NCPC Bereavement and Employment Survey

 

The report, ‘Life after death: six steps to improve support in bereavement reveals survey data that shows a third of British adults who were bereaved in the last five years whilst in a job (32%) do not feel that their employer treated them with compassion.

 

Despite an uncertain jobs market, the ComRes research also found that more than half (56%) of people said they would consider leaving their job if their employer did not provide proper support if somebody close to them died.

 

The research found considerable public support for bereavement support in the workplace, with more than four fifths people (87%) agreeing all employers should have a compassionate employment policy, including paid bereavement leave, flexible working and a range of other support.

 

Most people also appear to think that employers themselves could gain from a more compassionate approach to bereavement, with 82% of people saying that providing employees with paid bereavement leave is likely to be beneficial to the employer in the long term.  81% said 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 practicalities such as arranging a funeral.