The American workforce is not exactly known for its understanding during family or personal emergencies.
Just recently, my boyfriend was sent to the hospital after being in extreme pain, and later that week someone was yelling at him for being behind on reports.
When my Mom was diagnosed with Cancer, her pay was cut while she was going through chemo.
And even when TikTok user @thedeadbook.co found her mother-in-law dead, her CEO wasted no time asking when she would be working again, even calling her during the funeral.
Check out her very disturbing story of workplace apathy for yourself.
She starts her video by explaining that she and her husband had tragically found her mother in law non-responsive in her own kitchen, but while their world stopped moving, one thing didn’t: work.
“A few days after we found my mother-in-law, my CEO texted me and said, ‘You’re coming into work next week, right?’ No I’m not.”
She said as much as she wanted to, and as much as that sense of routine would help her, she couldn’t just leave her husband to deal with this terrible grief alone.
“I wasn’t gonna leave my husband at home. Especially with a job that I could work from home, that I could work from anywhere!”
But her CEO’s lack of tact around the situation only continued during the actual day of her Mother in law’s celebration of life.
“It was a day to focus on family and nothing else. My CEO called me twice that day to talk about a job description. The conversation could have waited. It really, really ticked me off.”
But even after that, her work found a way to be even more insensitive, letting her know that she needed to show up to work with a smile on her face to help build the team camaraderie!
“In the midst of grieving, I was told that I needed to smile, and have a good attitude.”
She said she wanted to talk about her experience because employers need to understand where people are in terms of major life events.
She knew that people needed to return to their routine, “We have to go back to work, we have to go back to life, we have to go back to the administrative things after somebody passes.”
But she said it wasn’t about returning to their routine, it was about how employers handled this return.
And if they refused to handle it the right way, than their employees were going to start leaving, just like she did with the company she’s speaking about!
Check out her video for yourself.
@thedeadbook.co POV: your workplace doesn’t understand how to handle grief and bereavement. The cost of living allows pur careers to rule how we grieve and the space we need to do so. Let’s change the conversation here. #something #100k #account #workplaceproblems
TikTok was outraged for her, saying there’s a reason its called paid time OFF.
And this user remarked that even the PTO that American companies give you is often far too little.
Many people felt completely discarded and forgotten by their companies in times of need.
But the people who were supported by their employers said it was a kindness they would never forget.
And finally, this user’s boss even expected them to work the day after they found out they were going to lose their child.
Seems like no one has a heart nowadays.
Remember, your employees are people too!
If you liked that story, check out this one about a 72-year-old woman was told by her life insurance company that her policy was worthless because she’d paid for 40 years. 🙁