Baby loss awareness week: How to support employees

Running from 9-15 October this year, Baby Loss Awareness Week looks to support bereaved parents, as well as raise awareness about pregnancy and baby loss. Here, we look at how employers can support employees who have experienced baby loss within their family.

UK pregnancy and baby charity Tommy’s estimates that a quarter of pregnancies end in a miscarriage and that one in 100 women in the UK experience recurrent miscarriages (three or more in a row). The women who experience such loss are usually of working age and are therefore likely to be in employment.

A miscarriage is defined as the loss of a pregnancy during the first 23 weeks. The 24-week mark is a key date in the employment context, as a loss before this date does not entitle the woman, partner or intended parent in a surrogacy to any time off work (including maternity leave).

In those cases, it is solely at the discretion of the employer whether to allow any time off work for the employee to grieve their loss. However, as well as time off work being needed for the employee to grieve the loss of their baby, they may also need time off to physically recover from the miscarriage or stillbirth. As each circumstance is unique, a much broader and holistic approach is needed.

This is an extremely sensitive topic for affected employees and employers to navigate, which is why the ‘Workplace support for employees experiencing pregnancy or baby loss – a guide for people professionals’ guide from CIPD, which Gateley Legal contributed to, is such a valuable and must-read resource for all employers.

The five sections of the guide provide principles of best practice on how to:

• raise awareness about the need for pregnancy and baby loss to be recognised as an important workplace wellbeing issue;
• create an open, inclusive and supportive culture;
• develop an organisational framework to support employees experiencing pregnancy and baby loss;
• manage absence and leave with compassion and flexibility; and
• equip line managers to support people with empathy and understanding.

Organisations wishing to provide a culture of psychological safety for their staff around baby loss will find the guide easy to follow, as well as implement in their workplaces.

An empathetic and supportive policy or approach to miscarriage will help foster employee loyalty, trust and wellbeing. This can be achieved by setting out bereavement leave, referencing not only time off for a female employee who has suffered a miscarriage or stillbirth but also for employees whose pregnant partner has suffered a miscarriage or stillbirth. Policies should use inclusive and non-gendered language, providing links to support (internally and externally) and employers should ensure that documentation is housed in a sensitive place (not as part of the family-friendly suite of policies around maternity/ paternity/ shared parental leave).

As with all policies or approaches, this should be a working document which evolves over time, informed by employees’ experiences.

It is also worth noting that since 6 April 2024, the Protection from Redundancy (Pregnancy and Family Leave) Act 2023 means that the protection against redundancy also extends to women who unfortunately suffer a stillbirth or miscarriage. This extends the existing right to be offered a suitable alternative role (if one exists) in a redundancy situation. If an employee suffers a miscarriage or stillbirth within the first 24 weeks of pregnancy, they will have protection during their pregnancy and for a two-week period following the miscarriage. If an employee suffers a miscarriage or stillbirth after 24 weeks of pregnancy the redundancy protected period ends 18 months from that date.

The loss of a baby is an extremely difficult time for any family and it’s vital that employers offer all the support they can to employees who are going through this heartache. Beyond the support employers can provide, those who are dealing with baby loss have access to a number of support networks and charities.