Psychosocial Safety Webinar: When Life Happens at Work - Grief, Loss and the Workplace Response

In this webinar, we will explore psychosocial safety through a reality that every workplace will eventually encounter: staff significant life changes, loss and grief. At the heart of this conversation is a simple but often overlooked truth: people carry their lives into work. We will examine how workplace systems, cultures and responses can either help people feel cared for and supported through difficult experiences, or unintentionally add to their burden. WHS obligations now require businesses to proactively manage psychosocial hazards and protect workers’ psychological health, as well as their physical safety. Grief is not a psychosocial hazard; it is a natural response to loss. But when someone is grieving, the workplace response matters. Poor support, unreasonable expectations, added workload, isolation, poor communication or insensitive responses can increase psychosocial risk. Supporting a grieving employee is not about treating grief as a hazard or trying to fix it. It is about understanding its impact at work, reducing avoidable stressors and making sure people feel supported and able to ask for what they need. Together, we'll consider what happens when employees experience significant life disruptions such as bereavement, serious illness, caregiving responsibilities, relationship breakdown, traumatic events, or other forms of personal loss while continuing to navigate the expectations of work. These experiences can influence concentration, confidence, energy, relationships, performance and a person's sense of connection and belonging.