Ways to Help an Employee Who Lost a Loved One Due to the Pandemic

Helping an Employee

Thousands of people lost their lives because of this pandemic. It means that thousands of families are grieving right now. It’s possible that some of them are in your team. Grieving takes time. You can’t expect your employees to excel at work again while grieving the loss of a loved one. As the leader, you should try your best to extend help. These tips might be useful. 

Offer financial support

Offer financial support

The first thing you have to do is offer financial support. Even if your employee isn’t asking for it, it’s the right thing to do. Burying a loved one is emotionally difficult, but it’s also financially challenging. You can’t ease the emotional burden, but you can help with the financial aspect. You can also raise funds. Ask your other employees to help in this effort.

Be more flexible with work schedule

When your employee is ready to get back to work, you can help out by giving a more flexible work schedule. Sure, there’s already a delay due to the number of days being out of work. There’s no need to ask the employee to get up to speed, unless the initiative is from him. If there’s a request to work from home for a while, you should approve it. It could also be the other way. Some of them would love to work more to forget what happened. You should also be okay with it.

Avoid being harsh with your words

Some managers think about what’s best for the company first instead of the welfare of the employees. As a result, if there’s a delay in the delivery of tasks, they get angry. You might feel the same. You think that you were already considerate enough, and it’s time to work. The problem is that you can’t put a timeline on grief. When people just buried a loved one, it could take time for them to recover. Being harsh with your words doesn’t help at all.

Ask how you can help 

Before you even think of ways to help, you should ask your employees first. They might tell you what kind of help is needed. Some of them have financial struggles, but others are already happy when you offer care and love. Try your best to respond to the request. 

It’s not easy to go through a severe loss. Some people would take years to recover. It’s even worse since this virus killed those who were seemingly healthy. No one prepared for this pandemic, and we all have to find ways to help each other. Be an encouraging leader and try your best to understand what’s happening. 

Hopefully, things will change soon and everyone who lost a loved one can find peace within themselves. 

Photo Attribution:

1st and featured image from https://unsplash.com/photos/e92L8PwcHD4

2nd image from https://nirocconsultants.com/financial-support-debt-com/