Copyright forbes
October 17, 2015 - Toronto Blue Jays starting pitcher David Price leaves the game in a disastrous 7th inning. Toronto Blue Jays V Kansas City Royals in Game 2 of the American League Championship Series in MLB action at Kauffman Field. Jays lose Game 2 6-3 and go down 0-2 in the series. Toronto Star/Rick Madonik (Rick Madonik/Toronto Star via Getty Images) Toronto Star via Getty Images The fact that focus is fragmented and under threat has received a considerable amount of attention by academics and practitioners alike. The cost of presenteeism, or being at work in body but not in mind, has been called a trillion dollar problem. A recent study published in the Journal of Occupational Environmental Medicine found that psychological distress was associated with presenteeism costs ($6944/women and $8432/men) and that the association between psychological distress and annual hours lost to presenteeism was twice stronger for men than women. In the age of distraction and waning employee mental health, organizations are looking for practical solutions to support well-being in an effort to help employees focus more fully when they are at work. The Prevalence and Cost of Grief at Work Mental health has been named as a consistent source of presenteeism. One particular powerful emotion that contributes to mental health is grief, and although deep sorrow is not generally a “hot topic” of discussion, it is like that at any point in time, a significant portion of the workforce is grieving. A population-based Canadian study published in a niche journal called Death Studies revealed that 96% of 1,200 working adults reported having grieved the death of a loved one and 78% of these individuals were currently grieving. Notably, these statistics reflect a time prior to the COVID pandemic where the death count was considerably higher than other years. Yet, despite this reality that employees and leaders from all levels and departments will navigate grief during their career, there has been surprisingly little research produced that considers how grief impacts work experiences and presenteeism in particular. Since 1985, the Canadian Labour Code has mandated up to 3 consecutive days of bereavement leave for federally regulated employees (if no other collective agreement provisions apply) when an immediate family member dies. In such cases, research from the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry suggests that presenteeism is a highly likely outcome as many employees are likely then to have returned to work in shock and disbelief over the death. Indeed, researchers offering evidence-based guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of complicated bereavement found that grief recovery typically spans over two years. According to estimates by the Grief Recovery Institute published in the Chicago Tribune, the annual cost of death-related grief to organizations is almost $45 billion. Expanding Our Receptivity to Grief Some cultures have access to language and ceremonies that make space for grief. The Day of The Dead, for example, is a multi-day holiday in Mexico where families gather to honour their loved ones who have passed away offering a ritual where people have an outlet for their grief without taking compassionate leave. In much of Western Europe, Canada, the United States, and Australia, however, bereavement falls more in the private domain. This makes it difficult to address grief at work or put differently, it makes one of the most inevitable experiences of being human awkward and taboo. A "climate of authenticity" refers to a shared understanding within a group or team that members can express their true emotions and feelings, both positive and negative, without fear of judgment. This social container is built on the perception that it is acceptable for individuals to be genuine in their interactions with coworkers, even when they are distressed. Importantly, by removing the need to suppress difficult emotions, theory argues that employees should experience higher quality outcomes and processes because they are no longer burdened with the stress of constant emotional regulation. In the absence of holding it all together, they can devote their resources to having honest conversations about their capacity, or perhaps even back to the task at hand. MORE FOR YOU Managing Grief At Work To honour the reality that grief is a naturally occurring phenomenon at work, leaders might consider the following four recommendations. Enable a Results Only Work Environment (ROWE): Research from the University of Minnesota shows that ROWE practices improve productivity, engagement, and well-being. ROWE, which is underpinned by trust and clarity, focuses on outcomes rather than hours or visibility. In the battle between remote work and return-to-office, ROWE is relevant in that it shifts the focus from face time to outcomes such that what is accomplished outweighs where or when an employee works. For employees navigating grief, this flexibility can be transformative because it demonstrates leaders value their contributions rather than their constant presence, which may otherwise result solely in presenteeism. Enhance your Emotional Agility: The ability to be curious about one’s emotions without getting swallowed up by them, has been referred to as “emotional agility”, which the Harvard Coaching Institute considers a critical leadership skill in contemporary organizations. To hold an emotionally intelligent conversation, leaders will need to demonstrate care and offer their presence to a very painful human experience. In order to execute this skillfully and authentically, some experience sitting with one’s own grief is likely necessary. By exploring one’s own suffering with openness and curiousity, leaders can develop experience in navigating the waves of grief in order to hold space for the grief of others. Increase Your Grief Literacy: In her book Handbook for the Heartbroken, Sara Avant Stover advocates for the importance of having access to language that allows people to connect around life’s difficulties. Whether the suffering-of-the-hour is driven by death, divorce, miscarriage, infertility, climate change, war-torn nations, or financial ruin, developing a vocabulary that enables leaders to facilitate dialogue and diffuse the fear of judgment when such events occur would enable a climate of authenticity. Double Down on Belonging: Belonging acts as a psychological buffer during times of loss and when one team member is struggling, teams with high cohesiveness come together to support them and share the workload. Teams can strengthen belonging through small, deliberate actions—acknowledging wins and being generous with praise, engaging in honest conversations that normalize emotional expression in team culture. Leaders can also model belonging by being transparent about their own vulnerabilities and sharing examples of how they have been supported by their peers in difficult situations. Maybe There Should be Some Crying In Baseball In the modern workplace, and amidst the general global discord, leaving our humanity outside of the office is becoming increasingly difficult. Even if emotions are not typically considered to be relevant at work, the cost of presenteeism, psychological distress, and grief is too high a cost for organizations to ignore. Given the prevalence and inevitability of grief, this is one aspect of the human condition that leaders would benefit from upskilling their responsiveness to. When it is ignored, employees are likely to expend energy masking their pain rather than healing further lengthening their recovery time. A climate of authenticity does not diminish professionalism; it deepens it. By equipping leaders with emotional agility, grief literacy, and the ability to lead teams with authentic relationships towards actual results, organizations can turn an invisible drain on focus into an opportunity for compassion, and collective meaningfulness. Editorial StandardsReprints & Permissions
