Abstract:
Work is a natural part of human life. Such is the phenomenon of death. This study investigate the relevancy of death within the context of the workplace. The goal of this study is to explore to what extent an bereaved employee is a troubled employee within the context of Employee Assistance Programs. The first objective is to conceptualize the death of a spouse and work performance. Secondly to launch an empirical investigation of the impact of the death of a spouse on the work performance of the bereaved employee. This study used a qualitative research mythology. The phenomenology research strategy helped to understand the meaning that the respondents gave to their experience of returning to the workplace after the death of their spouse. The population of this study were all working persons in the North West Province who lost a spouse through death. The sample consists of all working persons in Klerksdorp who lost a spouse through death. The criteria for the sample were persons within the age of 30 and 60 years who work full time that lost their spouse through death during April 2003 and April 2005 and don’t stand in a remarriage yet. A semi-structured questionnaire is used to guide the 10 one-to-one interviews as a data collection method. To analyze the data, classification is used to identify four general themes. The findings of the study show that every aspect of human life is affected by the death of a spouse. The bereaved employee can be a troubled employee, yet the South African workplace is not prepared to deal with death and it’s consequences.
