Companies Re-Evaluating Their Bereavement Leave Policies
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Here's your Money Briefing. I'm J.R. Whelan at The Wall Street Journal in New York. Being with family after losing a loved one can mean asking for a week or even more time away from work. We'll ask a Wall Street Journal columnist about company bereavement policies and how they've evolved. First, some money and market news you should know. Good news for home sellers. Home prices ticked up 3.2% in August, slightly higher than the previous month.
How common are bereavement leave policies at U.S. employers?
Mortgage rates hovering around 3.75% have a lot to do with that. The number of Americans who own a home also edged up through the summer months, with the rate of homeownership ticking up to nearly 65 percent in the third quarter. But the housing market is still shaking off price weakness. Prices are still rising only about half as quickly as they were a year ago.
Losing a loved one is hard emotionally. Add to that the bureaucratic issues to resolve, and it can result in several days or even weeks away from work. And that's where a generous bereavement policy can ease the pain for employees who need to be with family. But those policies can be very different.
Why are two- or three-day bereavement policies often insufficient?
Wall Street Journal work and family columnist Sue Schellenbarger joins us to discuss. So, Sue, how common are bereavement policies?
Nine out of 10 employers have bereavement policies, but they are all over the map in terms of what's offered. And the difficulty is that many of them only offer two or three days off, up to five off for an immediate family member. And it really isn't long enough in many cases.
A lot of times it seems as if the bereavement policies don't take into account that there are many more than just a couple of days needed for all the responsibilities involved when there is a loss in the family.
It's difficult for employers too. It's a very complex area.
How do companies handle travel and administrative tasks after a death?
When you think about a loss in the family can be anything from your elderly aunt for whose funeral you only have to travel a few miles to your parent whose affairs you have to settle. You have to set up the funeral and a memorial service, the obituary. It's a very complicated area.
So
employers are really looking over these policies and trying to figure out what is the best way to handle it.
And for an employee, it's a good idea to read the fine print and find out the details of the policy.
Many policies are simply say two days for extended family, five days for immediate family. It really behooves you to talk to your manager if you've got a special situation, such as a funeral in a different distant state. It may take two days just to get there and two days to get back, leaving really no time to be with your loved ones and to actually grieve.
You know, we live in an era where the definition of family has evolved and changed. Couldn't that put a company in a difficult position of trying to parse out who gets how many days?
It's really excruciating. As a former manager myself, I know it can be very difficult if your policy only covers certain defined roles. And perhaps you have someone on your staff who has a domestic partner or a dear friend or the neighbor next door who raised them. It's really good for an employer to leave a little wiggle room so that they can take case-by-case consideration. A few employers are even changing their policies to leave it up to the employee to decide whether
How are employers adapting policies to the evolving definition of family?
what kind of family member or relationship should qualify for bereavement leave in the event of a death.
Oh, so that takes the employer out of the business of trying to make determinations.
Yeah, the boss doesn't have to decide if your brother-in-law is more important than your romantic partner, for example. So yes, it takes all of that responsibility off the shoulders of the company.
And younger generations of workers are handling grief differently at work than older age groups.
I love this characteristic of workers in their 20s and 30s these days. They're very open about emotional issues and how family and personal issues affect them at work. The young woman I profiled in this recent story was very open about her loss and how it affected her career.
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:05–0:30
2
How common are bereavement leave policies at U.S. employers?
0:30–1:15
3
Why are two- or three-day bereavement policies often insufficient?
1:15–1:53
4
How do companies handle travel and administrative tasks after a death?
1:53–3:19
5
How are employers adapting policies to the evolving definition of family?
3:19–4:33
6
Do hourly and salaried workers receive different bereavement benefits?
4:33–5:53
7
Which employers have expanded bereavement leave and why does it matter for retention?
5:53–6:09
Speakers
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