Is it time we changed how workplaces think about grief?

Two weeks ago, I published an article called The Hidden Cost of Grief at Work.

I expected it to resonate with people who had experienced loss. What I didn't expect was what happened next.

More than 28,000 read the article.

The comments came from bereavement specialists, financial advisers, counsellors and people who had experienced profound loss themselves.

They didn't all know each other, they worked in different industries and even lived in different countries.

Yet they were all responding to the same idea:
We're not talking about grief at work enough.

One comment came from a bereavement coordinator in Ireland who works with parents whose child has died. He shared that part of his role is helping employers support grieving parents as they return to work.

Another came from an Australian working in financial protection in the United States, who said the article "stopped me mid-scroll" because she'd seen this issue unfold personally and professionally.

Others spoke about supporting people through grief extending far beyond employment and into the wellbeing of entire families.

Reading those comments reinforced something I've been thinking about for a long time.

This isn't a conversation for the bereaved, or even for Australia, and it isn’t even a workplace one.

It's a global, human one.

The statistics I shared in my previous article were Australian, but grief doesn't recognise borders. Whether someone lives in Brisbane, Dublin or Colorado Springs, the experience after losing someone you love is remarkably similar.

There is the grief everyone sees. Then there is everything they don't.

The financial pressure.
The interrupted careers.
The paperwork.
The parenting.
The invisible mental load that quietly follows people back into work long after compassionate leave has ended.

What struck me most wasn't the number of views.

It was how many people said, "I've seen this too."

For me, that tells us something important.

We have the lived experience, emerging research and professionals across industries saying the same thing.

Perhaps it's time we stopped treating grief as something that sits outside the workplace and started recognising it as something leaders need to understand.

Because supporting a grieving employee isn't just about helping someone through a difficult week.

It's about helping stabilise an entire household. This conversation is only just beginning.

Behind the scenes, we're working on something bigger that I hope will help organisations better understand grief, build more supportive workplaces, and create practical change for grieving employees and their families.

Because if one article can spark this many conversations, imagine what we could achieve if we started having them intentionally.