A benefit that no one likes to ask about: bereavement. Yet recently, policy at one Iowa organization inspired another business to open bereavement leave to employees after a miscarriage. Alison Cate, digital marketing manager at ARAG Legal Insurance, posted publicly about her experience with loss on LinkedIn earlier this month after the company unrolled benefit changes for the new year. 

Cate suffered a miscarriage in October — ironic, she noted, as it was Pregnancy & Infant Loss Awareness Month. At around that time, she saw a post from Beth Shelton announcing the Girl Scouts of Greater Iowa offers bereavement in cases of miscarriage.

“I had never heard of this, but it made complete sense. It’s such a huge loss, and you’re clearly not at your peak performance during the experience,” Cate wrote. 

She passed on the policy idea to ARAG Legal’s HR team and informed them of her family’s experience. She said she received “immense support” from the company, and on Dec. 20 she received the latest benefits update from ARAG. 

“As benefit changes for 2020 were being announced to the staff, I saw that miscarriage will be added to ARAG’s bereavement policy, whether it’s happening to you or your partner. I was literally moved to tears,” Cate wrote. “What a beautiful demonstration of our company culture coming to life, respecting the importance of family, AND hearing out the needs of our team members and taking action so quickly.”