Workplace Healing Launches Innovative Software for Leaders to Support Employees Affected by a Grief Event, Restore Productivity and Reduce Turnover

On-demand Human Recovery Plan™ Software Platform, a B2B SaaS tool, gains momentum in the marketplace as early adopters see results and investor enthusiasm remains strong

Co-founders Mindy Corporon and Lisa Cooper fill gap by helping leading-edge organizations use empathy to maintain ROI and preserve important investments in human capital

 

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (November 14, 2022) – Workplace Healing, a company offering an innovative approach to healing in the workplace, launched the Human Recovery Plan, an easy-to-use, flexible and interactive software platform that provides corporate leaders, managers and care teams with the tools to enlist the necessary empathy for employees affected by a grief event.

Born from a personal tragedy followed by a difficult re-entry to corporate life, Workplace Healing’s Human Recovery Plan helps leaders and supervisors address disruption in an employee’s life and reduce “presenteeism” — when an employee is physically present, but not mentally engaged — boosting long-term employee engagement, morale and productivity.

The Human Recovery Plan is customized, intuitive, and relies on the innovative balance of both head- and heart-based initiatives to help managers reengage grieving employees, restore productivity, strengthen corporate culture, and decrease turnover.

With the first-of-its-kind Human Recovery Plan Software Platform, managers and their teams can:

  • Transform the interactions with an employee experiencing a challenging life disruption
  • Support a grieving employee with empathy, kindness and confidence
  • Foster a thriving, vibrant team dedicated to helping their organization flourish

Leading-edge company leaders and human resources departments say they don’t have the right tools to address the needs of grieving employees. Managers lack training in knowing what to do or say to a grieving employee. Workplace Healing’s notably innovative, human-centric, on-demand platform supporting grieving employees fills a large gap.

“Our Human Recovery Plan HRTech SaaS tool is truly unique in that there is nothing like this existing in the market today that trains leaders on how to interact and respond to their grieving employees,” said Workplace Healing Co-Founder Lisa Cooper. “We converted the most popular component of our in-person consulting and created a software platform that corporate leaders and managers can access anytime, anywhere.”

Through personal experience and comprehensive research, Workplace Healing knows that mishandled or un-acknowledged grief not only harms individuals, but also weakens a corporation’s cultural and financial well-being.

Co-founded by entrepreneurs and authors Mindy Corporon and Lisa Cooper – both with deep roots in Kansas City – the Human Recovery Plan Software Platform helps leading-edge organizations embrace a collaborative corporate culture that balances a head-based environment with empathetic heart-based support for employees affected by life disruptions.

From Tragedy to Healing to a Legacy

Co-Founder Mindy Corporon experienced personal loss firsthand when tragedy struck at the pinnacle of her professional career. A gunman murdered Mindy’s father and oldest son outside Overland Park’s Jewish Community Center in 2014.

“The overwhelming grief and despair were debilitating emotionally and physically causing foggy brain and exhaustion, which complicated my return to work,” said Corporon. “I knew I needed to create something good from this tragedy – something that would help people through the kind of mess I experienced. Workplace Healing is a legacy to my dad and son.”

Workplace Healing first offered its innovative Human Recovery Plan Software Platform, a B2B SaaS tool, in February 2022, and quickly gained momentum in the marketplace with new clients and early adopters who experienced positive results.

Today the company has sold 328 Human Recovery Plans and boasts seven new clients – Cohen-Esrey, City Wide Facility Solutions, Lockton, Mariner Wealth Advisors, Terracon, Church of the Resurrection and Enterprise Bank & Trust – all onboarding within eight months of startup. Workplace Healing has projected a goal of 45 clients by the end of 2023.

Other examples of Workplace Healing’s early recognition and success include:

  • Investor enthusiasm with Workplace Healing remains strong
  • A $20,000 grant awarded by Digital Sandbox, which Workplace Healing used to enhance the Software Platform
  • An invitation to participate in the exclusive University of Missouri-Kansas City Technology Venture Studio, which equips innovators with the connections and knowledge they need to build community, scale innovations, create jobs and energize the regional economy

As one of the early adopters of Workplace Healing’s Human Recovery Plan, Cohen-Esrey was able to spring into action with team grief support immediately following the unexpected death of one of its employees.

“Anybody who’s been in business for any length of time has undoubtedly encountered a team member’s heartache, whether it’s a death or a serious illness,” said Lee Harris, President and CEO, Cohen-Esrey and Workplace Healing client. “Using the tools offered by Workplace Healing, we didn’t have to deal with feeling helpless or awkward and immediately provided the kind of support that was needed in the moment.”

Grief Impairs Employee Productivity and a Company’s Bottom-Line

Studies demonstrate that grieving at work leads to absenteeism, on-the-job errors, reduced mental focus and productivity, and even workplace accidents. It also affects turnover and retention. Research shows:

  • More than half (56%) of employees will consider leaving their jobs when their employer does not provide support after a loved one’s death (National Council for Palliative Care and Dying Matters)
  • A grieving employee misses an estimated 30 workdays a year and absenteeism costs U.S. employers $225.8 billion annually. (Centers for Disease Control)
  • Presenteeism can drastically lower workplace productivity by 1/3 or more. (Harvard Business Review)
  • Employers lose $113 billion annually due to grief and its effects on productivity, absenteeism and on the job errors (Grief Recovery Institute)
  • An average of 4-million employees in the American workforce experience the death of a loved one every year (American Hospice Foundation)
  • One in four employees is grieving at any given time (Grief Recovery Institute/Pre-Covid)

Personal grief events can have enormous repercussions on a corporation’s bottom line. Organizations can minimize these negative effects by taking intentional steps to support human recovery in the workplace.

Filling a Gap

Since 2018, Workplace Healing has explored the latest research and engaged one-on-one with employers. The company’s founders listened carefully to feedback from corporate leaders, HR executives, and managers about their worries, fears, frustrations, and uncertainties relative to expressing empathy and addressing grief in the workplace. Here are just a few of their findings:

  • Corporate standard operating procedures and bereavement policies don’t go far enough when it comes to supporting a grieving employee
  • Managers feel overwhelmingly ill-equipped to address an employee’s life disruption
  • Many executives want to help but aren’t sure how especially since the grieving process is seen as a uniquely individual experience

“The software gives confidence and permission to managers and co-workers to step into a conversation with a griever and talk about work and empathy in the same framework,” adds Corporon. “It helps supervisors and leaders to not be afraid to talk to someone in a vulnerable state. This empathetic action ultimately will strengthen the relationship between the griever, the manager and the company.”

Life disruptions are inevitable. Unlike anything else available in the marketplace, the Human Recovery Plan is a solution created for corporate managers, supervisors, and care teams to build a plan with head- and heart-based initiatives that restores an employee’s productivity following a grief event and helps prevent employee departures. The Human Recovery Plan’s head-based initiatives include proven actions to maximize employee reintegration, such as HR employee benefit support, EAP access and scaling workload. Heart-based tactics target the emotional well-being of your employee, such as flowers and cards, meal planning, gift cards and special cause fundraisers.

“Workplace teams have the ability to become an important part of an employee’s healing journey so that business can continue to prosper after a life disruption affects a team member,” said Cooper. “Successful companies are built with humans connecting, collaborating, and belonging for the benefit of strengthening corporate culture.”

Workplace empathy can have positive outcomes on employee retention, business performance, and corporate culture.  According to BusinessSolver’s 2021 “State of Workplace Empathy” annual study:

  • 92% of employees state that they are more likely to stay with an empathetic employer
  • 84% of CEOs believe that a company’s financial performance is tied to empathy in the workplace
  • Nearly 75% of employees are willing to work longer hours for an empathetic employer

Workplace Healing offers proven tools to enhance a supervisor’s confidence in initiating crucial engagement.  For a demo of Workplace Healing’s Human Recovery Plan software, please click here.

About Workplace Healing

Workplace Healing is the innovator of the Human Recovery Plan™ Software Platform that provides corporate leaders, managers and care teams with the tools to enlist the necessary empathy for employees affected by a grief event. Customized to provide reassurance and empathy particular to each employee’s grief event, Workplace Healing cares about helping companies retain their valued employees and preserve important investments in their organization’s human capital. The Human Recovery Plan™ Software Platform is an easy-to-use, 24-7 solution that helps leaders and managers build a head and heart-based plan that thoughtfully acknowledges an employee’s life disruption and boosts long-term employee engagement, morale, productivity and retention. For more, visit workplacehealing.com.

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Additional Resources

  • For a demo of Workplace Healing’s Human Recovery Plan software, please click here.
  • Download/print PDF of Press Release
 

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