Supporting colleagues through loss and grief

When it hits, grief affects how we feel, communicate, concentrate and cope day-to-day. It affects our whole life – including work.

All of us will experience loss and grief at some point, but as a society it remains an uncomfortable topic. No wonder many managers and colleagues aren’t sure what to say or do when it happens to someone at work.

In the last twelve months, 24% of working-age people, which equates to 7.9 million employees, have experienced a bereavement.

There are huge opportunities for employers to create a compassionate culture in which people experiencing loss feel understood and supported. It’s good for the individual, and it’s good for the organisation.

Grief, loss and the workplace

As our guest speaker for our next networking event on Wednesday 21 October, we’re honoured to welcome grief and loss coach, author and speaker, Liliana Myers, wife of the late Dave Myers of the Hairy Bikers, who’ll share her deeply personal experience. The event will be a welcoming space for an honest, sensitive and practical conversation.

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“Grief is intense and individual,” says Liliana. “It’s unpredictable: it ebbs and flows and shows up in unexpected ways and at unexpected times. It’s different for each of us and it’s not something that people can leave behind when they start work – it reshapes every part of them.

“Over the last couple of years, I’ve tried to show that there’s hope after loss and alongside grief. Yes, there’s anger, sadness, darkness and more, but people are resilient and can cope – they just need a hand. Since we usually spend large parts of our lives at work, organisations and managers can make a huge difference.”

As part of our work to equip organisations and employees across the North East with the tools they need to thrive, our networking events bring together leaders for peer support and to discuss important topics.

“I’m learning all the time about my own feelings, what I need, and it’s the same for other people,” says Liliana. “If organisations can be open and empathetic that’ll go a long way to creating a positive culture that allows people to be their best.”

Would your managers know what to say or do when a team member experiences loss?

Our workplace wellbeing e-learning programme is already set up to support employees who are going through grief and loss, including through information and guidance about mental health and wellbeing, sleep, stress management and mindfulness.

This event goes even further by specifically helping HR professionals, people managers, business owners, learning and development leads, health and wellbeing leads, wellbeing champions and anyone responsible for supporting colleagues at work. It’s a safe space to hear about and different experiences of grief, discuss how to respond compassionately as a manager or colleague, and start understanding how to improve organisational support for employees experiencing loss.

“This will be an emotive discussion, but I am really looking forward to an open and honest conversation on this important topic,” says Helen Selfridge from Rise, who will be interviewing Lili on the day. “We should be talking more about this in the workplace, and we hope those attending will leave with greater confidence to support a grieving colleague and putting the person at the centre of your approach.”