Excerpted from New Mexico Employment Law Letter, written by attorneys at Tinnin Law Firm, A Professional Corporation http://www.HRhero.com/nmemp.shtml?HLe
The Grief Recovery Institute Educational Foundation, Inc., a nonprofit organization that has been studying and treating grieving people for 25 years, has published its survey of the annual costs of grief in America's workplace. The results are startling.
The organization's study concludes that the grief caused by the death of loved ones, divorce, and other major life events cost businesses more than $75 billion in 2003.
Effects of Grief
The tragic events of September 11, 2001, caused renewed focus on the impact of grief in the workplace. That impact isn't limited to the productivity lost when an employee takes time off from work, however.
Employees carry the ill effects of grief with them at work during and after major life events, effects that include decreased productivity, a lack of concentration, and impaired decision making. Bad decisions and poor concentration can, of course, result in everything from losing clients to injuring yourself or your co-workers on the job. Consider the following statistics, for example:
- Eighty-five percent of management-level decision makers indicated that their decision making ranked very poor, poor, or fair in the weeks or months after the grief incident that affected them. Of those, 60 percent indicated that some of their decisions definitely had a direct negative financial impact on their company.
- Eighty percent of supervisory-level personnel indicated that their interactions with those under their supervision were very poor, poor, or fair compared to their interactions before the grief incident that affected them.
- Ninety percent of those in blue-collar jobs indicated a much higher incidence of physical injuries because of reduced concentration in the weeks or months following a grief incident compared to their ability to concentrate before the event.
Incidents and Their Costs
The death of a loved one is the grief incident that costs businesses the most annually - $37.5 billion. Since that estimate is based on death rate statistics, it doesn't include the grief associated with the estimated 500,000 miscarriages that occur each year.
Beyond the apparent response in the time immediately following a death, much of the impact appears in the form of substance abuse, stress, depression, and physical accidents and injuries.
The death of a close friend, colleague, or extended family member causes another $7 billion in losses to businesses. One compounding factor is that bereavement leave is rarely given for reasons other than the death of an immediate family member.
Divorce costs U.S. businesses just over $11 billion annually. The average length of time leading up to an actual divorce is two years, during which time workers often suffer reduced concentration and poor decision making. Workers with minor children report considerable time lost and distraction in the two years following the divorce decree.
Family crises involving dependents cost businesses another $9 billion per year. This category includes the many physical, mental, emotional, and educational difficulties experienced by a worker's spouse, children, parents, siblings, and others close to him.
Major lifestyle changes for workers themselves (as opposed to crises involving their dependents) cost employers $2.4 billion annually. Those alterations can include relocation, changes in work assignments or supervision, and changes in personal dietary habits and other habits.
Financial loss accounts for $4.5 billion of grief's costs. Investment losses, salary and pension reductions, real estate devaluation, and bankruptcy are a few of the many financial issues causing grief.
Many self-employed professionals and entrepreneurs indicate that financial preoccupation causes them to make bad business decisions, often leading to the collapse of their business.
Pet loss, an issue often overlooked and downplayed by others, costs businesses $2.4 billion per year. The survey estimates 14 million domestic pets die each year.
Finally, all "other losses" cost employers more than $1 billion annually. This catchall category includes things like pregnancy complications, trouble with the in-laws, sexual problems, and legal difficulties.
Bottom Line
Heightened awareness of grief's costs will, we hope, sensitize you to the problem and force a recalibration of your expectations. Employees don't return from three days of bereavement leave after the death of a family member the same energized and focused workers they were before.
Time heals all wounds, but in the interim, you must understand that a person's decision making ability, interpersonal skills, and concentration on physical tasks may not be what they were.
Acknowledging grief's consequences is the most important step in reducing its costs. And referring your employees to your employee assistance program as soon as you are
aware of a need is good for your employees and your bottom line.
Additional Resources
Employee Handbook on HRhero.com The HRhero.com Subscribers' Area includes sample language for policies related to bereavement leave:
- Log in at http://www.HRhero.com/lc
- Scroll down to HR Tools and click on "Sample Policies &
Procedures."
- View the sample sections on "Bereavement Leave" and
"Employee Assistance Program."
No additional charge for Employment Law Letter subscribers to access this information online. Call (800) 274-6774 if you need help logging in.
Copyright 2005 M. Lee Smith Publishers LLC. This article is
excerpted from *New Mexico Employment Law Letter. * Read more
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