Employees in the UK are not given enough time off or support to grieve, according to MetLife UK.
According to the survey, 21 per cent of employees, up from 15 per cent in 2023, thought that more bereavement leave would have benefited them. In the UK, compassionate leave usually lasts between three and five days, even though more than half, around 55 per cent, of workers, require up to eight weeks to feel like themselves again at work, and 13 per cent require longer.
Employees are demanding more help than just leave with 15 per cent of respondents wanting practical help, such as assistance in shutting financial accounts, while 17 per cent stated that access to therapy would be helpful. An additional 12 per cent stated that the hardship would be lessened if their company assisted with funeral arrangements.
According to MetLife, employers need to reconsider how they assist their bereaved employees as the need for improved bereavement policies increases.
MetLife UK head of employee benefits Charlotte O’Brien says: “We know that compassionate leave policies differ across the UK, with the average time given being between three and five days. Yet our research shows over half of the bereaved say it takes between one and eight weeks to feel like themselves at work. That’s 50 per cent of your workers back in the workplace physically but not mentally; there is a clear disparity between what is given and what is needed! While there is nothing we can do about the length of compassionate leave in the UK, we can help change how supported workers are when they are naturally not themselves.
“Whether that’s offering counselling or easing the additional “workload” they face with funeral planning and administration, we believe that Life Insurance is more than just paying a lump sum upon death – it’s about fully supporting workers when they are bereaved, time-poor and at a loss.”
Everest Chairman Mark Wood says: “The death of an employee is always a crisis. Our support and assistance removes the sudden complex and unfamiliar administrative burden which immediately follows an untimely bereavement allowing an unhurried time to grieve. Our services which are integral to MetLife’s Group Life cover tangibly demonstrate an employer’s care for their people at the most difficult of times.”
