office cubicleStephanie Klein, president and CEO of the Experience Factor, is a regular columnist for the Denver Business Journal. Her most recent column is reposted here.

With a documented drop in employee engagement at work, and hiring on the up-tick, many of us have recently experienced a beloved co-worker leave the company where we work. Their departure may impact your team, or if you are in a small company, the entire operation. Whether you are the CEO of an established company, or the new hire in a start-up, when someone leaves the organization we all experience a sense of loss.

We spend a tremendous amount of time with our co-workers. They touch our lives every day. We work together, laugh together, complain to one another, experience successes and failures together, have good days together, and bad days together. Many times we consider our co-workers friends, sometimes we consider them family. And yet when someone leaves our company or department, we often don’t feel we have permission to grieve in the way we would grieve another friend or family member.

The loss of a co-worker presents unique challenges and may trigger a range of emotions, including hurt, disappointment, sadness, frustration, anger, resentment and even a sense of abandonment. Co-workers are not always acknowledged for the significant role they play in our lives, so we may not be prepared for the feelings triggered by their departure, nor feel free to express them at work. At work, we are usually expected to focus, be productive and results oriented, not to shed tears. If you are leading a team through the loss of a co-worker, consider the following:

Acknowledge the emotional loss. We know that displays of emotion in the workplace can feel foreign and make some people uncomfortable. Acknowledging the impact of a co-worker’s resignation is important. Once someone gives notice, some co-workers may start to question their own reasons for staying with the company. This is natural. Talk about the contributions the exiting employee made to the team. Make sure that everyone feels safe to express their feelings. The loss of a co-worker is often not validated as a significant loss, so this acknowledgement can allow everyone to feel they have permission to grieve. Give people the time and space to process how this change will impact their role, as well as recognition that it may impact their allegiance to the company.

Allow and plan for insecurity, anger and lack of productivity. Insecurity abounds. This insecurity will be piqued when a co-worker leaves the company. It is natural for people to wonder if they should more earnestly look for a new job even ask themselves if the person who left made the right decision, and how it might impact their own standing within the company. You’ll observe more whispering and closed-door meetings. With all this distraction, your team will undoubtedly experience a lack of productivity and engagement. Respect and plan on some of your team taking longer than others to handle this loss.

Give it time. Just because you may feel the need to move on quickly, it is important to understand that others on your team may feel as if they are disrespecting the friend who left by not grieving. Their loyalty to the former co-worker might preclude positive feelings for a new hire. Create time and opportunities for new relationships to develop. When the time is right, recast the vision of the company, reminding co-workers about the value of the team that remains. Don’t purposely pretend the recently departed employee never existed, or disparage them in front of their peers. How you handle this transition deeply informs your current team about how you will react when or if they leave.

Address the practical considerations. First and foremost, an employee’s departure will directly impact workload and process for those who remain. Responsibilities will need to be re-assigned, at least temporarily. Be clear who is going to be doing what. If the departing person held a unique role within the organization or team, then co-workers may need retraining. In this respect, the departure could present new opportunities for another staff member. Consider who might be waiting in the wings and have a plan. If the next step is to hire a replacement, ensure staff is involved in all steps of the recruiting and hiring process from; detailing the job description and business culture, identifying the optimal personal style for the position, setting a timeline for interviewing and on-boarding that new hire. If handled thoughtfully and strategically, the departure can turn into an opportunity to re-engage your remaining staff and improve upon the status quo.