Dying Matters Awareness Week is here

This week, 8 - 14 May, marks Dying Matters Awareness Week 2023. It's an opportunity for us to come together to open up the conversation around dying and grief. This year, we're focusing on the importance of compassion and support in the workplace.

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Why does dying matter at work?

In this film, Rubina, Aongola and Sally-Ann share their experiences of grieving at work. Their stories show that having a compassionate employer can make a huge difference during a tough time.

Like them, you can help make sure that workplaces are properly set up to support people who are ill, who are caring for those around them, or who have lost someone close to them.

Watch on YouTube

The numbers speak for themselves

Death, dying and grief will affect everyone at some point in their lives. But too many workplaces are not good enough at supporting their employees through it.

Our research found that:

44% of people don’t believe the bereavement leave offered by their company was sufficient.
50% of people have used holiday for bereavement leave.
39% of people have lied about needing time off due to discomfort around talking about bereavement in the workplace.

This needs to change.

Not only should employers have the right policies in place - they also need to build a compassionate, open and supportive culture. It needs to be OK to talk about death and dying at work. That's what our Compassionate Employers programme is all about.

And what about your workplace?

Could you and your colleagues benefit from dedicated wellbeing support for staff and employers? Get in touch with our wellbeing support programme to see how your organisation can be well set up to look after employees through grief, illness and caring.

It's easy to find out how it could work for you and your workplace. Email us today!

Start compassionate conversations at your work

Discover how you can have meaningful and compassionate conversations with other people at work, in the community or at home. Our short quiz will show you where you stand on the compassionate superhero scale and offer some tips to improve on each of the six superpower skills.

Your compassionate superpower - find out!

Find out your compassionate superpower score!

Find out where you stand on the compassionate superhero scale with our short quiz – and check out tips to improve on each of the six superpower skills.

Find out more