Pregnancy and baby loss can have a profound impact on an employee’s physical and emotional wellbeing – with both of those in the relationship impacted - and the effects can extend into their working life.

New research from Tommy’s, a UK’s charity funding pregnancy research, found that one in 10 employees had left their role because of their experience of pregnancy or baby loss.

The truth is stark – 15% of pregnancies end with a miscarriage – a loss within the first 24 weeks.2*

Yet it remains an area where many managers and colleagues are unsure what to say, what support to offer, or even which workplace policies apply.

This uncertainty can lead to very different experiences depending on who an employee speaks to. The challenge for employers is to provide enough structure for people to be treated consistently, while recognising there is no standard experience of loss, or a standard way to grieve.

Here are seven important considerations.

The first step is understanding the breadth of experiences that can sit behind the terms pregnancy and baby loss.

These can take many different forms, from miscarriage and ectopic or molar pregnancy to a termination for medical reasons (TFMR), stillbirth, and neonatal death. Failed IVF treatment or an unsuccessful surrogacy journey can also bring a profound sense of loss.

The physical impact can also vary. An early miscarriage may involve waiting for the pregnancy to pass naturally, with medication or, in some cases, surgery, while a later loss or stillbirth can involve recovery physically from childbirth, including postpartum bleeding and lactation.

Employers don’t need to become medical experts, but they should avoid making assumptions about the significance or impact of a loss based on its circumstances or the stage of pregnancy.

Pregnancy and baby loss can take a physical toll as well as an emotional one.

An employee, for example, could be recovering from surgery or childbirth, coping with hormonal changes, disrupted sleep or managing other health complications. In addition, there may be ongoing appointments to content with, counselling, or fertility treatment in the weeks and months that follow.

This can make recovery difficult to predict. Someone may be feeling physically better but find it difficult to concentrate, make decisions, or cope with social interaction. Equally, they may feel emotionally ready to return to work but be still recovering physically.

Partners may  need to offer more support for their partners physical health following loss whilst equally experiencing psychological pain.

Instead of simply asking whether they’re ready to return, it may be more helpful to ask what would make returning to work feel manageable, with an understanding that what works one week may not work the next – grief is not linear.

A clear policy offers employees a degree of clarity at a time they may feel overwhelmed, explaining what leave and pay they’re entitled to, who to contact and what other help is on offer.

Reproductive healthcare provider Fertifa recommends making pregnancy and neonatal loss policies easy to access and explaining clearly how they work alongside compassionate and bereavement leave.*If different managers handle the same situation in different ways however, a well-written policy can fall short – it needs to be applied consistently.

Employers need to have the flexibility to respond to individual employee needs following this loss, ensuring a base level of support at minimum.

This can include documented policies outlining paid/unpaid time for appointments or leave, mental health support, bereavement support, temporary amends to working arrangements, and access to an employee assistance programme (EAP) which includes free counselling for an employee, and sometimes their partner, and 24/7 support lines with trained professionals.

It’s important to explore what ancillary services are included within existing benefits, as often policies such as group life insurance automatically include valuable mental health and bereavement support as part of their offering. 

For small businesses a simple policy and a named contact may be all that’s needed.

*Examples of policies can be found here, available to download and customise according to your organisation.

Pregnancy loss policy template: https://www.fertifa.com/resources/policy-templates/pregnancy-loss-policy

Neonatal loss policy template: https://www.fertifa.com/resources/policy-templates/neonatal-loss-policy-template

What employees are legally entitled to depends on the circumstances of their loss and where in the UK they work.

As of October 2026, employees in England, Scotland and Wales who experience a miscarriage before 24 weeks are not entitled to statutory maternity, paternity, or parental bereavement leave.

However, they can take pregnancy-related sick leave. This should be recorded separately from ordinary sickness absence and shouldn’t be used when deciding whether an employee’s sickness record calls for an attendance review.

Following a stillbirth after 24 weeks, eligible parents retain maternity or paternity rights. Women may still receive their full 52-week statutory maternity leave and partners may take their two-week paternity leave. Both parents qualify for an additional two weeks of statutory parental bereavement leave within 56 weeks of their child’s stillbirth.

The position has already changed in Northern Ireland, where parental bereavement leave and pay was extended to eligible employees affected by miscarriage from April 2026.

Further change is coming in Britain, with bereavement leave covering pregnancy loss due to take effect during 2027 under the Employment Rights Act 2025. Employees experiencing miscarriage before 24 weeks, whether the mother or father, will be offered the right to a week of statutory bereavement leave from day one.

Policies therefore need to be kept up to date and employers need to decide whether statutory rights are enough or whether they want to offer additional support.

The grief that’s felt by partners can sometimes be overlooked because they’re not the ones going through the direct pregnancy loss themselves.

This itself can heighten the psychological pressure for partners, as they experience their own unacknowledged grief in addition to supporting their partner through physical loss and joint heartache.

Policies should reflect this, with language and guidance that includes different family structures and relationships.

A trained HR or wellbeing contact can act as a single point of contact, so the employee doesn’t have to explain their circumstances more than is necessary. This contact will also help manage who the employee is comfortable knowing of their loss.

The employee should also be asked what, if anything, they would like colleagues to be told and whether they would prefer somebody else to communicate on their behalf.

Many managers worry about saying the wrong thing, but saying nothing at all can leave an employee feeling even more isolated.

The manager’s role is not to provide counselling, but to listen, acknowledge the loss and help the employee access the right support.

Training on how to have sensitive conversations can help managers avoid comments that may be intended as reassuring but may do the opposite, such as saying someone can ‘try again’, ‘at least it shows you can get pregnant’ or comparing their loss with another person’s experience.

It should also cover the practical basics – confidentiality, language, the business’s policy and where to signpost further help – so managers can respond sensitively and with empathy.

Just because an employee goes back to work, it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re no longer grieving.

Initially, a phased return may help, whether this means reduced hours, working from home or a lighter workload. It can also help to record the agreed support and review it after a set period.

Grief can also resurface later, unexpectedly. A due date or anniversary, Mother’s Day or Father’s Day, an office baby shower or a colleague’s birth announcement may prove difficult, while a new pregnancy or further fertility treatment may bring fresh anxiety.

It’s not realistic to avoid every potential trigger, but employers can offer choice around family-focused events, be thoughtful about sensitive announcements and create a psychologically safe environment which makes it easy for employees to ask for more support if they need it.

Ensuring employees continue to know how to access support and what is available is crucial. In addition to counselling through EAP’s, some employee benefit providers may offer specialist bereavement services as part of your existing benefit offering or additional grief support.

A clear policy provides the framework, but how it’s handled in practice -and makes the employee feel - is just as important.

By recognising that every experience is different, and making sure partners are also considered, employers can offer consistent support without taking a one-size-fits-all approach.

*Pregnancy loss after 24 weeks is defined as a stillbirth.