How to Support an Employee’s Family When Dealing With Grief
Discovering that an employee recently lost a loved one can be devastating, and business owners like yourself naturally want to offer as much support as possible to ensure they can navigate this challenging time with ease. But how do you provide this support? What should you be doing to care for them during their time of need? Here’s how to support an employee’s family when dealing with grief.
Give Them the Time Off They Need to Grieve
The last thing that employees want to deal with when they’re grieving the loss of a loved one is having to manage work when they’re still trying to process their loss. The best and most helpful thing you can do as a business owner is give them the paid time off they need to properly grieve this loss and handle all the affairs that need to be handled to lay their loved one to rest or memorialize them. This is something that they will appreciate and won’t ever forget during their time there.
Offer to Pay for The Headstone
If you really wish to go above and beyond as you work to support an employee and their family dealing with grief, you could offer to pay for the headstone of the person who has passed. Custom headstones cost money, and all the expenses related to the funeral and other affairs that need to be managed may leave them strapped for cash, especially if the passing was unexpected. This small kindness allows them to worry about one less thing and gives them the ability to get a bespoke headstone that will express their love for the person who has passed.
Support Them With Counseling Services
Mental health services are sometimes covered by insurance. However, they may only be covered up to a certain number of sessions before they have to pay out of pocket. See if you can help them if they need mental health support during this time. Some forms of grief can result in depression and other mental health issues. With your added support, they can work through the grief with fewer obstacles.
Send Them a Meaningful, Heartfelt Gift From the Whole Team
It’s important for both your employee and their family to remember that they’re not alone at this time. While the above can be helpful while they’re processing the loss, you can also show them that you’re thinking about them with a heartfelt gift. This may be something like a gift basket of things they’ll need, a signed card from everyone in their workplace, or even the offer to manage certain tasks that they won’t be able to get to. These types of gifts leave a lasting impression on the recipient.
Losing a loved one is a painful experience, but you can help make someone’s life better so that they can move through it with less difficulty. If you have an employee who is going through this at the moment or if you wish to better support employees in the future, consider the above actions when an employee and their family are dealing with grief.
