Co-op launches industry-leading flexible compassionate leave policy

Co-op on Wednesday (3) launched a new leading colleague compassionate leave policy ahead of Dying Matters Awareness Week, to better support its 57,000 colleagues when someone close to them dies or is seriously ill.

As part of Co-op’s commitment to create a truly inclusive workplace and deliver a fairer world for colleagues, the refreshed policy focuses on giving flexibility to when paid leave is taken, tailored to best provide support for individual circumstances, giving managers the discretion to make the right decisions for each situation.

The leading convenience retailer has doubled the number of days paid leave to support colleagues through bereavement, from five to 10, whilst also embedding a flexible approach with its managers which allows for further paid days leave to be taken based on individual circumstances.

The policy gives emphasis to the ‘closeness of the bond’ that has been lost, meaning the relationship to the person who has been bereaved doesn’t have to be an ‘immediate family’ member, it can be friend, colleague, cousin. With the policy being available to colleagues from ‘day one’ of employment.

Claire Costello, Chief People and Inclusion Officer at Co-op, said: “Here at Co-op, we want to support our colleagues when someone close to them dies or is seriously ill. We want everyone to ask for the support they need and will always handle things as sensitively as possible.

“We know that modern life can be complicated, so there are no restrictions about the relationships or situations that we give compassionate leave for. We also know that the death of someone close, or finding out about a terminal diagnosis, can affect people in different ways, so our new compassionate leave policy provides the right support to everyone

Using insights and feedback from colleagues who said its existing policy needed to help managers and colleagues have better conversations about bereavement and death in the workplace, and following the recommendation by the UK Commission on Bereavement of pay entitlement of two weeks’ to cover all close relationships, Co-op has developed new resources in partnership with Cruse Bereavement Support.