Grief costs American businesses upwards of $100 billion dollars a year.  This is a staggering number.  As an employer or a manager, how you help (or ignore) employees in crisis has a direct impact on your bottom line.  The trailer of the Handle with Care podcast unpacks this data and frames how you can help employees survive, stabilize, and thrive in the aftermath of disruption. 

Adopting a child can be a long process, full of waiting and hoping and so much paperwork.  Friends, family, and coworkers can be unaware of the stress and high emotion involved.  Beth and Andy Long share the story of bringing Drew from the forest of the Democratic Republic of Congo to Bloomington, Indiana and the hardest six months of their lives.  In that story, they reflect on how people supported them well, the dangers of work/home compartmentalization, and the bravery it takes to create change in a workplace culture. 

Injuries can leave employees sidelined and organizations flailing. As an employee recovers, is management demonstrating support and trust or neglect and suspicion? Liz Simpson shares the story of her laceration, the importance of communication and trustful gestures, and how NOT to deal with employees that are injured. 

A cancer diagnosis is scary and totalizing. Hospital visits, financial stress, and lingering uncertainty affect the entire family unit. Through Brad Grammer's story of walking with his wife (Laura) through leukemia, lessons emerge on how to support families well as they grapple with cancer.

We want to help people that are going through hard times, but it can be SO hard to know what to do or what to say, especially in the workplace!  So...I'm launching a podcast next Monday, May 13.