Implementing a Bereavement Policy with Your Company

Instituting a bereavement leave policy can be a difficult task, because everyone has different situations and take more time to get over a death than others.

In 1998, I was happily married and we had a beautiful new baby along with my 5 year old son. My husband and I both were employed at the same place. When our daughter was 32 days old, my husband woke up to go to work, because I was still on maternity leave, and found our beautiful little baby girl was dead. Words can never explain the screams of sadness that our walls heard that morning.

My husband and I dealt with the death of our daughter in very different ways, which eventually led the ending of our marriage. I did not feel that I could return to work for sometime, while my husband went back to work after a week. I finally returned to work after about 6 weeks, and decided that I couldn't just stay in the house and cry all the time.

Everyone's situation is different, and losing a loved one is one of the hardest things anyone can ever do. It is even more traumatic when it is your child that has passed away. A parent should never have to go through losing their child, it just isn't supposed to happen that way.

What I am trying to say is that instituting a bereavement policy is fine, and every company should have one, but make it possible for some situations for people to take longer leaves according to their situation.

Not everyone will be attending a funeral in the same town that they live in, some people will have to travel to another state or even another country. A bereavement policy should be flexible enough to allow for travel time.

Another example I can tell you about just happened recently. My mom is remarried, and her father in law passed away. I am not working right now, but the place I was last employed does not give any time for step-grandparents. Though his death did not play a major part in my life, I felt like I needed to be there for my mother and stepfather.