When someone has a significant loss, work keeps moving. Deadlines stay on the calendar. Inboxes keep filling. Managers are often trying to balance empathy with day-to-day realities.
This guide is for employers and managers in Canada who want a clear, evidence-informed way to support employees after a loss. It brings together:
- the legal baseline for bereavement leave
- practical, research-backed supports at work
- a simple framework managers can follow
- how tools like Solace can help reduce the administrative load
For specific legal advice or policy decisions, employers should consult legal counsel and official federal and provincial sources.
Free tool: Bereavement support planning checklist for managers
The quick take
If you remember only a few things, start here.
- Bereavement is common during working life. Many employees will experience a significant loss while in your organization.
- Canadian employment standards set minimum job-protected bereavement leave. These are a floor, not a ceiling. [1]
- Human rights law includes a duty to accommodate protected needs (for example, disability-related needs), up to undue hardship. [3]
- Simple, clear policies and a calm manager response are linked with better retention, lower absence, and more sustainable returns to work. [5]
- Digital tools like Solace can lighten the administrative and document burden for employees, and give employers a concrete support to offer.
Why workplace support after a loss matters
Loss does not stay neatly outside of work hours. It can affect:
- concentration and memory
- sleep and physical energy
- the ability to manage emails, meetings, and deadlines in the usual way
Workplace bereavement research consistently points to the value of practical support, flexibility, and manager readiness, not perfect words. [5]
Good support is mainly about clear options, flexible structures, and managers who know what to do first.
Legal baseline in Canada
This section is a high-level overview only. Laws change and details vary, so always check current standards for your jurisdiction.
Bereavement leave
In Canada, the minimum amount of bereavement leave depends on whether the workplace is federally regulated or falls under provincial or territorial law.
- Federally regulated workplaces follow the Canada Labour Code. [1]
- Most other workplaces follow provincial/territorial employment standards (which vary).
Minimum standards typically describe:
- how many days of leave are job-protected
- the time window when leave can be taken
- whether any days must be paid
Many employers go beyond the minimum by:
- offering more days of leave
- paying more of that time
- using a broader definition of family, including chosen family and close friends
Tip for multi-province employers: Put your statutory minimums in a one-page internal appendix (by province/territory) and update it annually. If you want a single “example” baseline to start your comparisons, Ontario’s bereavement leave page is a clear reference point. [2]
Duty to accommodate and psychological safety
Under Canadian human rights law, employers have a duty to accommodate needs linked to protected grounds, up to undue hardship. After a loss, this can be relevant when:
- an employee suddenly has new caregiving responsibilities
- someone develops a diagnosable mental health condition that affects work
- fixed schedules or procedures conflict with essential estate responsibilities or ceremonies
Many employers also align bereavement support with psychological health and safety frameworks (for example, the National Standard of Canada for Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace). [4]
A bereavement policy that reduces guesswork
A clear policy takes pressure off in difficult moments. It supports fairness, consistency, and faster action when it matters most.
When reviewing or designing a policy, consider four sections.
1. Scope and definitions
- Recognize different types of close relationships, including chosen family
- Include pregnancy loss where aligned with law and existing leave policies
- Note that cultural and religious practices around death may require additional flexibility
Keep definitions simple and avoid expecting employees to prove the closeness of a relationship.
2. Leave entitlements
- State clearly that statutory bereavement leave is the minimum
- Outline how many days are available, how many are paid, and whether they can be taken non-consecutively
- Explain how bereavement leave interacts with personal days, vacation, and other leaves
- Include examples (for instance, using some days immediately and holding others for later ceremonies)
3. Flexible work and short-term adjustments
List options that may be considered, such as:
- temporarily reduced hours
- remote or hybrid work for a defined period
- a lighter project mix or delayed deadlines for a limited time
Make it clear these are case-by-case, balancing employee needs and operational requirements.
4. Confidentiality and access to supports
- State that employees do not need to share more personal information than required to administer leave
- Explain who will know about the situation and how the employee’s wishes guide what is shared with colleagues
- List available supports (EAP, mental health benefits, HR supports, community resources)
Sam note: A fill-in “sample policy template” could be a helpful add-on tool (nice-to-have).
A simple playbook for managers
Managers are often the first person an employee tells. A simple structure helps them respond with calm and consistency.
Step 1: When you hear about the loss
Focus on three things.
- Acknowledge
- Thank the employee for letting you know
- Offer a brief, sincere expression of sympathy
- Stabilize the next few days
- Ask: “What do you need from work in the next few days?”
- Confirm what leave is available and explain options in plain language
- Agree on communication
- Decide how the employee prefers the team to be informed
- Confirm how and when you will check in while they are away, if at all
Step 2: While the employee is away
- Limit contact to essential items and to agreed channels
- Protect their time away by redirecting non-urgent requests
- Coordinate with HR so pay, benefits, and paperwork are handled without the employee needing to chase information
Step 3: Planning the return
Before the return date, set up a brief conversation to discuss:
- the planned date and schedule
- a temporary prioritization of work
- which meetings are essential in the first weeks and which can wait
- how the employee wants their situation described to others
Agree on a simple, time-limited return-to-work plan so expectations are clear for everyone.
Step 4: The first months back
- Check in at agreed intervals, keeping conversations short and practical
- Watch workload and adjust if it remains too heavy
- Signpost confidential supports (EAP, benefits, community resources) if the person seems stuck or increasingly overwhelmed
Managers do not need to act as counsellors. Their role is to create a stable, respectful environment and connect employees to the supports the organization already has.
Sam note (incorporated): It can help to name the supports available to managers, not just employees—HR guidance, EAP referral pathways, and practical tools that provide support beyond what managers can readily provide.
Practical supports that make a real difference
Beyond leave and immediate flexibility, research and practice point to four supports that consistently help. [5]
1. Flexible use of time away
- Allow leave to be taken in blocks or as individual days
- Make it easy to combine bereavement leave with personal or vacation days where needed
- Recognize that some key events and tasks happen months after the death (estate tasks, ceremonies, anniversaries)
2. Training for managers
Offer brief, focused training that covers:
- how to respond when someone reports a loss
- what the policy allows
- when to involve HR, occupational health, or legal support
Even a short session—refreshed annually or embedded into broader manager training—can reduce anxiety and improve consistency.
3. Access to professional support
Ensure that:
- EAP and mental health benefits clearly include support around loss (where applicable)
- information about services is easy to find and written in plain language
- dependants are included where the plan allows
Make it normal to mention these supports in team communications, so they feel like everyday resources rather than an exception.
4. Psychological health and safety lens
Connect bereavement support to your overall mental health strategy. This can include:
- talking about bereavement within psychological health and safety committees
- reviewing how performance expectations are handled after major life events
- checking whether policies unintentionally make things harder in the months following a loss
This keeps support from being a one-time response and embeds it into how the organization operates. [4]
How Solace can help employers and employees
Many of the hardest parts of life after a loss are administrative. There are documents to find, accounts to close, benefits to apply for, and tasks to coordinate across family members.
Solace is a digital workspace that helps people organize the practical side of loss: tasks, timelines, documents, and shared coordination.
For employers, offering Solace can:
- give managers a concrete resource to share when an employee has a loss
- reduce some of the administrative pressure that would otherwise follow an employee back into work
- complement EAP and benefits by providing practical (non-clinical) support beyond what managers can readily provide
Solace is not a replacement for legal or tax advice, and it does not replace employee assistance or counselling. It is designed to sit alongside those resources.
Employer checklist
Use this checklist to review your current approach.
Policy and compliance
- [ ] Confirm whether each team is federally or provincially/territorially regulated
- [ ] Confirm current bereavement leave minimums for each jurisdiction where you employ people [1]
- [ ] Ensure your policy meets or exceeds those minimums
- [ ] Include chosen family and pregnancy loss where appropriate
- [ ] Align the policy with your accommodation framework and escalation path [3]
Manager readiness
- [ ] Provide short, practical training for managers on responding to a loss (refresh annually)
- [ ] Offer simple scripts and templates for key moments
- [ ] Clarify when managers should involve HR, occupational health/disability, or legal support
- [ ] Provide managers a “referral list” (HR contact, EAP pathway, benefits info, community resources, Solace)
Employee options
- [ ] Offer flexible ways to use bereavement leave over time
- [ ] Make it easy to request temporary schedule or workload adjustments
- [ ] Communicate clearly about EAP, mental health benefits, and community resources
- [ ] Consider offering Solace as a practical digital tool during and after leave
Culture and continuous improvement
- [ ] Explain in writing that employees are not required to share more personal detail than necessary
- [ ] Share how information will be communicated to colleagues, with the employee’s consent
- [ ] Track high-level indicators (leave use, retention, support uptake) without over-collecting sensitive data
- [ ] Review and update your approach regularly as part of your psychological health and safety plan [4]
A thoughtful, structured approach to bereavement support helps employees feel safer bringing real life to work. It also gives managers clear next steps at a time when everyone may feel unsure, which is often the most valuable support of all.
Footnotes (selected references)
[1] Government of Canada — Canada Labour Code: bereavement leave (federally regulated workplaces).
[2] Government of Ontario — Employment Standards: bereavement leave.
[3] Canadian Human Rights Commission — Duty to accommodate guidance.
[4] National Standard of Canada — Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace (CSA).
[5] Workplace bereavement research overview (manager practices, return-to-work, and organizational support).
