It’s easy to avoid this subject, unless it forces itself onto our attention, and then there is no escape. For some who are bereaved or indeed terminally ill, work can be a welcome distraction from its dominance away from work. For others, home may be lonely or an environment where they feel they have to give rather than receive support. So what is needed at work from colleagues and managers differs in different situations. At a time of such vulnerability, an unaware or insensitive response from management can be deeply alienating, and slow down the ability to focus on work effectively again. So it is important in business as well as human terms. On the other hand, a member of staff is likely to reciprocate a genuine and appropriate commitment from the organisation. Other staff may also notice and be affected by the quality of care they observe for their colleague at such a time. After all, it might be them next.
Rick, for example, led a close-knit group of scientists with competence and confidence but felt shaky when he heard that one of his team had died unexpectedly after a short illness. It was Friday and his HR manager lent him the kind of book he would never go near normally (1), saying ‘You’ll probably know most of this stuff, but you may find it useful to have a look.’ He didn’t feel he knew it all, though was sceptical that a book would help. Nevertheless, Rick found himself devouring it over the weekend. By Monday he had begun to work out in his own mind what he felt and, more important, what he was going to do for her partner and colleagues. Rick kept the book for several weeks. This experience stimulated the HR manager meanwhile to set up a workshop on the issue for a mixture of line, occupational health and HR colleagues, and also to invite some staff representatives.
In another, major commercial organisation, Joyce managed the IT department, with about 20 staff working open plan. Greg was one of these, and his young toddler, Mary, died suddenly at sixteen months. The whole department felt traumatised. Many of them had followed Mary’s progress since she was a baby and she had been in from time to time. Joyce was handling the situation well but felt out of her depth. She hadn’t been trained for this. It was suggested that she meet a consultant experienced in the field, and she agreed, with mixed feelings and some apprehension. In the event, it helped her to regain her confidence, as well as to fine-tune the way she was approaching the situation. She arranged for staff to meet the consultant in small groups for an hour, so they could share how they felt and what they wanted to achieve in the way they related to Greg when he came back to work. The consultant also subsequently met Greg, both on his own and with Joyce. They established how best to support him at work, in terms of what he felt he needed from her and his colleagues, and also, just as important, what he didn’t want.
In these kind of situations, Trans4mation can help. Its work in this field is led by David Charles-Edwards, whose book (1) Handling Death and Bereavement at Work (ISBN 0-415-34724-6 pb £17.99, also in hardback), was published April 2005 by Routledge.
To find out more about how we can help your organisation, please visit www.trans4mation.com or contact:
Nick Cotter
T: +44 (0) 870 606 4400
F: +44 (0) 870 606 4411
nick.cotter@trans4mation.com
PO Box 44
High Street
Evesham
Worcestershire
WR11 4ZJ
