Grief in the Workplace

Grief is often linked directly to death. Our minds will picture someone who has lost a loved one, thus kickstarting the grief cycle – also known as the five stages of grief (denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance).

But grief is more insidious than many employers and employees realize. Humans can feel grief for a variety of different reasons; we may grieve after a breakup, the time we wasted,  even knowledge or a skill set that has become outdated.

Just as loss comes in many forms, so does grief, and there are many instances in the workplace that can trigger the grief cycle. For example:

• Loss of a Team Member – Employees today are much more mobile – especially with the mass adoption of remote working. Workers may find themselves grieving the loss of a valued team member who has moved on in their career. Or they may grieve the loss of comradery they experienced when they worked side by side rather than virtually.
• Loss of a Leader – When a company leader moves on or retires, the stages of grief can flare to life. Leaders have a significant impact on a company and on team members. When leaders leave, it can take time to adapt to the workplace without them and employees may experience intense grief. To further complicate the experience, employees may be grieving while simultaneously having to adapt to a new leader.
• Loss of Expertise – Individuals can experience acute grief when the work itself minimizes their hard-earned experience or expertise.  New technology can lead to new skills and knowledge, resulting in a previous expert becoming a novice overnight. Constantly changing mandates, policies, or procedures can also prompt the grief cycle when workers lose their standing as the resident expert or go-to resource in a given field, process, or system.
• Loss of a Role – In-house promotions or job changes can result in compounded grieving. The new role has new responsibilities and requirements, which can emphasize a loss of proficiency. Concurrently, the newly promoted is no longer the go-to person for their previous role. This can manifest grief in those employees who relied on them as a resource. Sometimes, employees will deny the loss by expecting the individual to perform portions of their old job as well as the new role.

Sound familiar? These are just a few examples of the low- to mid-level grief employees can experience in the workplace. And while employees are going through this loss, employers may see an effect on productivity, engagement, and wellbeing. These reactions to loss are rarely recognized as grief behaviors and therefore take longer to understand and process effectively.

Employers who intentionally equip their teams with the mindfulness tools they need to recognize, acknowledge, and process their low-level grief can help employees advance to the ‘acceptance’ stage more efficiently, increasing overall employee wellbeing and engagement. Grief management activities can range from offering workshops around change management and grief in all its forms to actively promoting self-care and emotional intelligence. It’s also important for employers to highlight where employees can voice their concerns, reaffirming the wellbeing support available to the workforce.

It can feel silly to use such a heavy word like grief when talking about grappling with seemingly minor loss and change, but feeling loss is a very normal and common feeling that can have long-term, significant negative impact. Knowing how to recognize and manage grief can be a game changer in the pressure-filled retention and engagement arena. It can be the difference between working through a rough patch and being disrupted by a major roadblock.

If you would like to discuss how we can help build grief management skills and mitigate the effects of loss in the workplace due to change, please get in touch with me at amanda@orgshakers.com