How to support a bereaved employee
Current statutory provisions
Employees have a statutory right to take a reasonable amount of unpaid time off work to deal with certain unexpected emergencies involving “dependants” ( yr.2, iss.7, pg.10 , see Follow up ). This can cover taking a couple of days off to deal with matters arising as a result of the death of a dependant, such as arranging and attending the funeral, but it’s not a right to bereavement leave or time off to grieve. In addition, those who are parents have a statutory right to take up to two weeks’ parental bereavement leave and pay following the death of a child under 18 or a stillbirth after 24 weeks of pregnancy ( yr.3, iss.14, pg.4 , see Follow up ). However, there’s otherwise no general statutory right for employees to take bereavement leave, meaning there’s no right to take any time off at all where the deceased wasn’t a child or dependant. That said, the impact of coronavirus has highlighted the need for employers to provide a supportive approach to those employees who suffer the loss of someone close.
Pro advice. Consider putting in place a bereavement policy that goes further than the statutory rights to time off for dependants and parental bereavement leave (see Follow up ).
Policy scope
It’s really up to you how far you want to extend time off for bereavement that falls outside the statutory provisions, but matters to consider include:
- will your bereavement leave scheme be discretionary or contractual? You’ll need to exercise any discretion fairly, consistently and non-discriminatorily
- how much leave do you want to grant, e.g. one or two weeks?
- will the amount of leave granted differ depending on the employee’s relationship with the deceased, e.g. a greater number of days following the death of an immediate family member and a lesser number of days following the death of a wider family member? How will you define immediate and wider family?
- will you grant time off where the deceased was not a family member but was a close friend of the employee?
- will any bereavement leave granted be paid, part-paid or unpaid?
Pro advice. You might want to state that any pay will be at your absolute discretion, rather than making it a contractual right. If you do make it a contractual right, consider setting a maximum on the number of days that will be paid per year.
- will the time off granted be in addition to, or include, time off taken under the statutory right to time off for dependants?
Pro advice. Be flexible too about employees using their paid annual leave entitlement at short notice, or taking unpaid leave, to supplement any bereavement leave granted. Grief affects everyone differently, and some will need more time off than others, so there’s no “one-size-fits-all” approach. Likewise, the circumstances of the death may impact on how much time off an employee needs to adjust to their loss, so you need to deal with bereavement on a case-by-case basis.
Pro advice. There’s also the possibility that the employee’s GP might sign them off sick for a longer period, e.g. with reactive depression or anxiety, and then they’d be entitled to statutory or contractual sick pay in the normal way during their sickness absence. If you’re not flexible with providing additional time off to an employee who needs it, sickness absence is more likely to result.
Pro advice. Different religions have different bereavement practices and requirements, e.g. a longer mourning period or a funeral or cremation at short notice, so be ready to accommodate any such religious or cultural requirements. A failure to do so where reasonably practicable could result in a claim of indirect religious discrimination, unless your refusal can be objectively justified on business grounds. An employee might also need to travel abroad for the funeral (and self-isolate on their return under current travel rules).
Pro advice. If the employee is going to be off work for more than a few days, arrange cover during their absence - you don’t want them to have to return to a large work backlog at a time when they aren’t going to be at their most productive.
Pro advice. A sudden and unexpected death will generally be more immediately devastating and overwhelming than the death of a very elderly or terminally ill relative, but any death can have a long-term adverse effect on an employee’s mental health and can result in such ongoing issues as extreme fatigue, lack of motivation/concentration, irrational anger, loss of self-esteem, depression and an inability to make decisions. These issues can last for weeks, months or even years, so continue to provide ongoing support to the employee long after they’ve returned to work - regular conversations with them will help.
Other support
Other support you could offer a bereaved employee may include:
- a phased return to work on reduced hours (with their agreement)
- temporarily reduced job duties and responsibilities or a period of homeworking (again, with their agreement). More permanent flexible working arrangements may need to be put in place if the employee’s caring responsibilities have permanently changed following the death
- being sympathetic and tolerant for a reasonable period regarding any adverse impact that the death has had on the employee’s behaviour, performance or attendance, e.g. making adjustments to the trigger points for your disciplinary, capability or attendance management procedures
- access to professional bereavement counselling if that’s available through a workplace employee assistance programme
- signposting to external sources of information and support, such as the charity Cruse Bereavement Care (which runs a freephone national helpline). In addition, the NHS provides useful information for bereaved people (see Follow up ) and GOV.UK provides a step-by-step guide to the practical steps to take when someone dies (see Follow up ).
Pro advice. As soon as you’re aware that an employee has been bereaved, have an initial phone conversation with them to acknowledge it, offer your condolences and sensitively find out how they want to go forward, and how you can offer support. For example, ask about how they would like to stay in contact with you and ascertain their wishes regarding how much information their work colleagues are to be given about the death and whether they want to be contacted by any of those colleagues during their absence from work. Be careful about not divulging an employee’s personal affairs to other staff without their authorisation to do so. Limit this conversation to immediate matters and leave detailed discussions until a later date.
Pro advice. Write to the employee at an early stage to set out their bereavement leave and pay entitlements (see Follow up ).
Pro advice. Keep some regular contact with the employee during their absence, so you can check how they are and when they might be ready to return to work, as well as to discuss any adjustments or support that might help them with this. Such contact should be low key and non-intrusive. Be prepared for the employee not to always feel like talking to you. Offer email contact if that’s what they would prefer.
Pro advice. If you think that an employee is planning to return to work before they’re mentally fit enough to do so, arrange a medical report or an occupational health assessment. Be particularly aware of the risks if they perform a safety-critical role.
Pro advice. Train line managers to always show empathy and compassion during bereavement discussions. The CIPD has produced a useful short guide to bereavement support for line managers (see Follow up ).
Pro advice. As the effects of grief are often long term, be sensitive in future to requests for time off work for anniversaries and other special events - birthdays and anniversaries of death can be particularly difficult times for those who have lost a loved one.
Previous article on time off for dependants
Previous article on parental bereavement leave scheme
Bereavement policy
Get help with grief after bereavement or loss
What to do when someone dies: step by step
Letter to bereaved employee
CIPD line manager guide to bereavement support
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