Growing Calls For Stronger Bereavement Leave Policies In South African Workplaces

What the law currently provides

South Africa's Basic Conditions of Employment Act grants employees up to three days of paid family responsibility leave per year, applicable to the death of a spouse, life partner, parent, grandparent, child, grandchild, or sibling. It applies only to employees who work more than 24 hours per month and who have been employed for longer than four months.

While this provision offers a starting point, it leaves significant gaps. It does not cover extended family members, close friends, or chosen family. It makes no allowance for travel, which is often substantial in South Africa, where funerals frequently require employees to travel to a different province or even a different country. And it offers no recognition of the fact that three days is, for most people, barely enough time to begin processing a significant loss, let alone to attend to all the practical responsibilities such as the funeral arrangements, their loved one’s affairs, and the many financial matters that families are often required to navigate in the weeks that follow.

The reality of grief

Grief researchers have long challenged the idea that mourning follows a neat, short-term timeline. Dr Elisabeth Kubler-Ross (1969), whose work shaped a generation of bereavement thinking, was clear that grief is not a linear process that resolves within days or weeks. More recent research supports this: significant grief responses can persist for months, and many people find that the second and third months after a loss are among the most difficult, precisely because external support has diminished by then.

The scale of the gap between what employees need and what most organisations currently provide is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore. According to Empathy's 2026 Workplace Benefits Report, which surveyed more than 5,500 employees and benefits decision-makers globally, 95% of employees said bereavement-related benefits were valuable to them, yet fewer than half felt that their employer's current policies adequately supported them through loss.The impacts on a bereaved employee are well-documented. Difficulty concentrating, reduced decision-making capacity, increased absences, and in some cases the development of complicated grief or depression. These are all predictable responses to loss that thoughtful workplace policies can help to address.

The cost of getting this wrong

The financial case for investing in better bereavement support is more compelling than many employers appreciate. Global research estimates that bereavement-related productivity losses run into the hundreds of billions annually. In a South African context, where funeral culture carries deep communal significance and where travel for funerals is often considerable, the productivity impact is likely higher than comparable international figures suggest.

Beyond productivity, there are retention implications. People remember how they were treated during their worst moments. An organisation that does not show up for someone during one of the hardest experiences of their life risks lasting damage to trust and to its ability to attract and keep good people. Research suggests that replacing a mid-level employee can cost between 50 and 200 per cent of their annual salary once recruitment, onboarding, and lost productivity are factored in.

Team morale is also a factor that is easy to overlook. Colleagues observe how bereaved employees are treated. The conclusions they draw about the organisation's values tend to be quiet, lasting, and rarely captured in a survey.

What better support actually looks like

Forward-thinking organisations are expanding their bereavement policies in ways that do not require large budgets. They require intention. Extending paid bereavement leave beyond the statutory minimum, even to five or ten days for immediate family, sends a clear message about what the organisation values. Including chosen family and close friends in bereavement definitions reflects the reality of how many people actually live and love.

For families navigating repatriations or funerals that take place far from where an employee is based, the standard three days can fall short before the journey has even begun. Policies that account for travel time, rather than treating it as the employee's problem to absorb, reflect a more honest understanding of what loss actually asks of people.

Phased return-to-work arrangements, allowing employees to ease back into their full capacity rather than returning abruptly, can make an enormous practical difference in those first weeks. So can access to grief counselling through an Employee Assistance Programme, which remains one of the most valued and underused employee benefits available.

Equipping managers matters too, perhaps more than any formal policy. A line manager's response in the days immediately following an employee's loss shapes that person's experience of the organisation in ways that persist long after the event. Most managers want to do the right thing. Many simply have never been given the tools or guidance to do it well.

A starting point for South African employers

Reviewing and improving a bereavement policy does not need to be complicated. It begins with an honest look at what you currently offer: how many days, who is covered, and when it was last reviewed. A short, anonymous employee survey can provide more useful insight than most employers expect and often surfaces needs that would otherwise go unspoken.

From there, extending definitions, training managers, and connecting employees to professional support are all relatively straightforward steps that carry disproportionate returns in trust, retention, and wellbeing.

The broader point

Bereavement leave is not just an HR policy. It is a statement about what an organisation values. When a company gives an employee the genuine time and support to grieve, it sends a message that resonates long after that person returns to their desk: that people here matter more than their output, and that care is not just a word in a values statement.

South Africa's workforce is shaped by deep cultural traditions of community, mourning, and collective support. Our workplace policies have the opportunity, and many would argue the responsibility, to reflect those values.

At Sonja Smith Elite Funeral Group, we have spent more than twenty years walking alongside families and organisations through some of life's most difficult moments. If you would like to explore how your organisation can better support employees through loss, we would be glad to hear from you. Visit us at sonjasmith-funerals.co.za.