Employers play an important role in supporting parents who have suffered an unimaginable loss - to be able to take the time they need to grieve and also to transition back to work when they are ready.

Here are some potential areas for consideration:

1. Reviewing your HR policies when it comes to infant death, stillbirth and miscarriage

• Are your policies worded in such a way that it considers the trauma and potential triggers for the individuals reading it?

• If your organisation provides parental / miscarriage leave, consider how your system / processes operates end-to-end (reviewing wording, timing when correspondence are sent)

• Do you have a dedicated landing page that contains the links, policies, documents, resources for pregnancy and baby loss? It is essential that this page does not contain information that talks about parental leave for parents taking home a live baby (for example)

2. When the unimaginable happens, does your employee know who to contact immediately? Does that person know what to do and what to say?

3. Offer a phased return, if possible

4. On their return, consider if someone close to the employee could be assigned as the "buddy" to check-in frequently

5. Consider how "triggers" in the workplace could be reduced / managed - e.g. if a birth or pregnancy announcement is planned by someone else, they could be pre-informed to reduce "shock", prepare themselves emotionally and/or plan to avoid the situation (e.g. if the announcement is at the team meeting, could they be excused from their meeting altogether?)

6. Consider establishing an employee-led pregnancy and baby loss network to link other employees who have unfortunately been through a loss(es).

7. Whilst your organisation might have existing counselling services for your employees, the service might not be able to provide specific support for employees who have experienced pregnancy and baby loss. Consider if you would link / partner with pregnancy and baby loss charities, e.g. Bears of Hope and SANDS who provides free counselling services that is specific to baby loss.

As colleagues of individuals who have suffered infant or pregnancy loss, your immediate response and support is critical

1. Let them know work is the last thing that should be on their mind and that they should take all the time they need to grieve

2. Consider if sending card with a thoughtful message with some flowers or a gift might be appropriate (e.g. a teddy bear wearing a t-shirt with their angel's name, candles, angel figurines, etc.)

3. Making a donation to pregnancy or infant loss charities

4. Don't be afraid to say the baby's name if they have named their child. If you have a staff bulletin - consider if you'd ask them if they'd like their angel to be included.

5. When they are due to transition back to work, maybe offer to reach out to see how you can make the transition easier, it could be in the form of:

• Before their return - informing other colleagues of the date of their return and maybe include some information on what people could say and what people shouldn't say

• On their return - check-in on them to see how they are going. Let them know it is okay to feel overwhelmed and still feel sad but you are there for them.

• Ongoing - parents never forget their angels, so anything you can do to help with memorialising their angel would often be deeply appreciated (but obviously check with the parents if that is what they'd like as well)