Survival and Recovery from Grief

We like to be upbeat … but we also like to be realistic. And realism says, we’re going to start losing the ones we love, if not this year, or even this decade, then the next. How will that affect our jobs, and our performance in the workplace? Jane Galbraith is the author of “Baby Boomers Face Grief — Survival and Recovery.” She has some tips we pass on to you.

Employers grossly underestimate the impact of grief in the workplace. Even among senior workers like older baby boomers. In fact saying they “underestimate the impact of grief” is an understatement. You rarely hear the word grief used when describing loss of productivity or being a cost to a company. The type of words you do hear to describe loss of productivity could be depression, stress, injuries, or some kind of substance abuse.

The fact that grief remains a hidden issue only compounds the problem and prevents possible solutions. Solutions could help employees, foster increased employee loyalty, and reduce the potential loss of productivity for employers. Sounds like a win-win situation to me!!

As with the rest of our culture, we expect people to “get on with life,” get “closure,” “buck up,” and many more clichés we regularly hear. The lack of understanding in our culture, which includes the workplace, makes this a serious issue to employers.

The Grief Recovery Institute in 2003 estimated the lost productivity in the USA due to the death of a loved one, which will become more common among boomers in the next decade, would be $37.5 billion dollars. The other losses such as divorce, family crisis, pet loss, and financial loss to name a few totaled a yearly $75 billion dollars. Employers – wake up!!!

Companies do not have to spend a lot of money to increase awareness and understanding of grief in their workplaces. Just taking the first steps would start the process of improving a corporate culture for those returning to the workplace after a death of a loved one.

Otherwise, it can cost businesses money, from absenteeism, mistakes being made, lack of concentration, employees leaving employment, workplace injuries, missed deadlines, and irritability. These are not surprising because the effects of grief are felt physically, emotionally, spiritually, and cognitively.

What is obvious about the different ways productivity is affected is that it affects everyone–– no one is immune to these reactions. The effects of grief can equally affect a CEO making decisions concerning major amounts of money to a single construction worker on a site. Both situations can have a negative effect on the bottom line of a business.

Organizations need to address this issue. It should start with Human Resources Managers. But many in this position also find addressing grief a difficult thing to do. The need for information on grief is required for all levels of staff from the front line to the CEO. There is a need for a formal process to disseminate information to other staff when an employee experiences a death in the family. This would ensure all staff receives the same information at the same time.

There are many types of activities that will provide comfort to those grieving. Allowing some staff to attend the funeral is one gesture that will mean a lot to the bereaved. If there is an Employee Assistance Program available to staff, the use of this should be encouraged. Supervisors need to have regular contact with staff for many weeks and months after the death. The inclusion of staff with whom the bereaved staff member works is essential to allow a productive and positive re-entry into the workplace after a death.

People who are grieving need to talk, and hopefully some extra “chatting” will be overlooked when they come back to the workplace. It is positive when people return to work for many reasons. There is a much more positive effect when people return to a workplace that understands this difficult time.

A mistake both supervisors and staff make is to think that these accommodations may have to continue for quite some time at some level. The death of a significant person in your life affects you for a long time. An employee not performing well six months after the death could still be feeling the effects. Supervisors often do not connect these dots and assume there has been a change in work performance. A sad employee can often be interpreted as a bad employee.

For many reasons, companies need to make changes to their corporate culture that will help their employees and minimize the loss of productivity they most definitely will feel.

© 2008 Jane Galbraith. Jane Galbraith, BScN, R.N., is the author of “Baby Boomers Face Grief – Survival andRecovery”. Her book is available through the author directly at [email protected] or Amazon, or Trafford Publishing. More information about the book can be found at www.trafford.com/05-2319 . Jane conducts information presentations and workshops to organizations on grief and it’s affects on the workplace.

Tags: Baby Boomers Face Grief, Jane Galbraith, Trafford

Category: Baby Boomers, Health & Wellness, Jane Galbraith