Bereaved staff are being failed by their employers, according to a report published today by bereavement and palliative care charities.

One-third (32%) of employed people who suffered a bereavement in the past five years said they were not treated with compassion by their employer, and 87% of people surveyed believed that all employers should have a compassionate employment policy, which includes paid bereavement leave, flexible working and other support.

The research, Life after death: six steps to improve support in bereavement, also found that more than half of the 4,000 people polled would consider leaving their job if their employer did not provide proper support if someone close to them died.

Eve Richardson, chief executive of the National Council for Palliative Care and Dying Matters Coalition said: “Employers have an important role to play by being compassionate and having a bereavement policy in place. They should also ensure that they support their managers so that they are confident in having sensitive discussions about end-of-life issues with their staff.”

Four people out of five believed that there should be a legal right to receive paid bereavement leave. At present, there is no statutory paid bereavement leave, although employees have the right to “reasonable” unpaid time off to deal with the consequences of dealing with the death of a dependent. This can include time off to deal with practicalities such as arranging a funeral.

Dawn Chaplin, co-founder of the National Bereavement Alliance, said: “Learning to live with the loss of someone close is one of the most painful experiences we can encounter, and society’s response often makes it even harder. There’s an urgent need to improve access to bereavement services and to ensure that people who have been bereaved are not ignored or left isolated.”

Jeya Thiruchelvam, employment law editor at XpertHR, adds: “Section 57a of the Employment Rights Act 1996 entitles all employees to take a reasonable amount of time off work ‘to take action which is necessary’ in relation to the care of certain dependants. The case of Forster v Cartwright Black in 2004 established that action can include making funeral arrangements, attending the funeral, registering the death, applying for probate and similar practical arrangements.”

Lucy Herd, founder of Jack’s Rainbow, who has been campaigning for the government to review statutory bereavement leave since the death of her young son Jack in 2010, said: “Much more must be done to provide support to people who have been bereaved. It’s completely unrealistic to expect people who have lost someone close to them to immediately go back to work and carry on as normal.”

As well as making recommendations around improving bereavement support in the workplace, the report calls for improved training to support all staff who come into regular contact with people who have been recently bereaved. It also calls for a national review of the effect on bereaved people of welfare reforms – including changes to bereavement benefit – and for the appointment of a Government minister with responsibility for bereavement.

Many of Employers for Carers members already offer paid bereavement leave and offer flexible working to all employees but we would agree that more employers need to be aware of the effects of a bereavement and do more to support their employees at this difficult tine rather than losing valuable staff or staff feeling the need to take time off sick. It is often the case that prior to a bereavement an employee will have been caring for their relative and juggling this with their job. We need to create open and supportive workplaces where employees feel áble to talk about responsibilities outside of the workplace and ask for some flexibility and support to manage this. EfC would also agree with the findings of the report that it is vital that we also support and train managers to enable them to support their staff.

Reported in Personnel Today