What HR needs to know about grief literacy in the workplace

No one wants to think about grief, but it’s a common part of life.

The majority (61%) of working adults have experienced the death of a loved one while employed, according to a 2025 survey from the New York Life Foundation, and almost all (91%) consider coping with death as significant a life event as getting married or becoming a parent.

Grief can also lead to absenteeism and productivity loss, according to the American Psychiatric Association, costing companies $75 billion each year.

Loss and the subsequent grieving process is a universal experience, but many leaders are unaware of how they can help grieving employees, Patricia Bravo, a leadership development consultant and author of In the Room: When Grief Comes to Work, told HR Brew.

“Sometimes there’s a perspective gap around the actual emotional experience of [loss and grief],” Bravo said. “This is where I think grief literacy can really come in, in terms of helping professionals and organizations better understand what grief is.”

What is grief literacy? “Grief literacy is understanding the foundations and the fundamentals of loss and grief,” Bravo said. It can help employees—especially those who have not suffered a loss—understand what grief looks like, how to talk about it, and how it can change over time, she added.

HR pros don’t need to become grief experts, Bravo said—that’s why licensed therapists, medical professionals like hospice workers, and thanatologists who study death, dying, and bereavement exist. But they could benefit from learning how to spot the signs of and empathize with those experiencing the grieving process.

“Death, grief, they are topics that we, as a society, struggle with. They are things that we don’t necessarily know how to respond to and that happens inside and outside of work,” Michelle Desmond, a thanatologist, told HR Brew, later adding, “what we can do a better job of, as a culture and potentially within companies, is to learn a little bit more about how grief actually works.”

Grief at work. Everyone responds differently to grief, but there are some common symptoms that HR pros and employees can look out for, Barry Herman, a psychiatrist and chief medical officer at telehealth company Mentavi Health, told HR Brew.

Crying, anger, irritability, frustration, impatience, emotional detachment, appetite changes, and insomnia are a few signs of grief, Herman said. “Oftentimes, [grieving] people just have a hard time doing anything, starting or completing tasks, and that’s important in the workplace,” he added.

Someone may experience grief when they lose someone, or something, Desmond said. Called “non-death grief.”

The latter may manifest in the workplace following “any kind of activity that’s going to disrupt your professional identity [and] the sense of who you are,” Herman said, such as a job or financial loss, or even retirement. The loss of a leader or disruption from AI could also result in non-death grief, Bravo added.

“These are micro losses that we can all adapt to, but I think they’re adding up, and so there’s also a cumulative effect that sometimes occurs in the workplace that isn’t recognized,” Bravo added.

What can HR do? Spotting the signs of grief is just the first step, Bravo said. She advises people leaders to also check in with employees who are experiencing grief to let them know that they’re not alone

“If we gave people what they need, which, at the most basic level, is acknowledgement of their loss and grief, that could affect their motivation,” Bravo said. “What I hear from people over, and over, and over again is nobody noticed. Nobody said anything. Nobody did anything. It only takes 10 minutes to acknowledge someone’s experience.”

Herman suggested that HR pros should also monitor employees’ performance and functioning for any grief-related disruptions, so they’re able to address them accordingly.

“They’re not there to diagnose, or to treat their employees,” he said. “But, they’re there to really specifically focus on their behavior and their functioning in the workplace, and be able to offer appropriate support when they’re able to.”