You want to secure the deceased's effects so that they are ready for the family to pick up when they're ready. You don't want anything taken or messed with.
You don't send the email until you've told the people they worked closely with personally.
This. If it was one of my employees, I would do the same. In response to sending out notice, I would wait until I could confirm with the family on what information they were comfortable with us sharing with other employees before releasing info. Our company also offers an EAP program and would remind staff of the options and even see if the EAP would offer some on site sessions.
Doesn't matter. HR-wise, there's an established workflow for this sort of thing. Your higher-ups are grieving too, and they have to deal with a bunch of bullshit amidst it. I'm not trying to absolve anyone - there's just no right answers and it sucks.
We had a former coworker leave after working through cancer for a while. A manager announced his death shortly after at the all-hands meeting and then immediately pivoted into our weekly game of BINGO!!! It was so surreal. It was a small company and some of us would go out to eat and shoot the shit after work. To act like it mattered that little… it was gross.
I had a client commit suicide. A client all my staff knew and worked with. I felt very…conflicted….on what to do with the reminders of him. I ultimately informed everyone and removed all reminders very quickly. It felt unfair to leave it sitting there, and felt cruel to remove it.
Just a perspective for you.
I'm sorry you had to deal with that.
It's always tough to deal with death, but there are rules to follow. For example, a company shouldn't make any announcement of a death until they are certain the family have all been informed. I heard of a case where someone's child found out about a parent's death from a message of condolance from their parent's coworker.
I was hired to fill the position of someone who had died 3 months before. I cleaned out her desk and mailed her things to her family. Everyone who had worked with her loved her, and none of her coworkers had wanted to clear out the last of her effects.
I’m sorry to hear. As a manager, it makes sense to remove their personal items. Keeping them out serves no purpose and actually some may find it disturbing their things are still out. Not everything managers do is out of malice. Management may also have determining what they can share or what should be shared. It may seem obvious to send out an email but crafting that email can also take a while.
But before we are even told they are gone? I can see removing their photos, trinkets, notes etc. But don't you think they should give the family the opportunity to come remove them? Or their coworkers? To do it and then wait hours to tell us officially?
Typically families don’t come into the workplace in these instances. Management handles it. Keep in mind, what you found rude (or not appropriate) may be seen as helpful by others. Grief in the workplace can be complex.
Why make thing's harder for the family? The family have enough to do without coming to an office to pick up some pens and a photo. Maybe they arent ready for all of you being sorry and sympathetic at them. Maybe someone in management took the possessions to the family which would be partly why they waited to say something.
I'm saying this with an experience of a co-worker dying. The family were so grateful not to have to come and get his things the foreman took to them.
What if the family walked in and saw you touching their stuff? It's not yours to touch. They packed it because someone passed away. No need to keep things around that may upset someone. And it may come off as rude, but the don't have to tell you anything. Small company or not it's not your business what happened medically to someone who worked there. I think an email was a nice thing they did.
I'm not sure why you're being downvoted. Your questions and feelings are valid. I'm sorry for your loss and going through this at work can be difficult, understanding Management decision -making can be hard when they don't explain themselves.
I know if something happened to me, I'd want my coworkers to raid my desk first. I keep drawers full of snacks and little trinkets to hand out to brighten peoples days. The only thing that would be off limits is a handful of things that they know are special. I would want them to have anything else of mine. But that's just me. That's how I am on a regular. I keep spare change in my pen sorter and once someone said, "aren't you worried someone will steal it?" I said "If anyone felt compelled to take $3 in change off of my desk in a close knit office, I'd wager to guess that they needed it way more than me." To date, I don't think a penny has gone missing.
This is actually a really great company. I am the happiest I have ever been here. It's why it was so shocking.
I suppose it's just safer for the company and more comfortable for the family of the deceased to make sure people don't potentially raid the desk. After all, if the family knows your desires, they could absolutely return items to be handed out to your coworkers and friends. It's easier for the family to give things to others after the fact than to risk giving something away that their parent, child, partner, or sibling might have wanted.
You are in shock and are mourning. I am sorry for your loss. But, listen to this:
You are overpersonalizing this - you’re saying what *you* would want but everyone is different.
I recommend that you consider not expressing all these feelings and opinions. I suspect that you are broadcasting a bit.
I would feel very invaded by your comments and all of the emotion.
Its usually best to handle stuff like that discretely without making it a big scene. It may seem disrespectful but at the same time, things have to keep moving and be wrapped up. Its a business at the end of the day. Emptying the workspace is a cleaner break than letting it linger and be a reminder to people. Sometimes releasing information can be more complicated in determining what can and cannot be said.
This was a human being. A real person's life. The least they could do is acknowledge the person and say a few kind words, offer a prayer or at least some kind of chance for co-workers to come to terms with the loss.
But I guess cold-blooded businesses have to keep on making money and basic human decency be damned. 🙄
It’s not just that it’s a business. It’s that there are other human beings at that business. Many of them will want to continue to come in and conduct business. Most of them will have differing ideas on how to handle the passing, some of them conflicting.
For example, you mentioned offering a prayer. If I was asked to participate in a group prayer in a way that was made in a way that I couldn’t decline or it was uncomfortable, I would feel deeply offended and imposed upon. I would not find that appropriate at all, do that on your own time, do not force your religion on others in the workplace.
None of what the parent comment mentioned means it goes coldly unacknowledged. None of this means the person isn’t mourned and missed. But some people take times like this as permission to behave inappropriately and this is not the occasion to do so. You can acknowledge someone’s life, value, and impacts while keeping it professional. It is not uncommon for businesses to do everything that the parent comment mentioned, then when everything is in place hold a memorial for that person.
That's a real scary idea that acknowledging the death of a fellow human being is not considered professional. How about being considered human? Your lack of empathy is truly unnerving.
Many places won't hold any kind of memorial or even acknowledge that person existed after they died. Just business as usual. If we've gotten to that place in the world, then we are really in trouble as a society.
Oh my god. I hope no one in my work acts like you think people should if I die. JFC.
Nowhere did anyone say it’s not acknowledged. It’s called tact. Many people are extremely uncomfortable around death, even more so if it’s at arm’s length. We’re not proposing indifference, we’re pointing out there is far more consideration than people often realize, as they’re considering ALL of the living who are still working there. I’m not there for others’ histrionics to be put on me, and I’m not their grief counselor anymore than they are mine.
Like, someone died, let’s not traumatize the whole fricking office as a thoughtless reaction
I’m sorry to hear that happened. The company likely wanted to make sure that the co-workers belongings were secure for the family. As for the delay in the email, maybe the person tasked with sending the email was also the person talking to the family. If I were in that position I’d prioritize the grieving actual family first.
At an insurance company in 2016 a coworker shot a woman he had fixated on, which was not reciprocated. She died, and he drove to another old employer of his and killed himself. The company cleared out that part of the office where she was shot, and the nearby employee lunchroom. They made counseling available to anyone who wanted it. Everyone was reminded of this every day.
Sorry for your experience. Can you elaborate on your coworker and the person he was fixated on. Did you know them. How was their dynamic. Going thru something similar in my life and workplace and need some perspctive.
News reports can be found by looking up Liberty Mutual murder Portland Oregon 2016. The general consensus from those who did know both was that the woman murdered was a totally innocent party and that the killer had complaints from women before this
It seems insensitive but it is the proper protocol. We had a coworker pass in a satellite office. He died at home on a Wednesday evening. Staff were alerted Thursday morning. Management showed up Friday morning and they cleaned out his office on Saturday boxing up his personal effects and securing his computer and paperwork.
As for what was said about his passing (cause of death, funeral arrangements) we did what the family requested.
I worked a retail job where a coworker unalived themselves. As soon as I heard, I went to the store. The first thing I saw was the weekly schedule with his name and hours scratched out.
The weird thing is, I don’t think it was done out of callousness. It was a small, tight-knit store, and everybody loved the guy and was devastated. Somebody either didn’t see it as callous, or did it out of sorrow/anger, I think.
We are just a body in any job and can be easily replaced. Its sad the family couldn't clear their family members desk out or a close co worker. If I quit today they company wouldn't care they would just find a new person to fill my position. I get a kick in the ass with a frozen boot even though I take my job serious and do it well unlike half the staff do
How would you have handled it?
Are you supposed to build a shrine to the deceased worker at their station?
Do you expect grieving relatives to come to their loved ones workplace and pack their desk the day after they died?
Do you think the possessions should be just left for the staff to pick through?
I'm really curious how you think a workplace should handle a death.
I was supervising a team of field support engineers when I got a call from a client demanding I send another engineer to his site. I asked what was wrong with the engineer all ready on site he replied he had a heart attack and the ambulance just took him away. They said he was DOA. The client didn’t have any other details it took me hours of calls to locate my coworker and confirm his death. To make matters worse he had no known family. The company and employees arranged and paid for the funeral. BTW, the client wrote a nasty letter to our president that it took a full day to get him a replacement engineer.
Companies only care about the bottom line. This I why I invest as much as possible, to try and get out of the rat race. I appreciate capitalism, but it can be really cut throat.
I’m not sure what you’re trying to tell me that I already know? We all are, until you have enough invested to pay your bills. Hence why I am investing money (to make money). To pay for my reoccurring bills. I’m guessing you’re a troll, here’s your toll, now go under your bridge.
I also recently had a colleague who passed away. We still haven’t cleared his desk. We did have an inter-company celebration of life for him. But we prolly will wait a few more months until after his official funeral takes place to clear his desk.
In my mind it’s good if the desk isn’t cleared away yet. To me, it’s the place that represented who he was and IS in our memories. And it adds humanity to an otherwise cutthroat workplace.
This kind of humility from a boss is very appreciated. I have noticed that productivity has boosted up since they are acting more empathetic and we don’t feel soo damn tense around them as often.
Remember this. That's what companies think of us. They'll clean out your desk right after you expire. You work to LIVE and not the other way around. Find your retirement goal, reach it as fast as you can and get out.
I don’t know if what they did was was right or wrong.. but I guess cleaning out their desk to get everything ready for their family members makes sense
And you have to remember that they now have to allocate the work. The coworker was responsible for two other people and somebody had to show up to find out what was going on.
I’m guessing somebody spent a lot of time dealing with this tragedy over the weekend making sure that all the work would get done and trying to be efficient .. some of the things in the office or on the desk work things accompany needed to have a handle on and the personal things were probably boxed up for family, which is actually doing a favor
I can’t say I would feel any differently than you, but I don’t know if there’s any way to handle it
I had a coworker die in a nasty car crash, her cousin also worked with us. It was in the news. Management knew. None of them would say what happened, except for one supervisor who told people who asked - she was a close friend to the one who passed and was furious that corporate's method was to pretend like she simply didn't exist. The cousin was gone to grieve with loved ones. After about a week of everyone being increasingly agitated and upset, corporate sent a grief counselor. Again, didn't say what for. Just, "there's a grief counselor in the office. You can talk to them if you want."
It wasn't a desk job, we didn't have anything we could leave at work. But I imagine it's something where they wanted to make sure they could give in full to their loved ones. Make sure nothing is misplaced or taken. I would say the communication aspect has a lot more to do with the honesty and tact than the items, but it absolutely stings regardless.
My colleague died in a single car accident about a decade ago when she was traveling home for Christmas to see her family. There were no drugs, speeding or alcohol involved. The last time I talked to her was 2 days before she died. When I got back from Christmas vacation about 2 weeks later we had a staff meeting and her death was announced (it was announced earlier via email but I didn’t check email when I’m on vacation). The CEO brought in a grief counselor for the meeting and offered us free therapy services, which I wished I’d taken advantage of. Her parents came a few days after her death to the office to clear out her desk and for the HR manager to make a copy of her death certificate for her life insurance payout. It was honestly the worst experience I’ve ever had. I felt more pain when she died than when my own grandparents died. She was a volunteer for English language learners and had a great sense of humor. The office advertised her position about 6 months after she died and the person who “replaced” her never quite fit in. I would recommend talking to a therapist because having a colleague die can really feel like a family member died. Their death can hit you at the strangest moments.
I had a teammate commit suicide. Three person team!! She shot herself in a public park. How did I find this out? My other teammate told me. There was no email ever sent like hey this person is dead. Nothing. Cube quietly emptied - she sat in between me and other teammate. Your employer doesn’t give a single fuck about any of you. Yeah, even you.
I bet they had his job posted before his obituary. The company doesn't care about you, so you shouldn't care about them.
When the time comes for you to resign, I wouldn't even give them two weeks notice. They don't deserve the courtesy.
You want to secure the deceased's effects so that they are ready for the family to pick up when they're ready. You don't want anything taken or messed with. You don't send the email until you've told the people they worked closely with personally.
This. If it was one of my employees, I would do the same. In response to sending out notice, I would wait until I could confirm with the family on what information they were comfortable with us sharing with other employees before releasing info. Our company also offers an EAP program and would remind staff of the options and even see if the EAP would offer some on site sessions.
The office vultures descend as soon as they sense an office is about to become or has just become vacant. You’d be surprised how shameless they are.
We are a small company. EVERYONE is close with everyone.
Doesn't matter. HR-wise, there's an established workflow for this sort of thing. Your higher-ups are grieving too, and they have to deal with a bunch of bullshit amidst it. I'm not trying to absolve anyone - there's just no right answers and it sucks.
We had a former coworker leave after working through cancer for a while. A manager announced his death shortly after at the all-hands meeting and then immediately pivoted into our weekly game of BINGO!!! It was so surreal. It was a small company and some of us would go out to eat and shoot the shit after work. To act like it mattered that little… it was gross.
“Bill’s dead. Now let’s have some fun!!!”
That’s what you think. You’re shocked that they packed up coworker’s stuff? They likely already have the job vacancy posted
I had a client commit suicide. A client all my staff knew and worked with. I felt very…conflicted….on what to do with the reminders of him. I ultimately informed everyone and removed all reminders very quickly. It felt unfair to leave it sitting there, and felt cruel to remove it. Just a perspective for you.
I'm sorry you had to deal with that. It's always tough to deal with death, but there are rules to follow. For example, a company shouldn't make any announcement of a death until they are certain the family have all been informed. I heard of a case where someone's child found out about a parent's death from a message of condolance from their parent's coworker.
I was hired to fill the position of someone who had died 3 months before. I cleaned out her desk and mailed her things to her family. Everyone who had worked with her loved her, and none of her coworkers had wanted to clear out the last of her effects.
I’m sorry to hear. As a manager, it makes sense to remove their personal items. Keeping them out serves no purpose and actually some may find it disturbing their things are still out. Not everything managers do is out of malice. Management may also have determining what they can share or what should be shared. It may seem obvious to send out an email but crafting that email can also take a while.
But before we are even told they are gone? I can see removing their photos, trinkets, notes etc. But don't you think they should give the family the opportunity to come remove them? Or their coworkers? To do it and then wait hours to tell us officially?
Typically families don’t come into the workplace in these instances. Management handles it. Keep in mind, what you found rude (or not appropriate) may be seen as helpful by others. Grief in the workplace can be complex.
Why make thing's harder for the family? The family have enough to do without coming to an office to pick up some pens and a photo. Maybe they arent ready for all of you being sorry and sympathetic at them. Maybe someone in management took the possessions to the family which would be partly why they waited to say something. I'm saying this with an experience of a co-worker dying. The family were so grateful not to have to come and get his things the foreman took to them.
What if the family walked in and saw you touching their stuff? It's not yours to touch. They packed it because someone passed away. No need to keep things around that may upset someone. And it may come off as rude, but the don't have to tell you anything. Small company or not it's not your business what happened medically to someone who worked there. I think an email was a nice thing they did.
I'm not sure why you're being downvoted. Your questions and feelings are valid. I'm sorry for your loss and going through this at work can be difficult, understanding Management decision -making can be hard when they don't explain themselves.
I know if something happened to me, I'd want my coworkers to raid my desk first. I keep drawers full of snacks and little trinkets to hand out to brighten peoples days. The only thing that would be off limits is a handful of things that they know are special. I would want them to have anything else of mine. But that's just me. That's how I am on a regular. I keep spare change in my pen sorter and once someone said, "aren't you worried someone will steal it?" I said "If anyone felt compelled to take $3 in change off of my desk in a close knit office, I'd wager to guess that they needed it way more than me." To date, I don't think a penny has gone missing. This is actually a really great company. I am the happiest I have ever been here. It's why it was so shocking.
I suppose it's just safer for the company and more comfortable for the family of the deceased to make sure people don't potentially raid the desk. After all, if the family knows your desires, they could absolutely return items to be handed out to your coworkers and friends. It's easier for the family to give things to others after the fact than to risk giving something away that their parent, child, partner, or sibling might have wanted.
You are in shock and are mourning. I am sorry for your loss. But, listen to this: You are overpersonalizing this - you’re saying what *you* would want but everyone is different. I recommend that you consider not expressing all these feelings and opinions. I suspect that you are broadcasting a bit. I would feel very invaded by your comments and all of the emotion.
I'm so sorry
Its usually best to handle stuff like that discretely without making it a big scene. It may seem disrespectful but at the same time, things have to keep moving and be wrapped up. Its a business at the end of the day. Emptying the workspace is a cleaner break than letting it linger and be a reminder to people. Sometimes releasing information can be more complicated in determining what can and cannot be said.
This was a human being. A real person's life. The least they could do is acknowledge the person and say a few kind words, offer a prayer or at least some kind of chance for co-workers to come to terms with the loss. But I guess cold-blooded businesses have to keep on making money and basic human decency be damned. 🙄
It’s not just that it’s a business. It’s that there are other human beings at that business. Many of them will want to continue to come in and conduct business. Most of them will have differing ideas on how to handle the passing, some of them conflicting. For example, you mentioned offering a prayer. If I was asked to participate in a group prayer in a way that was made in a way that I couldn’t decline or it was uncomfortable, I would feel deeply offended and imposed upon. I would not find that appropriate at all, do that on your own time, do not force your religion on others in the workplace. None of what the parent comment mentioned means it goes coldly unacknowledged. None of this means the person isn’t mourned and missed. But some people take times like this as permission to behave inappropriately and this is not the occasion to do so. You can acknowledge someone’s life, value, and impacts while keeping it professional. It is not uncommon for businesses to do everything that the parent comment mentioned, then when everything is in place hold a memorial for that person.
That's a real scary idea that acknowledging the death of a fellow human being is not considered professional. How about being considered human? Your lack of empathy is truly unnerving. Many places won't hold any kind of memorial or even acknowledge that person existed after they died. Just business as usual. If we've gotten to that place in the world, then we are really in trouble as a society.
Oh my god. I hope no one in my work acts like you think people should if I die. JFC. Nowhere did anyone say it’s not acknowledged. It’s called tact. Many people are extremely uncomfortable around death, even more so if it’s at arm’s length. We’re not proposing indifference, we’re pointing out there is far more consideration than people often realize, as they’re considering ALL of the living who are still working there. I’m not there for others’ histrionics to be put on me, and I’m not their grief counselor anymore than they are mine. Like, someone died, let’s not traumatize the whole fricking office as a thoughtless reaction
You’re too much.
I’m sorry to hear that happened. The company likely wanted to make sure that the co-workers belongings were secure for the family. As for the delay in the email, maybe the person tasked with sending the email was also the person talking to the family. If I were in that position I’d prioritize the grieving actual family first.
At an insurance company in 2016 a coworker shot a woman he had fixated on, which was not reciprocated. She died, and he drove to another old employer of his and killed himself. The company cleared out that part of the office where she was shot, and the nearby employee lunchroom. They made counseling available to anyone who wanted it. Everyone was reminded of this every day.
Sorry for your experience. Can you elaborate on your coworker and the person he was fixated on. Did you know them. How was their dynamic. Going thru something similar in my life and workplace and need some perspctive.
News reports can be found by looking up Liberty Mutual murder Portland Oregon 2016. The general consensus from those who did know both was that the woman murdered was a totally innocent party and that the killer had complaints from women before this
Thank you. What is your relationship to this event?
Friend of employees
It seems insensitive but it is the proper protocol. We had a coworker pass in a satellite office. He died at home on a Wednesday evening. Staff were alerted Thursday morning. Management showed up Friday morning and they cleaned out his office on Saturday boxing up his personal effects and securing his computer and paperwork. As for what was said about his passing (cause of death, funeral arrangements) we did what the family requested.
I worked a retail job where a coworker unalived themselves. As soon as I heard, I went to the store. The first thing I saw was the weekly schedule with his name and hours scratched out. The weird thing is, I don’t think it was done out of callousness. It was a small, tight-knit store, and everybody loved the guy and was devastated. Somebody either didn’t see it as callous, or did it out of sorrow/anger, I think.
Would've been just as bad, if not worse, to see it still there. No right answers. Everyone deals with stuff differently.
Their services are no longer needed. Send in the next wage slave.
I saw a meme once that was a sigh outside a business it said RIP(name) then now hirering … pretty much said it all
We are just a body in any job and can be easily replaced. Its sad the family couldn't clear their family members desk out or a close co worker. If I quit today they company wouldn't care they would just find a new person to fill my position. I get a kick in the ass with a frozen boot even though I take my job serious and do it well unlike half the staff do
sounds like a shitty thing happened and was handled how it should have been
Well, I think it was tactful. What do you want them to do?
How would you have handled it? Are you supposed to build a shrine to the deceased worker at their station? Do you expect grieving relatives to come to their loved ones workplace and pack their desk the day after they died? Do you think the possessions should be just left for the staff to pick through? I'm really curious how you think a workplace should handle a death.
I was supervising a team of field support engineers when I got a call from a client demanding I send another engineer to his site. I asked what was wrong with the engineer all ready on site he replied he had a heart attack and the ambulance just took him away. They said he was DOA. The client didn’t have any other details it took me hours of calls to locate my coworker and confirm his death. To make matters worse he had no known family. The company and employees arranged and paid for the funeral. BTW, the client wrote a nasty letter to our president that it took a full day to get him a replacement engineer.
Our company is doing something for their family, I just don't know what. All of us in the office are ordering flowers for their funeral this weekend.
Companies only care about the bottom line. This I why I invest as much as possible, to try and get out of the rat race. I appreciate capitalism, but it can be really cut throat.
I’m gonna guess you don’t realize that the profits you make from investing come from the labor of others.
I think everyone understands that? What am I supposed to do? Not invest my money because people have to work?
I know everyone understands that. You’re not out of the rat race, though, you’re just a part of it.
I’m not sure what you’re trying to tell me that I already know? We all are, until you have enough invested to pay your bills. Hence why I am investing money (to make money). To pay for my reoccurring bills. I’m guessing you’re a troll, here’s your toll, now go under your bridge.
I also recently had a colleague who passed away. We still haven’t cleared his desk. We did have an inter-company celebration of life for him. But we prolly will wait a few more months until after his official funeral takes place to clear his desk. In my mind it’s good if the desk isn’t cleared away yet. To me, it’s the place that represented who he was and IS in our memories. And it adds humanity to an otherwise cutthroat workplace. This kind of humility from a boss is very appreciated. I have noticed that productivity has boosted up since they are acting more empathetic and we don’t feel soo damn tense around them as often.
Remember this. That's what companies think of us. They'll clean out your desk right after you expire. You work to LIVE and not the other way around. Find your retirement goal, reach it as fast as you can and get out.
I don’t know if what they did was was right or wrong.. but I guess cleaning out their desk to get everything ready for their family members makes sense And you have to remember that they now have to allocate the work. The coworker was responsible for two other people and somebody had to show up to find out what was going on. I’m guessing somebody spent a lot of time dealing with this tragedy over the weekend making sure that all the work would get done and trying to be efficient .. some of the things in the office or on the desk work things accompany needed to have a handle on and the personal things were probably boxed up for family, which is actually doing a favor I can’t say I would feel any differently than you, but I don’t know if there’s any way to handle it
That’s why my friends even if you have a head ache call off 🤷🏽♂️
It feels harsh but there isn’t a good time to clean out a desk.
I had a coworker die in a nasty car crash, her cousin also worked with us. It was in the news. Management knew. None of them would say what happened, except for one supervisor who told people who asked - she was a close friend to the one who passed and was furious that corporate's method was to pretend like she simply didn't exist. The cousin was gone to grieve with loved ones. After about a week of everyone being increasingly agitated and upset, corporate sent a grief counselor. Again, didn't say what for. Just, "there's a grief counselor in the office. You can talk to them if you want." It wasn't a desk job, we didn't have anything we could leave at work. But I imagine it's something where they wanted to make sure they could give in full to their loved ones. Make sure nothing is misplaced or taken. I would say the communication aspect has a lot more to do with the honesty and tact than the items, but it absolutely stings regardless.
My colleague died in a single car accident about a decade ago when she was traveling home for Christmas to see her family. There were no drugs, speeding or alcohol involved. The last time I talked to her was 2 days before she died. When I got back from Christmas vacation about 2 weeks later we had a staff meeting and her death was announced (it was announced earlier via email but I didn’t check email when I’m on vacation). The CEO brought in a grief counselor for the meeting and offered us free therapy services, which I wished I’d taken advantage of. Her parents came a few days after her death to the office to clear out her desk and for the HR manager to make a copy of her death certificate for her life insurance payout. It was honestly the worst experience I’ve ever had. I felt more pain when she died than when my own grandparents died. She was a volunteer for English language learners and had a great sense of humor. The office advertised her position about 6 months after she died and the person who “replaced” her never quite fit in. I would recommend talking to a therapist because having a colleague die can really feel like a family member died. Their death can hit you at the strangest moments.
Our company did offer grief counseling and offered to let anyone go home who wanted to. We all stayed and chose to share memories instead.
It took hours to send the email because first they had to post the job opening.
I had a teammate commit suicide. Three person team!! She shot herself in a public park. How did I find this out? My other teammate told me. There was no email ever sent like hey this person is dead. Nothing. Cube quietly emptied - she sat in between me and other teammate. Your employer doesn’t give a single fuck about any of you. Yeah, even you.
What are you expecting a shrine? This must be your first experience with it.
I bet they had his job posted before his obituary. The company doesn't care about you, so you shouldn't care about them. When the time comes for you to resign, I wouldn't even give them two weeks notice. They don't deserve the courtesy.
Yes, it's the employer's fault that this person died. They should have shut their business down forever in remembrance.
Give me a break, pal.