Compassionate Organisation Charter Award
This programme is designed to support organisations in equipping their teams with the skills and policies to better support their employees and colleagues when it comes to issues of working with a serious illness or whilst grieving. There is compelling evidence regarding both the science of the benefits of compassion on health and wellbeing in addition to the data of lost productivity due to bereavement. Employers have a key role and responsibility to support their internal and external communities.
“Mum died during the pandemic after significant period of illness. I felt I had to finish off some work related activities that afternoon after being up all night, knowing that I would be off for 10 days until after the funeral. I felt I had to do this as no one stepped in to help. There was a presumption that I would be back in the swing after the funeral and I got laden with additional workload not less. I was functioning on auto pilot when in reality I was exhausted. Close peers/friends were fab but management structure poor.
•Nearly a quarter of working age adults know someone who died in the last year – 7.9 million of which 2 million experience intense grief
•It costs the UK economy £23bn a year in lost gross value added (economic productivity metric)
•Each person experience intense grief on average takes 22 days off in the first 6 months post bereavement – 5% will leave their jobs
Results from Sue Ryder report “Grief in the Workplace – How employers can provide better bereavement support”