He set up The Green Funeral Company in 1999, and was described by Charles Cowling of The Good Funeral Guide as “The best undertakers of all time, by a country mile.”
He has been featured in numerous books including by journalists such as Miranda Sawyer and Peter Ross, John Doran and Tom Cox. He has appeared in The Guardian and The Observer, New Statesman, and on BBC radio and television, and Kay Burley’s sofa on Sky News, and collaborates with Art Pop Terrorists The KLF to build a pyramid in Liverpool with bricks containing cremated ashes.
Rupert is the author of What Remains? Life, Death and the Human Art of Undertaking, published by Chelsea Green in the UK and US, which is currently under option to be made into a TV drama.
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Dealing with Grief at Work
How do we speak to our bereaved colleagues, when as a society we struggle to deal with the grief of others? How can we support them, and at the same time protect ourselves with our own historical bereavements?
Working within in organisation is like having a second family, with all of the complications that go with it, but without the emotional commitment.
We have work colleagues we are close to, who become friends, and others we may like to avoid, but everyone wants and needs a company that functions as harmoniously as possible for their own peace of mind.
One of the life events that can occur to any individual at anytime is the death of a close relative or friend, which often has long term emotional repercussions, but the global legislation around paid bereavement is shockingly bad, with most countries only giving a few days off for the death of a spouse or parent.
The UK is actually one of the few countries that allow more, with some of this being at the employers discretion, and the government has recently brought in parental bereavement legislation called Jack’s Law which ensures parents whose child has died, or been stillborn is granted two weeks paid leave, but for the death of a spouse this is generally limited to two or three days, meaning someone who goes through the most painful loss of their life will be back at their desk within the week.
What Remains?
– Life, Death and the Human Art of Undertaking
