MORTL for Employers
Someone on your team lost someone.
The one-page manager card: what to say word for word, what never to say, the first week, and the return to work. Free to use, print, and share with your managers.
What’s inside
One page, built to print on letter paper, in three parts.
The first conversation gives you four things to say word for word, each with a note on how to use it: follow the words the employee uses for the person and the death, don’t promise leave the company can’t provide, allow silence, and let the employee decide what the team gets told.
Phrases to retire crosses out four lines managers reach for by reflex, including “everything happens for a reason” and “let me know if you need anything,” and gives you something specific to say instead.
The first weeks covers the check-in with no agenda, reassigning work in writing with realistic deadlines, the conversation before the return date, and offering your EAP without diagnosing grief or setting a timeline.
Who it’s for
Managers and team leads. HR writes the policy; the manager is the one standing there when a direct report says their mom died, and that’s the conversation this card is for.
Most managers get that news once or twice in a career and worry about saying the wrong thing, so the card gives them a respectful place to start instead of something to improvise. The four opening lines assume nothing about the relationship, the employee’s beliefs, or how the person died.
Print it before you need it. Hand it to a new manager in their first week, or pin it where your leads will see it.
If the death also drops paperwork on your employee, the rest of MORTL is free and public: send them the checklist and their state guide. Rolling this out across a company takes the employee death checklist and the launch kit too.