Researchers from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) found that focusing on work following a bereavement or divorce can be a healthy coping mechanism for grief, leading to better outcomes for grieving employees.
The qualitative study, based on 68 in-depth interviews, found that employees were able to transform the workplace into a refuge and a place for healing, when given room for ‘job crafting’: autonomy over how they approach the practical and social aspects of their role. LSE's research was published in January.
“Work, rather than being a burden, can be an empowering way for someone struggling with deep grief to cope,” said Lidiia Pletneva, assistant professor of management at LSE, and author of the study.
“While the cause of their grief was different, they all believed that work, their coworkers, and even the physical workplace itself helped them get through it.”
Read more: Dealing with death in the workplace
She told HR magazine that a properly supportive environment would allow employees to broaden the scope of their tasks, volunteer for tasks not normally within their remit, learn new skills and invent new ways to tackle their daily responsibilities, helping the grieving employee regain a measure of control over their life through engagement with their job.
She said: “Managers should provide job crafting opportunities to their employees so that the employees have agency over modifying their jobs: it is through this job crafting that employees can transform their work, and make it a refuge.”
For many employees, this involved working harder over a sustained period of time. Pletneva warned that the approach some employees take, of burying themselves in work for more than three months, might lead to negative effects: while avoiding the issue can reduce immediate distress and provide more time for bereaved people to absorb the stress, leaving it too long is a recipe for burnout, decreased quality of life and a delayed processing of grief.
Pletneva added: “My findings show that short-term immersion produces positive outcomes. However, when people work significantly harder, adding stress and ignoring self-care, for more than three months, their quality of life suffers. A timely talk with a manager about the intensity of their job crafting behaviour may prevent that suffering.”
Talking about loss is something that we struggle with in the UK, but can be all-important to those experiencing it, according to Zofia Bajorek, research fellow at the Institute for Employment Studies (IES).
Bajorek has herself been working through two bereavements, and has found great comfort at work; drawing on her experience, she has publicly encouraged others to create an atmosphere where people feel comfortable to open up, should they wish to.
“A struggle in many workplaces is that people don’t like talking about death,” she told HR magazine.
“We don’t know how it will land – what it may trigger – and we don’t want to cause necessary upset. But sometimes things don’t need words. Just the reassurance that there will be someone available to go for a walk, have a cup of tea, or even acknowledge a bad day, is good enough.”
After the loss of her friend and colleague at the IES, employee wellbeing trailblazer Stephen Bevan, the team found strength and understanding by coming together.
“The only place I wanted to be the day after Steve died was in the office, as I was with people who knew him, and knew what he meant to me,” she said.
“There was a sense of coming together in support for one another, and a communal grief, in a way. Work was a help. It provided a sense of normality.”
Grief, however, is unpredictable, Bajorek warned, adding that flexibility from managers and colleagues had been enormously important.
“I knew that I could step away, take time out, and could, if needed, lean on my project teams to help with a task if it was too close to the bone.
"Grief is not linear, and can manifest in different ways. Compassion and empathy, rather than a strict implementation of policies, is most beneficial. People need to be given the option to decide what is best for them, but to know that they can ‘reach out’ if and when needed.”
