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The death of a colleague can create unique stress for employees.
As with any loss, employees may experience emotional symptoms like numbness, shock, and frustration, and physical symptoms like headaches, muscle tension, and stomach aches, according to Stanford University. Employers may also notice some affected workers have reduced productivity, increased absences, and difficulty making decisions, as work itself may be triggering.
There’s no standard timeline for grieving a loss, but it often takes more than a year to overcome the initial phase of grief. HR leaders can provide support during this time by preparing to accommodate affected teammates and celebrating the departed employee.
Get things in order. “There’s the emotional aspect, and then there’s a bit of a practical aspect too,” Kathleen Navarro, SVP of talent management and chief diversity officer at New York Life, told HR Brew. She recommended that HR leaders have a plan in the event of a coworker’s passing.
HR should communicate transparently with the departed employee’s manager about the circumstances surrounding their death, and give them space to tell the team, Maria Collins, corporate VP at New York Life, told HR Brew.
“Make sure that it’s an in-person meeting, if possible,” Collins said. “With the hybrid schedule that might not be possible, but it should also be a Zoom virtual meeting, where you’re seeing people’s faces, where you’re actually connecting with them.”
From there, HR should give the team space to grieve by helping to offload some of their work. They can also work with their manager to determine how to handle the departed colleague’s assignments or clients.
Collins said that employees should be allowed to take bereavement leave as necessary. New York Life provides 15 days of nonconsecutive bereavement leave as part of its benefits package, because “grief is not linear.”
Create space for grief and celebration. Employers should also address the emotional impact and provide employees the space to process the loss at work, according to Collins. “Provide the space for people to tell stories...then check in with your employees,” she recommended.
But there’s also only so much that HR leaders and managers can do to help grieving employees. Collins suggested employers partner with a local bereavement center that can bring in counselors, or lean on an employee assistance program that can point workers to resources for specialized help.
Navarro, who has personal experience with this type of loss, said a company donation to an organization her departed colleague cared about, and a celebration of life service, helped the grieving process.
“What we heard from employees was just having that space really helped them as they were grieving,” Navarro said. “We spend so much time together—good times and bad times together—and then when a colleague passes away, it’s a real loss.”