ETHICAL ISSUES RELATED TO OFFERING AFTERCARE SERVICES
Answering tricky questions like these is an essential part of navigating the funeral profession. The Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University suggests using the following framework to guide the decision-making process (2021). First, identify the ethical issue(s). Many ethical dilemmas are complex and may involve more than one ethical issue. Next, get the facts. What are the relevant facts to the case? What individuals or groups have an important stake in the outcome? What are the options for acting? Funeral professionals will have to evaluate these questions and more in order to gather enough information to make an ethical decision. The third step is to evaluate alternative actions. All decisions will have at least two possible outcomes, and many will have several options. After deliberating, it is finally time to make the decision. Ask yourself how your decision turned out and what you learned from this specific situation. Reflecting on the outcome of your decision will help you the next time you are faced with an ethical dilemma.
Ethics are important in any business, and the funeral setting is no exception. A situation that creates a conflict of interest can become an ethical issue. There are several ethical codes and standards for funeral professionals depending on the organizations they belong to. For example, the National Funeral Directors Association has several standards meant to guide funeral professionals’ interactions with the public. The code of ethics states that “Members shall not engage in any unprofessional conduct which is likely to defraud or deceive the public” (NFDA, 2022). Therefore, funeral professionals need to be careful about the way they run and market their aftercare programs, to ensure that they are following the necessary standards of ethics. As an example of a problem that could arise, imagine a staff member of the funeral home is assigned to be the director of the aftercare program. However, he is also a minister in the community and has just accepted the position of chaplain at the local community hospice. How might this create a conflict of interest and an ethical dilemma? What should the funeral professional do to ensure that he is acting in accordance with the ethical standards of his profession?
GENERATING LEADS
Of course. Now imagine you gather the same 200 people together and have your pre-need counselor take families off to the side to try and get them to prearrange before or immediately after the event. How are these people going to feel? They are going to feel betrayed (p 32). As this quote reveals, aftercare should not merely be used as a business strategy. While aftercare can attract more business and help increase the bottom line, clients should never be made to feel that business is more important than their needs. the house. Offering a workshop that teaches these tasks to Flora may make her feel more confident as she faces her life without Mark. ● The Henderson family is very cosmopolitan—many grandchildren live around the world and are unable to be with family during the grieving process. Hosting an online memorial where participants can share photos and memories could help those family members who live far away feel closer. ● Mark Henderson was a respected and beloved teacher. Many students are upset at his passing. Planning an event that could involve local schoolchildren, such as a cemetery clean-up day, would involve these community members in the grieving process.
Aftercare is not meant to generate leads; however, in the long run it may lead to more business. In the article “Aftercare, Outreach and Preneed,” Dan Isard states (2015): Aftercare is not a lead-generating faucet for pre-need. Imagine you have 200 people attend a holiday help program. If you do the program correctly and make it worth their time, you are going to have people who are impressed with your business. Are these people more inclined to want to prearrange with you when they are of the mind to do so? Case study Eighty-nine-year-old Mark Henderson has passed away from an illness, and the family has chosen your funeral home to perform the service. Mark leaves behind his wife, Flora, to whom he was married for nearly 60 years, as well as three adult children and many, many grandchildren who live all over the world. Mark was a beloved high school chemistry teacher, and dozens of students are devastated by his passing. ● What are the diverse needs of the Henderson family and their community? ● What kind of aftercare programs would you recommend implementing in this case? Recommendations: ● Because Mark and his wife Flora were married for so long, Flora may have gotten used to letting Mark handle things like finances, car maintenance, and the general upkeep of
NEW TREND: USING AN AFTERCARE COMPANY
One reason for choosing a service that provides aftercare is that there are already enormous demands placed on the funeral professional’s time (Zollinger, 2019). Outsourcing some of the marketing needs, such as providing text messaging services to clients and their families, can help alleviate the burden on funeral directors themselves while still keeping the community connected to the funeral home. creatively about the specific needs of their community. As one funeral professional wrote, “Make it about what is best for your families. They are the ones paying for your experience and guidance and using your assets . . . They are the ones that need to recover from this undesired event. They are the ones that need help, and it doesn’t end at the edge of the grave” (American Funeral Director, 2012, p. 61).
To avoid ethical issues, many funeral homes are outsourcing their aftercare programs to companies that specialize in this area. Funeral One, Order of the Golden Rule, and Aftercare Solutions are just a few companies that provide aftercare services to funeral homes. These companies offer a variety of services based on the needs of the funeral homes they serve. Conclusion Aftercare programs help people through the difficult process of grief. Grief is not linear; different people experience different levels of grief at different times, and an effective aftercare program anticipates these needs and responds accordingly. Each funeral home will use different levels and different forms of aftercare based on the needs of its customers and the local community. This is a chance for funeral directors to think
EliteLearning.com/Funeral
Book Code: FAR0624
Page 4
Powered by FlippingBook