When we consider change in the workplace, our thoughts often move to organizations heading in new directions, taking on new responsibilities, or re-organizing, contracting, or expanding. We think about educating employees about the upcoming change, and we know that employees may need to adjust. However, we rarely consider whether feelings of grief are part of an employee's organizational change experience.
Grief is sorrow, suffering, or distress over affliction or loss. In Western culture, we typically associate grief with the death of a loved one or a beloved pet or perhaps with the loss of a home or a job. We don't often readily associate grief with workplace change. However, change in the workplace disrupts routine – and most humans find comfort in routine. The change removes the sense of security that comes with a predictable workday and is often uncomfortable.
An employee may experience grief if job responsibilities are diminished. Even an employee being transferred to a new department with new responsibilities and greater pay may experience grief at leaving behind colleagues or customers the employee has worked with for years. Taking on a management role, which may mean one is no longer a peer of one's colleagues, can cause a sense of loss. An employee asked to take on a colleague's work on leave to start hospice care or medical treatment may also experience grief. Even though one cannot predict the outcome of hospice care or medical treatment, our culture associates both with a certain finality or uncertainty.
Employees processing grief as part of change may report feeling scattered, overwhelmed, or disconnected from others. They may lack energy, be less productive, have trouble sitting still and focusing on work, or forget things. Typically, a person experiencing grief will alternate between denial, anger, sadness, and acceptance, and often in no order, as the person comes to terms with the loss. Each person grieves differently and for varying periods.
To assist employees experiencing grief as part of a change, supervisors can acknowledge that change – even positive change – can result in many different feelings and emotions. Supervisors can call EAP for a management consult on how to support their teams. For organization-wide transitions, such as a move or a merger, supervisors may want to have an EAP clinician facilitate a group for employees to talk about the shift how employees feel about it, and help employees identify positive coping skills.
