Benefit Spotlight: Bereavement Leave

This article from Bloomberg highlights an often overlooked employee benefit that most employees hope to never have to use but will ultimately prove to be invaluable in the unfortunate albeit nearly inevitable event that it becomes applicable - bereavement leave. 

‍

In a resiliently tight labor market, enhanced grief and loss-related offerings are not only a means of differentiation in the competition to attract top talent, they also provide an opportunity to display meaningful support, flexibility, and generosity in a time when those efforts are likely to be appreciated, remembered, and reciprocated by way of loyalty in return.

‍

Interestingly, the piece included two examples of companies that expanded their bereavement leave policies in response to executives who each had to navigate their company’s earlier bereavement policy in the wake of personal tragedy, found those policies to be lacking to say the least, and were able to embody the case for expanded bereavement leave in a way that clearly resonated. 

‍

One of those examples was an executive with Johnson & Johnson who unexpectedly lost his teenage son and discovered that the 5 days of PTO the company offered at the time was insufficient to complete the funeral arrangements. 

‍

Ultimately, after being faced with a first-hand case study that 5 days was simply not enough time for people to adapt to changes in life and family circumstances of this magnitude, Johnson & Johnson increased their number of bereavement leave days from 5 to 30.

‍

As for outcomes, the executive who lost his son and catalyzed these changes in the first place claims that he’ll “never” leave the company in light of how responsive leadership proved to be when he raised these issues, and the chief human resources officer who ushered the new bereavement policy into effect says that he received more positive feedback for this particular bereavement policy change than for any other HR policy shift he’d seen in his 16 years with the company. 

‍

Bereavement Leave By The Numbers

Much of the conversation surrounding bereavement leave and potential enhancements to bereavement policies involves 2 questions: How many days of paid time off should be allotted following the death of a loved one, and who qualifies as a loved one? 

• According to Mercer, the average number of days of bereavement PTO offered by US companies is 5 days.
• Currently, only 5% of US companies offer more than 6 days of bereavement leave, although trends indicate that number is likely to grow with about 20% of a group of HR professionals known as the Disability Management Employer Coalition having stated their intent to expand their bereavement policies over the next year.
• One professor with the University of Alberta, Canada who researches grief recommends bereavement policies that allow for 14 days of PTO.
• More than two-thirds of companies that offer bereavement leave have expanded bereavement leave to include extended family members like grandparents and grandchildren.

‍

Some noteworthy companies that have expanded their bereavement leave policies up to 20 days of PTO include Adobe, American Express, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, and JPMorgan Chase.

‍

You can read more about bereavement policies and the surrounding issues and enhancements here.