People have suffered greatly as a result of the recent years’ continual instability and inflationary pressures, with 72% of employees in the UK stating that it has had a long-lasting detrimental impact on both their work and personal lives.

With half of the nation's workers stating that they experience stress at work frequently, employers have a responsibility to create a safe, inclusive working environment to support employees’ overall wellbeing.

By turning the focus to mental wellbeing, employers can do their part to make the world a better place to work. Only 39% of UK employees said their workplace provided good mental wellbeing support, suggesting that more work needs to be done.

Taking this into consideration, when traumatic and stressful life events happen, such as loss, people’s ability to work will be impacted even further and more so if they feel that their work environment is unsupportive. Grief in particular is a commonly known stressor that affects both mental and physical health in a wide variety of ways.

The grieving process is unique to everyone and is not a linear process. Employers need to be aware of how grief affects people at an individual level to support their employees as effectively as possible while being proactive with benefits and support that can be more widely distributed at scale. Showing your people you value them is always important, but even more so during major life events such as loss.

After fair pay, having a manager that cares is the top employee must-have in the UK (64%). Managers play a critical role in your employees’ wellbeing. So, how can managers support grieving employees, and what should they look out for?

Open communication: The key to destigmatising mental health in the workplace

Firstly, before offering specific mental health programmes, it’s imperative to ensure that the current work environment, be it virtual or in-person in the office, is conducive to talking about mental health. Reducing the stigma around difficult conversations can help people become more open to sharing details about their lives and help cultivate a company culture of empathy and compassion.

If a worker feels uncomfortable discussing even minor stressors, they’re far less likely to open up about larger upheavals in their lives such as a sudden loss.

That’s why it’s important to have conversations on a continual basis with employees on how they want to be supported, before it even happens. Championing feedback on a difficult topic before it occurs can help your managers understand what employees’ expectations are, and help leaders identify gaps in the support they offer.

In the past, we’ve used our internal communications channels to openly discuss mental health across the business from employee-contributed blogs in our ‘Level Up’ series, which opened up the doors for many to speak up about their own experiences. At the very least, workers should be aware of the appropriate communication channels within the company and be guided towards relevant points of contact.

Finding small ways to bring joy to an employee's day-to-day when they're grieving can be critical in how they perceive their worth to a company.

This could be through a dedicated recognition message that tells the employees that they're in their fellow colleague's thoughts, empowering managers to send an expensed bouquet of flowers or a grocery gift card without the need for approvals or simply allowing the employee to completely unplug by re-allocating workloads to alleviate any stress they may be feeling at that moment.

What does grief feel like?

Grief is described as the after-effects of suffering from an identity-altering loss, and even though death of a loved one is the most common form, it’s not the only one. Here are a few examples of grief, which can help an employer identify and understand how and why an employee may be impacted.

• A break-up or any dissolution of a relationship that impacts an individual’s sense of self can bring along symptoms of grief
• Anticipated grief, following a medical diagnosis for themselves or a loved one
• Absent grief is usually when people don’t present with stereotypical symptoms straight away and this is when the loss faced is sudden and there isn’t enough time to process emotions, which can lead to delayed grief
• Inhibited grief is when people’s grief symptoms are purely physical with symptoms manifesting as stomach issues, poor sleep and muscle pains
• Distorted grief is when someone who is grieving is said to have exaggerated emotional responses to events
• Complicated grief is when the thoughts behind grieving clash (e.g breaking up with an abusive partner)

The most common psychological symptoms associated with grief are intense feelings of sadness, inability to focus, and feeling lost or lacking purpose and this can present in different ways. Grief also doesn’t need to be specific to one person, cumulative or collective grief can occur after a national disaster happens for example, causing grief to build up as events unfold further.

Ways to support employees who are grieving

Supporting people’s mental health can be challenging, and grief in itself is a complex subject matter that some people might not feel well equipped to deal with.

Companies that have the ability to do so should offer compassionate leave, giving employees time to recuperate. Alternatively, offering flexible working arrangements is another possible solution that could prevent overstretching the current team’s capacity. If that isn't feasible, see if offering more individualised support from HR is an option. This may entail regular check-ins with that individual to see how their mental state is over an extended period of time. A large number of companies also offer external mental health coaching sessions such as Sanctus, which offers additional specialised support. Some individuals might prefer the confidentiality of a third party, allowing them to discuss their emotions more candidly.

Additional online support should also be an option as some employees may feel uncomfortable talking to others about their issues. Providing an online employee wellbeing hub with links to different resources can be an inexpensive and simple one-stop shop to help with self management of the emotional symptoms that come with grief. Guidance on mindfulness, meditation, exercise or being in nature can in still healthy self-soothing techniques and habits that help with long-term mental health hygiene.

Recognising the growing importance of mental health

First and foremost, employees are human beings. Therefore, it’s only natural that personal situations and life stressors may (and very likely does!) affect their work. In our recent research, a manager who cares was listed as the second most-important employee must-have, only outweighed by fair pay. Employers can show they care through relevant mental health support in the workplace, which in turn will positively influence retention rates. The foundation of the support initiatives you implement should be creating a workplace where individuals feel secure enough to seek help when they need it and discuss their mental health freely. There are still efficient and affordable ways to help staff during trying times, especially for firms that can’t afford to provide financial support for employees. Ultimately, employers should aim to create environments where employees can grow and bring their best selves to work, which starts by understanding what your employees need, and then delivering on that human promise.