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12-23-2012 at 9:24 PM
vsalt31
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Small office death of colleague

Hello, I received terrible news today that a colleague had a heart attack in his sleep Friday night passed away. We have a very small office 26 employees and everyone is like family. Appearantly, there will be no wake or service. My question is how should the management team share this news with the team? And Is it crazy to think that we'll tell them on Wednesday am and that everyone will just go back to their desks to work an 8 hr day? I think this is what the owner is suggesting :/
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12-24-2012 at 4:51 AM
ClaryPax
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We told everyone individually via word of mouth when a former colleague passed away.  It was not unexpected though.  And yes everyone did continue to work that day even though we were tearful.  If someone gets really upset I suppose they can take the rest of the day off. 
 
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12-24-2012 at 5:23 AM
mylittlesu...
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I am not in management, but I do work in a small office like you where we all consider each other like family. If that were to happen to us, I think I would prefer if management held a meeting first thing in the morning. That way everyone hears it together and gets the information through one source.
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12-24-2012 at 6:51 AM
financiald...
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I agree with mylittlesunshine. They should hold a meeting first thing Wed. morning to share the news.

I am sorry for your loss.  
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12-24-2012 at 8:53 AM
ArkansasMo...
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financialdiva:

I agree with mylittlesunshine. They should hold a meeting first thing Wed. morning to share the news.

I am sorry for your loss.  

I agree with this as well. Recently I lost a friend and a co-worker of my husband in a terrible car wreck. They brought everyone into a meeting that worked in their division and told them all what happened. I work for a very large company but she worked for a very close knit team of 25 people or she worked with lots of them due to her role in the group.
 
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12-24-2012 at 11:45 AM
14kgirl
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mylittlesunshine:
I am not in management, but I do work in a small office like you where we all consider each other like family. If that were to happen to us, I think I would prefer if management held a meeting first thing in the morning. That way everyone hears it together and gets the information through one source.

Agreed.
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12-24-2012 at 2:23 PM
mrs.larry
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I'm so sorry for your loss.

when this happened where I work, my manager called all of us who worked closely with the deceased. My friend/coworker passed away on a Friday when we weren't at work, so my manager called us all on our cell phones to let us know so it wouldn't be such a shock monday morning.

Monday morning the HR dept had a grief counselor meet with our division and we shared memories and stories about our coworker. It was cathartic but the grief counselor was totally unnecessary, she felt like an outsider in our intimate conversation about a loved one.

we went back to "work an 8 hour day" but no one was really expected to work. mostly we were sad.

Again, my condolences. It's a terrible thing. Sad
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12-24-2012 at 2:58 PM
1026pumpki...
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mylittlesunshine:
I am not in management, but I do work in a small office like you where we all consider each other like family. If that were to happen to us, I think I would prefer if management held a meeting first thing in the morning. That way everyone hears it together and gets the information through one source.

So sorry about your loss.  I agree with this suggestion- I think it's better for everyone to hear the news together.  Since there isn't a service, maybe as a group you could chip in to have meals delivered to the family with cards from co-workers or make a donation in his name.  I don't think it's realistic to expect everyone to go back to a regular work day after getting that news- I'm sure people will be very upset and without a service to attend for some type of "closure", I'm sure people will spend most of the day trying to comfort each other.
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12-25-2012 at 3:58 PM
mainerocks
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We lost a colleague suddenly earlier this year. They called the whole floor into the conference room and made the announcement. They told people they were OK to leave if they needed to. Many did, but also it was mid afternoon.

I'm sorry for your loss. :o( 
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12-25-2012 at 8:37 PM
vsalt31
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Thank you so much for your thoughts!
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12-30-2012 at 7:06 PM
Jessica Sw...
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I work in a smaller setting (a library) where everyone is like family. We lost my friend and co-worker last year. It was handled horribly, but that was the management's fault. It was an unexpected death, and our boss decided to have a few of us go around and tell people face to face. Naturally, because I was closest to the deceased, they asked me to do it. Nothing like breaking into an ugly cry in front of your colleagues while trying to explain the impossible....In retrospect I think the only decent thing to do is to hold a meeting and tell everyone at once.

I am so sorry for your loss and hope everything turns out as well as can be expected.
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