Monday Mourning: A Call for the Study of Bereavement in the Workplace

Abstract

Bereavement, the reaction to the loss of someone significant through death, is a challenging life event. Despite its prevalence, it is an understudied aspect of organizational life. The goal of this article is to encourage research on bereavement in the workplace. After providing a brief overview and definitions of key terms, I highlight themes of what we know about bereavement from work in the organizational sciences. I then suggest several generative directions for future work. Such research may alleviate some of the bereavement burden for employees by better addressing their needs and by developing more humane organizational policies and practices.