Grief counseling in the workplace is essential for employees’ mental health and well-being. When employees experience loss, it can affect their focus, attendance, communication, engagement, and performance. HR leaders should have a grief support system that combines policy, manager guidance, and fast access to mental health care.

Why Grief Support Matters

Grief can start with a death, a miscarriage, a divorce, a health diagnosis, a pet loss, or another life change. It can change how employees relate to their work, their managers, their colleagues, and themselves. Common signs of grief include difficulty concentrating, low energy, withdrawal, irritability, tearfulness, missed work, changes in performance, or increased anxiety.

Disenfranchised grief describes grief that is minimized, dismissed, or not openly acknowledged by others. In the workplace, this can happen after losses that do not fit a traditional bereavement policy, including pregnancy loss, estrangement, the loss of a former partner, or pet loss. Pet loss grief counseling is a good example of where an employee’s needs and workplace policy can be misaligned.

Supporting Grieving Employees

HR leaders can support grieving employees by offering clear leave options, flexibility, manager guidance, and confidential mental health resources. Managers should start with care and curiosity before performance correction. They can name the change they have noticed, ask what support would help, and connect the employee to HR or mental health resources.

A strong workplace grief support plan includes five parts: clear policies, trained managers, flexible return-to-work options, mental health benefits, and a system for connecting employees to the right support. Grief support should also account for cultural, religious, family, and personal differences.

Original reporting: KTVZ (Central Oregon) — read the source article.