Monday morning. Work face on....

Look around your office. If you have colleagues, how many of them showed up to work today carrying something heavy that no one can see, but that is slowly sucking up all their mental, physical, and emotional resources?

Grief isn’t only about death. It shows up anytime you lose something or someone that mattered, and it results in a sudden shift in your world that leaves you feeling off balance. But the next Monday? You’re back on Zoom calls, answering emails like nothing happened.

Because that’s what we do, right? Keep it “professional.” Keep it together.

But here’s the truth: grief doesn’t clock out just because you’ve logged in. And hiding it doesn’t make it easier - it makes it heavier. Quietly carrying grief through performance reviews and team meetings is like trying to sprint with a backpack full of bricks. Eventually, you break down or burn out. No matter how hard you try.

And yet, we applaud the person who “bounced back so quickly”. We tell people, "you're so strong", almost like we're willing them to be, because we can't deal with it if they break down in front of us. This isn't just workplace culture, this is society's culture around grief.

When we convey the message that grief doesn’t belong in the workplace, there's a huge impact. Yes, work requires professionalism, but it also needs humanity. We are not teams of AI bots, we are teams of living, breathing, messy human beings - and teams need connection in order to function optimally.

When we don't allow space for people to let their mask slip and show us their struggles and what they are going through, it erodes connection and trust. That brave face mask takes a huge amount of energy to maintain - eventually that will run out.

Let’s create work cultures where people can say, “I’m going through something,” and be met with empathy and support, not awkward silence.

Real change means building workplaces that truly see and support people through their hardest moments. And learning the skills to be able to have real conversations, because the connection that builds is what your grieving colleague/client/friend needs to help them get through their Monday.

We need to build workplaces where being human isn’t an exception, but the norm. And where walking into the office on a difficult Monday morning is a source of comfort and support, rather than a gritted teeth ordeal.