St Oswald's Hospice Research’s Post

Grief doesn’t stay at home when we come to work and failing to support colleagues properly when they've experienced a bereavement can result in long term absence, reduced productivity and increased pressure on the rest of the team. Not everyone will want lots of time off work when someone they love dies. Some may want to return quite quickly, especially if they feel that what they do is a large part of who they are or if they feel that it's the only way to maintain some stability or sense of control through their bereavement experience. Others may need longer but might have to come back to work much sooner than they would like. Whatever their situation, everyone needs to feel that support and understanding will be offered to them during such difficult times. Many will not want to admit that they are struggling in the workplace. This could be because they don't want colleagues to think that they are incapable of doing their own job and will need to pass tasks on to them or that their line managers will step in to micromanage them. They may also be worried that asking for help will result in a conversation that they will be unable to cope with. Compassionate and flexible bereavement leave, access to support and a culture of openness can make all the difference. St Oswald's Hospice can work with you to develop and deliver tailored Grief and Loss training within your organisation and we can also offer 1 to 1 bereavement support for staff. If you would like to chat about what your organisation can do to improve your current policies and procedures, do drop me a message. Something else you might like to find out more about is Hospice UK's Compassionate Employers programme which is designed to help organisations support employees through grief and challenges around caring: https://lnkd.in/evmbbbZ8 Grief Awareness Week is a chance to rethink how we support employees who are grieving. It doesn't take much to make a positive impact and there are lots of things that can be implemented quickly and easily to improve things for everyone. #WorkplaceWellness #GriefSupport #CompassionateEmployers #GriefAwarenessWeek