Susanne Schlenker offers coaching and resilience training and supports companies in dealing with grief in the workplace. She works closely with teams and managers to process losses together and emerge stronger from them. Her approach combines mindfulness and emotional intelligence to provide people and organisations with targeted support during difficult phases. In this way, she helps to strengthen both individuals and teams in stressful times and to create a more resilient, positive corporate culture.

Grief is a drastic experience that affects everyone sooner or later. Nevertheless, it often remains a taboo subject, especially in the work environment. From my experience as a coach and resilience trainer, as well as from my personal experience, I have realised how crucial it is not to suppress grief, but to consciously face it and deal with it. Various losses in my life and the cancer diagnosis of my daughters' father were my triggers to address the topics of dying, death and grief.

I am particularly interested in how companies can develop a more understanding approach to grief in order to strengthen the emotional health of employees and improve the working atmosphere at the same time. At a time when mental health and emotional stress are increasingly taking centre stage, it is important that companies not only give the topic of grief space, but also importance.

It is about establishing a culture of compassion in companies - a culture that benefits both the employees themselves and the company in the long term in terms of a sense of belonging.

People grieve because they have lost an emotional attachment to a person or thing - be it a loved one, an important relationship, a stage of life or, in the world of work, the loss of a project or a career change. Grief is a natural reaction to loss and reflects the value and depth of a bond.

Crucially, grief is a process of adjustment. Losing something significant goes hand in hand with acceptance, adapting to changed circumstances and finding a new role. This psychological and emotional process requires time, space and reflection without judgement.

Many companies still see bereavement as a purely private matter. Both employees and employers face major challenges: Employees have to come to terms with the loss and take care of their family while at the same time fulfilling their professional duties. Employers, on the other hand, are called upon to show compassion while still ensuring the smooth running of operations.

In large corporations, there are usually bereavement offers through programmes such as the Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) and standardised guidelines, e.g. company agreements, which specify how many days of special leave are granted in the event of a death. However, I think the term ‘bereavement leave days’ is more appropriate than ‘special leave’, as the death of a loved one is an exceptional situation both emotionally and organisationally. Anyone who has experienced a loss knows that one or two days are neither enough to deal with the formalities nor to come to terms with the loss emotionally.

In small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and mid-sized companies, the structures are often more personal and flexible, but there is often a lack of formalised processes. Here, managers often offer individual support, as cooperation between employees and managers is closer. How much space is given to mourning depends heavily on the corporate culture and the management personalities.

My experience shows that personal involvement plays a major role. Companies either react with great compassion or with uncertainty and speechlessness. A good example is Sheryl Sandberg from Meta (formerly Facebook), who realised after the sudden death of her husband that the usual two days' leave was not enough. She then introduced a regulation that allows employees to take up to 20 days off depending on the degree of kinship.

This kind of understanding for the needs of grieving employees could serve as a model for many companies to promote a supportive and empathetic work culture in the long term.

Many managers feel uncomfortable when it comes to talking about emotional topics such as death and grief. They often don't know how to respond appropriately without appearing either too distant or too personal.

Managers perform a balancing act by showing compassion and understanding for the bereaved on the one hand, but on the other hand they should also protect business interests. Here it helps to look at the needs and act flexibly. My favourite questions in these cases are: ‘What do you need as a grieving person right now? ‘ and ‘What do I, as a manager, need to maintain productivity and operations?’ Talking about this openly and with compassion is key.

Digital learning opportunities can help to sensitise managers and employees to the topic of grief and provide them with tools on how to deal with grieving colleagues. Training courses on grieving processes and psychological support are a great help here.

Grief is a personal and emotional issue that is often better dealt with through human interaction. Digital tools can serve as an initial approach and should therefore be seen as a supplement to and not a substitute for personal discussions and support from colleagues or managers.

Even though grief is deeply personal and individual, it inevitably affects a person's work performance and well-being. We go to work in the morning as whole people and in the long run we cannot brush off grief at the entrance to the company. If we deliberately ignore grief, we run the risk of employees reaching an emotional breaking point, which leads to higher sickness rates and productivity losses in the long term.

Employees, on the other hand, honour it when companies are there for them in a crisis situation - this strengthens employee loyalty in the long term. It can also mean that the affected employees remain fit for work, which in turn benefits companies financially.

In future, companies could increasingly rely on digital platforms that offer psychological support and grief counselling. Virtual grief groups, counselling services or grief therapy apps could help employees to receive support flexibly and anonymously.

Despite the advances in the digital world, the human element of grief counselling will continue to be of great importance. Digital tools can supplement the work, but personal relationships and direct communication will remain indispensable.

AI-based grief management services are already playing a role today by offering personalised support. For example, chatbots accompany mourners around the clock and respond to individual needs. These technologies can provide emotional support in the short term.

However, AI cannot currently replace human empathy and in-depth understanding, which is invaluable in coping with grief. AI can act as a supportive tool, but the emotional depth and compassion that can only be found in genuine human relationships is irreplaceable, especially in sensitive phases such as grief.

In my view, the aim should not be to suppress or avoid unpleasant feelings such as grief, for example by using avatars of the deceased to give the impression that they are still with us. This practice could be seen as a form of denial of our mortality - and therefore an essential part of life. Isn't it precisely the awareness of our finiteness that gives life its true value?

Together we have created our first course on the topic of grief in the company. You can test this and other courses free of charge for 7 days.  

Register here:

https://lnkd.in/enXnHi4t