers can support employees in this difficult situation.

1) Understanding the process

Having an understanding of the grieving process is helpful both for the employee affected and for those around them. The grief curve or Kubler-Ross Model shows the five common stages: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance.

People will go through these at a different speed, depth, and even order, but there is a similar overall process for most people. Having an emotional understanding of the process is a big step towards helping those who are bereaved and to coming to terms with the situation oneself.

There are also practical steps that can be taken and these are often appreciated by colleagues who are not sure how best to be of help.

2) Talk about it

While it is often hard to know what to say to someone who is grieving, not talking about it can be worse. Simply acknowledging the situation can go a long way in helping someone feel supported.

While it is often hard to know what to say to someone who is grieving, not talking about it can be worse.”

3) Create mental health first aiders

Training is available for employees to become first aiders in mental health. These courses give people the knowledge of how best to approach a colleague struggling with a range of mental health and emotional conditions, including grief.

They will be taught to listen, to be non-judgemental, and to signpost support, encouraging colleagues to seek further help if needed.

4) Open up lines of communication

Line managers create a gateway between the employee and the company. It is important to build an environment where employees feel comfortable discussing issues with their manager. This enables the business to understand the pressures and concerns an employee may be dealing with both inside and outside of work.

As such, it’s important that line managers have training on how to deal with staff bereavement, so they know how to help. For instance, being able to signpost to relevant support.

It’s important that line managers have training on how to deal with staff bereavement, so they know how to help.”

5) Provide information

If the mental health first aider, line manager, a colleague, or the employee themselves feels that further assistance is required, then it is important to clearly signpost the options. Employers should make information easily accessible on how and where to obtain further help.

It is also important to offer a variety of strategies, as different people will prefer to seek help in different ways. These may include assistance over the telephone, in person, through reading materials, or even via an app.

6) Health and wellbeing benefits

Many health and wellbeing benefits either aim at directly assisting employees suffering bereavement or include added-value benefits that can help at this time.

Employee assistance programmes (EAPs) may be embedded within other health, wellbeing and protection benefits or provided on a standalone basis. It is important for employers to make their staff aware of such support.

An EAP will be able to provide services like counselling or support a return to the workplace. EAPs may provide crisis helplines if a number of staff are grieving the loss of a colleague.

If bereavement triggers a mental health condition, then health, wellbeing and protection benefits may allow employees to be referred to a psychiatrist or for in-patient support.

Mental health pathways have responded to the increased need and have been enhanced: they provide routes to better mental health, and can offer a helpline and guide employees through the additional support available.

7) Keep up to date

It is, of course, good practice to ensure employee details are kept up to date, but it is also sensible to ensure all authorisations and expressions of wish are still valid. This will help any payments via employer-sponsored life assurance to loved ones to go through swiftly and easily.

8) Remain flexible

The process of grief may follow similar patterns but there is no set timescale and everyone will grieve in their own way. Remember that grief may lessen with time but it can still affect people many years down the line, especially at key anniversaries.

The key for employers is to be aware of how their employees may be feeling and to have strategies in place to help if and when required.

Summary

Having support set up before the need arises means that employees will receive help quickly when it is needed.

Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance

Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday

OptOut
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Not everyone will know the right thing to say to someone who is grieving, but everyone can know where to find someone who can help.

Signposting to charities, support within health, wellbeing and protection benefits, such as employee assistance programmes, virtual GPs and various forms of mental health support services, will mean that employees have access to the right support, at the right time.

Debra Clark

Debra Clark is head of specialist consulting at Towergate Health & Protection.

previous post
Lidl to create 4,000 jobs with 100 new stores
next post
Top executives aware of race bias in recruitment

You may also like

Uncertainty over law hampering legal use of medical...

20 May 2025

Employers ‘worryingly’ ignorant about stress risk assessments

20 May 2025

Awareness weeks fuel spike in demand for mental...

19 May 2025

Healthcare workers prioritise mental health support in new...

12 May 2025

Tool developed for employers to calculate cost of...

28 Apr 2025

Why employers must do more to support all...

24 Apr 2025

NHS to expand GP scheme enabling greater access...

16 Apr 2025

Computer says no: IT woes giving employees sleepless...

15 Apr 2025

Access to Work backlogs and delays costing businesses...

14 Apr 2025

Nearly half did not take even one full...

14 Apr 2025

  • 2025 Employee Communications Report PROMOTED | HR and leadership...Read more
  • The Majority of Employees Have Their Eyes on Their Next Move PROMOTED | A staggering 65%...Read more
  • Prioritising performance management: Strategies for success (webinar) WEBINAR | In today’s fast-paced...Read more
  • Self-Leadership: The Key to Successful Organisations PROMOTED | Eletive is helping businesses...Read more
  • Retaining Female Talent: Four Ways to Reduce Workplace Drop Out PROMOTED | International Women’s Day...Read more

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2025

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2025 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • OHW+
  • Resources
    • Clinical governance
    • Disability
    • Ergonomics
    • Health surveillance
    • OH employment law
    • OH service delivery
    • Research
    • Return to work and rehabilitation
    • Sickness absence management
    • Wellbeing and health promotion
  • Conditions
    • Mental health
    • Musculoskeletal disorders
    • Blood pressure
    • Cancer
    • Cardiac
    • Dementia
    • Diabetes
    • Respiratory
    • Stroke
  • CPD
  • Webinars
  • Jobs
  • Personnel Today