Grief has entered the workplace. Here’s what leaders can do

Up until recently, most leaders believed grief belonged outside the workplace. If someone experienced a loss, they may have received flowers, condolences, a few days of bereavement leave, and were quietly expected to return to normal. Most other forms of loss went unnamed entirely, and it was back to business as usual. That framework no longer reflects reality. Today’s leaders are guiding teams through layoffs, restructures, AI disruption, and the erosion of stability that employees once relied on. People are grieving careers they thought they would have, workplace cultures they no longer recognize, and professional identities threatened by automation. A layoff creates grief not only for the people who lose their jobs, but for the colleagues who remain, including the leader. Most organizations do not call this grief—and even more still reward people for pretending they’re unaffected—but employees feel it anyway, and so do the leaders charged with holding everything together. Skeptics might argue that the workplace is not the place to process emotions— that work is for work, and therapy is for therapy. However, the data tells a different story. The Centers for Disease Control estimates that unsupported grief costs U.S. companies up to $225.8 billion annually in lost productivity. Leadership does not pause for grief, but grief will absolutely pause your business. In my work as an executive leadership coach and advisor, I see this hidden weight regularly. Leaders tell me they feel immense pressure to project steadiness while privately carrying uncertainty themselves. They are expected to reassure teams during layoffs and navigate rapid technological change, all while wondering whether their own expertise will eventually become obsolete. New research from the Center for Creative Leadership makes the “humanity” gap explicit: 73% of managers report they have received no preparation to support grieving employees. The same research found that one in five bereaved empl