'Firms Should Have Bereavement Policies'

'Firms should have bereavement policies'

[Posted: Tue 23/10/2007 by Niall Hunter, Editor] http://www.irishhealth.com/index.html?level=4&id=12410

Most companies and organisations do not have clear guidelines on managing bereavement in the workplace, according to a new survey released today.

This is in spite of the fact that organisations believe there could be health and safety implications for employees who were bereaved.

The survey of 34 organisations commissioned by the Irish Hospice Foundation (IHF) also found that a significant number of companies found an increase in sick leave after a bereavement and nine out of 10 companies believed a colleague's work performance was affected by a bereavement.

The results were released as David Begg, General Secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) launched a new grief at work resource which sets out a basic standard of issues and entitlements which apply to all employees.

Around 300,000 people, or one in 10 of an organisation's workforce can be directly affected by bereavement each year.

Organisations and companies are now being urged to take a proactive approach by learning about the grieving process and developing a bereavement policy.

The survey found that the 34 organisations surveyed had experienced employee bereavement in the previous 12 months, with half of the organisations experiencing the death of an employee at some point in its history.

Key findings of the survey were:

* 88% of firms did not have what could be described as a written bereavement policy;

* Only 15% had policies for supporting employees caring for a seriously-ill relative;

* 91% had some kind of compassionate leave;

* The most common compassionate leave was either five of three days paid leave;

* 50% of organisations allowed their manager to use discretion in relation to the number of days leave provided;

* 84% believed that an employee's work performance is, or could be, affected by bereavement;

* 44% found an increase in sick leave for employees;

* 41% had a system for accessing counselling when required. For more information,click on...http://www.hospice-foundation.ie