Grief Doesn't Stay Home When Your Employees Come to Work
Disengagement, conflict, and poor performance are often treated as standalone problems. Underneath many of them is something leaders rarely name: grief.
Every leader will eventually manage someone who's grieving: a death in the family, a miscarriage, a diagnosis, a divorce. Most weren't trained for it, and most companies don't have a plan for it either. The result: disengaged employees, missed warning signs, and good people who quietly struggle or quietly leave.
As a chaplain with a master's degree in business leadership and management, I built a training on recognizing and responding to grief-related employee disruption, grounded in research and in The Grief Cycle, the framework I created to help people move through loss. I'd love to bring it to your team.
Research Shows
74% of employees say their work performance is affected after a significant loss. Nearly 1 in 9 are grieving a death right now, on your team, in your meetings, at their desks.
The Cost of Unaddressed Grief at Work
Grief doesn't stay contained to home. It shows up in meetings, in missed deadlines, in those moments when an employee is present but not really there. Here's what the research shows:
74% of employees report their work is negatively impacted after a personal loss.
76% of bereaved employees report their performance or status at work was harmed because of grief.
91% of grieving employees report a significant drop in productivity.
Only 11% of managers correctly identify performance issues as grief-related.
These aren't isolated cases. Grief affects the majority of your workforce at some point, and most leaders have no way to recognize it while it's happening.
What This Training Offers
- Disengagement, conflict, and poor performance rarely show up labeled as grief, they just look like problems.
- This training begins with a consultation to understand your team's specific challenges, then builds a customized approach around recognizing what's really going on, and responding well.
Part One: Recognizing grief in the workplace
Before introducing any framework, leaders learn what to actually look for. Grief doesn't always come from a death, it can stem from disenfranchised grief: a divorce, a miscarriage, a layoff, a diagnosis, being passed over for a promotion, or any other loss that isn't always acknowledged or understood as grief. Leaders learn to recognize the signs, even when the source isn't obvious or spoken.
Part two: Understanding and Applying The Grief Cycle
Once leaders can recognize grief, they're introduced to The Grief Cycle, a practical framework for responding well: knowing what to say, what not to say, and how to support someone without needing to fix their pain or rush them toward resolution. Within each stage, you'll learn simple, real-world examples of how to apply it.
Mourning
Grieving and mourning aren't the same. Mourning is the outward expression of grief, and leaders learn to make space for it rather than rush past it.
Lament
Bottled-up pain needs somewhere to go. Leaders learn to help employees release it outward instead of carrying it alone.
Gratitude
Gratitude isn't just a mindset, it's biological, triggering real chemical shifts tied to healing and well-being. Leaders learn to help employees access this shift, even while still grieving.
Celebration
Celebration has its own biology too, releasing stress and triggering happiness chemicals. Leaders learn to mark transitions with dignity, honoring what was lost while moving forward.
Why I'm Qualified to Lead This Work
- Master's degree in Business Leadership and Management (Western Governors University), with capstone research on grief-related workplace disruption
- Bachelor's degree in Education, with a teaching style that keeps hard topics engaging, expect humor and real conversation, more like talking with a good friend than sitting through a lecture
- Creator of The Grief Cycle, a practical framework for recognizing and responding to grief through four stages: mourning, lament, gratitude, and celebration
- Chaplain, with hands-on experience supporting individuals and families through grief and loss
- Grounded in established leadership research, including moral leadership and human capital/engagement frameworks
This work is also personal to me. I've walked through profound loss in my own life, and I know firsthand how much it matters when the people around you, including at work, know how to show up.
Curious whether this training is right for your team? Let's talk.
Schedule a Discovery Call
What Unsupported Grief Costs Your Business
A few days of bereavement leave might check a policy box, but it doesn't come close to addressing the real, lasting cost of grief left unsupported. Here's what that cost actually looks like:
Employees settling a loved one's estate face 5 or more grief-related work difficulties, often persisting for 17+ months.
Unaddressed grief costs U.S. employers an estimated $75 billion annually in lost productivity.
90% of managers say they've noticed a performance impact in a bereaved employee.
About half of employees say they'd consider leaving their job if their employer didn't support them after a loss.
Most companies have a policy for time off, but no plan for what comes after. Without training, leaders are left guessing how to respond, and employees are left to carry grief alone while still expected to perform.
Ready to Support Your Team Through Loss?
Every organization experiences disruption differently, which is why this training starts with a conversation, not a one-size-fits-all package. Share a bit about your team, and we'll talk through what would serve you best.
