September 2021

Page A6 SEPTEMBER 2021 FUNERAL HOME & CEMETERY NEWS Se c t i on A Free Supplies. FREE Operator Training Video. Settlements can now be used to purchase cremation supplies from our affiliate company, New England Cremation Supply. Customer Loyalty Rewards Program Family Owned and Operated since 1995 Cremation Metal Recycling 800-664-8365 cremation metal recycling - responsible recycling charitable foundation cmr@metrocast.net www.cremationmetalrecycling.com www. vischerfuneralsupplies.com By Welton Hong In a 2021 survey, more than half of American work- ers reported experiencing burnout. That number was up 9 percent from a pre-COVID survey, indicating that the pandemic certainly had an impact on people’s stress levels and ability to maintain work-life balance. However, for funeral home directors and other deathcare professionals, burnout and stress come with unique challenges that people in many other fields don’t face. Please check out the following tips for deal- ing with burnout and supporting work-life balance: 1. Learn to Recognize Compassion Fatigue Compassion fatigue occurs when you become so emotionally, mentally, or physically exhausted that you can’t respond appropriately to the needs of others or feel empathy or compassion for them. This is a common challenge for healthcare workers, who can become immune to the emotional and phys- ical needs of patients. Nurses who have compassion fatigue may treat patients brusquely, be unable to em- pathize to a level that lets them understand patient needs and apply creative problem solving, or even be so detached that they make critical mistakes. This phenomenon obviously can occur in death- care as well, especially if you’ve been dealing with a higher volume of funerals than normal or helping families who are especially heavy in their grief. Being able to recognize the onset of compassion fatigue is essential. It lets you force yourself to step back and take a break so you can better serve clien- tele in the future. 2. Understand the Drain of Disenfranchised Grief You might legitimately grieve the losses that families under your care are experiencing, but in western cultures that often brush death and dying under the rug, that grief is hard for people to understand and engage with. It’s also not something every professional will deal with, because each person and their approach to care is unique. Signs of disenfranchised grief can include insomnia, anxiety, depression, upset stom- ach, muscle tension, and even shame. If you are dealing with this type of potential burn- out as a funeral pro, you’re definitely not alone. Con- sider seeking counseling or talking to a trusted friend or professional advisor. Grief counselors can help you develop skill sets to better cope with this type of grief. 3. Address Personal Perfectionism A recent survey from Grand Canyon University notes that personal perfectionism is the biggest bar- rier for work-life balance. Beat it back by: • Being realistic about what you can and can’t do. You can challenge yourself to grow in your field without holding yourself to impossible standards. • Delegating and letting people help you. While the bulk of funeral homes in the nation are small businesses with less than a dozen employees, you are part of a team. Turn to your coworkers for as- sistance and help them grow too. • Asking for support outside of work. Yes, work- life balance does mean handling your personal re- sponsibilities too. But you don’t have to handle ev- erything. Ask your family to pitch in to help cover chores, errands, and other tasks so you’re able to carve out a little time for rest. 4. Find Ways to Set Boundaries A huge challenge for funeral directors when it comes to work-life balance is the need to be on call. It’s difficult to create a hard boundary between the office and home life if you know the phone could ring at any moment. However, there are ways you can set some boundaries: • Ensure you’re not the only person who takes calls. Have at least two people on staff who can take calls so you can switch every few days or week. That way, you know there are times in your life when the phone is not going to ring. Welton Hong is the founder of Ring Ring Marketing ® and a leading expert in creating case generation from online to the phone line. He is the author of Making Your Phone Ring with Internet Marketing for Funeral Homes . For more information, visit www. FuneralHomeProfits.com. FUNERAL HOME & CEMETERY NEWS www.nomispublications.com Monthly Columns online at Tips for Ensuring Work-Life Balance as a Funeral Director Powerhouse Marketing with Welton • Invest in technologies and services to reduce the impact of calls. Not everyone who calls the funeral home after hours is an at-need fam- ily, and some calls can wait until morning. The right technology or service ensures you only get the calls you need to answer in the moment. • Make a plan with your family. Ensure every- one knows when you’re on call and plan activi- ties around your schedule when it’s possible. For example, a relaxing evening at home on a call night may be a better option than a four-star meal you might not get to enjoy if the phone rings. 5. Create Realistic Goals for Each Day Instead of an overwhelming to-do list, consider keeping a “focus task” list. Start each morning with three to five tasks that must be accomplished by the end of the day to count your day as successful. Don’t add habitual tasks to the focus list. Work you do every day as a matter of routine still needs to get done, so keep that in mind when creating your focus task. If you have seven hours of routine work, you might only have one focus task. Annually, McNeill Funeral Home & Cremation Service serves around 400 families. With nearly 70 locations, Rollings Funeral Service is one of the largest private funeral home owners in the eastern United States. With each of their firms operat- ed on the local level, their managers work directly with Rollings Funeral Service to establish budgets, pricing, and best practices. They also pride themselves on being a great alternative to selling to a publicly traded company and they continue to search for firms that will be a great fit to their growing family of funeral homes. Rollings Funeral Service Announces Acquisition of Georgia Funeral Home Kevin McNeill, Sr. TYRONE,GA— Rollings Funeral Service is proud to announce the recent acquisition of McNeill Funeral Home & Cremation Service in Martinez, GA. The fu- neral home was formerly owned by Kevin McNeill, Sr. “Having been owned and operated by Kevin McNeill and his family and founded on family principles, the fu- neral home is exactly what I look for when adding new firms to our organization,” said Greg Rollings, presi- dent and CEO, of Rollings Funeral Service. “Although the funeral home was founded only 17 years ago, the McNeill family has built a solid reputation of quality, compassion, and reliability for their community,” Roll- ings continued. He also noted that Rollings Funeral Ser- vice is now almost up to 20 locations in Georgia. Speaking with McNeill he mentioned that he estab- lished the funeral home in 2004 but has almost 50 McNeill legacy, he ulti- mately sold his firm to Greg and Debbie Roll- ings. “I know Greg per- sonally and he was up front and fair with me throughout the entire process,” mentioned Mc- Neill. He also mentioned that he is now looking forward to taking a step back from the ownership side of the business and being able to focus more on just serving families. years’ experience in funeral service. Looking to slow down though and plan for the firm’s future, McNeill began to look at setting up a succession plan. Want- ing a trustworthy and honest person to continue the