Human Resources: Establishing a Bereavement Leave Policy

A great deal of research has been done in the area of grief and bereavement. It is surprising how many companies have done little to improve policies for dealing with this difficult time. Part of the problem is that there are wide variations in the ways that individuals react to the death of loved ones. Many employees see this as a time to milk the system for additional paid leave. Others have lied about loved ones dying to get time off. How much time is enough to allow for someone to grieve over their loss?

Companies need to make sure that they have addressed this issue in their written policy.

The only reliable way for a company to grant time off for funeral leave and bereavement is to have a written policy in place. This will allow them to offer a reasonable amount of time away from work for these situations. Regardless of the amount of time allowed, some will try to abuse it. For others, it will be insufficient to complete enough of the grieving process to be able to return to work as a fully functional employee. At least with a written policy, you can remove most of the risk of being accused of unfair treatment of your employees.

A funeral leave policy of up to three days is enough for deaths a little removed from the employee.

Most people will not feel a huge loss when an aunt, uncle, or cousin passes. In some cases, these people can be quite close, but for most, it is a sad but not devastating time. Usually, granting enough time away for travel to and from the funeral location will be all that is expected. For a local funeral, one or two days off may be enough to take care of the employee's needs.

It gets more interesting when the death is someone close to a spouse.

If the loss is a spouse's sibling or parent, it may not be enough to just give time to cover the emotional trauma of the employee. In a marriage, a spouse tends to become a caregiver during this time. The employee may also need to help conduct some of the business left over from the death that their spouse is not emotionally prepared to confront. This can require several additional days off beyond what the policy for other deaths allows. Adding in provisions for these extenuating circumstances can be a good idea even if they are applied case by case.

A week or two may be woefully short if a person has lost a child.

Some people rebound from this type of loss very quickly. This may or may not be a permanent recovery. Emotional trauma like this can leave deep pain that may take months to erupt. Having a liberal policy that can give people time to rebuild the damaged part of their life can yield benefits to both the employee and the employer. The cost of this type of leave policy can be a little painful for some companies, but it is worth looking into.

Most people find the loss of a spouse as the most difficult upheaval in their life.

It may be a good idea to offer a leave plan for this loss that is not necessarily a continuous block of time off. Because of the need to do large amounts of personal business associated with the loss of a spouse, the employee may benefit more from have multiple short periods of time away instead of one long segment. This arrangement can be good for the employer, too. It can be easier to fill gaps made for short leaves than gigantic ones.

Surprisingly, many people do not need extensive leave when they lose a parent.

Because people tend to distance themselves from their parents as a function of becoming an adult, this loss may not be as tough to resolve. It is painful, but often it is expected. In many work situations, a leave of three or so days for this loss is enough. There are exceptions to this, but not too many.