Workplace Bereavement Sponsors Britain’s Fittest Farmer

Standing among farmers at this year’s Britain’s Fittest Farmer, Jacqueline Gunn felt something shift.

Watching the grit and determination of every contestant reminded her how fragile and how fierce life can be. Her dad would have loved it; the energy, the community, the shared passion for farming and family. He would have been proud.

After he died, and as the menopause hit, life felt brutal. Her body changed, her confidence crumbled, and grief seeped into every corner of her being. But being part of this event reignited something. It reminded her that even after loss, there can be purpose, strength, and reconnection.

Death Touches Us All. Silence Helps No One.

Death affects every workplace, every school, every community. Yet too often, the systems around us fall silent when it arrives.

• 24% of working-age adults in the UK have experienced the death of someone close; around 7.9 million employees carrying grief into work every day.
• 1 in 10 employees is navigating bereavement at any given time.
• Only 32% feel their workplace offers adequate support.
• Over half (55%) don’t even know what their company’s bereavement policy says.
• The UK economy loses around £23 billion annually to grief-related absenteeism and reduced productivity.

These numbers tell a clear story: grief doesn’t stay at home. It walks into our workplaces, classrooms, and communities every day, and we must be ready to meet it with understanding, not avoidance.

Finding Strength in Reality, Not Pretence

At Britain’s Fittest Farmer, people spoke openly about loss: parents, friends, partners. There were tears, laughter, and stories of endurance that no one should face alone.

Death changes how you see the world. It humbles you. It cracks you open. But in that breaking, compassion can grow. That’s what drives our mission at Workplace Bereavement Advocacy: to bring humanity, empathy, and real conversation back into the places where people spend most of their waking hours.

Why We Train Bereavement Advocates

Our goal is simple: to make sure every workplace, school, and organisation has someone who understands what death does to a person’s world.

Bereavement Advocates are trained to:

• Listen without judgement
• Recognise when someone needs space, time, or specialist support
• Create compassionate frameworks that extend beyond the funeral
• Keep the conversation human, because policy alone is never enough

Grief doesn’t vanish when someone returns to work. It travels with them. What matters is whether they walk back into silence, or into a culture that cares.

What Death Has Taught Me

Death changed my perspective. It stripped away what didn’t matter and magnified what did.

• Strength isn’t in moving on; it’s in moving through.
• Workplaces can be spaces of humanity, not just productivity.
• We can do better, and we must.

Breaking the Silence, Building a Legacy

Death is inevitable. Silence is not.

When we talk about death in the workplace, we don’t make people uncomfortable; we make them seen.

When we build systems of support, we don’t weaken productivity; we strengthen people.

Standing at Britain’s Fittest Farmer reminded Jacqueline of something her Dad used to say:

“You don’t get stronger by carrying nothing.”

He was right. Death will touch us all — but how we respond defines who we are as people, as leaders, and as communities.

At Workplace Bereavement Advocacy, we’re proud to stand at the forefront of this change, making sure that when grief touches a team, there’s someone ready to stand beside them.