Slack Status for Bereavement: Short Statuses to Copy

A Slack status for bereavement needs three facts: you are away, when you expect to be back, and who to contact. For example: 🗓️ "Out on family leave until Monday. Urgent: Dana." You do not have to say why. Pick the emoji yourself, set an end date with Choose a start and end time, and tick Pause notifications until status is cleared so Slack stays quiet until you are back.

If you cannot face Slack at all, ask your manager or a friend at work to tell the team. Nobody expects a status from you.

We set these statuses in a test Slack workspace on 30 September 2026. Four things in the web app behaved differently from what most guides say, and they matter when you are setting a status in a hurry.

Check the emoji before you save

Slack picks an emoji from the words you type. We typed 15 bereavement lines and left the emoji alone:

A palm tree next to "On leave" reads as a holiday. If you leave the emoji empty, Slack saves the speech balloon 💬 (:speech_balloon:). Click the emoji button and pick one of the quiet ones below.

"This week" clears on Friday night

This week in the Duration list ended our status at 23:59:59 on Friday, in our own time zone. The hover card said "Until next week", and the status still said "until Monday". So from Saturday morning to Monday, the status was gone.

If you come back on a Monday, choose Choose a start and end time and set the end to Monday morning. The steps and the scheduling options are in how to schedule a Slack status.

"Don't clear" cannot pause notifications

The Pause notifications until status is cleared box only appears when the status has an end. Pick Don't clear and the box is gone.

For "until further notice", set the status with Don't clear, then open your profile menu, click Notifications and pause them there for as long as you need.

Two more results from the same test:

• • Changing the Duration later can break the link. We saved a status with This week and a pause, then edited it to Don't clear. The pause kept its old end, Saturday at midnight. When we cleared the status, the pause stayed on. If you change your return date, open Notifications in your profile menu and check the pause end too.
• • Clearing the status early turns notifications back on at once. With an unedited status, Clear status ended the pause straight away. In our sick day test it also cancelled that night's notification schedule.

Bereavement statuses to copy

All are well under Slack's 100-character limit. Change the names and dates.

Private, no reason given

• • 🗓️ Out on family leave until Monday. Urgent: [name].
• • 🗓️ Away this week for personal reasons. Back [date].
• • 🗓️ Out of office until further notice. [Name] is covering.
• • 🔕 Offline for a few days. [Name] has my projects.

Bereavement leave

• • 🕊️ On bereavement leave until [date]. Urgent: [name].
• • 🕊️ On bereavement leave this week. Not checking Slack.
• • 🤍 Away on bereavement leave. [Name] is covering for me.
• • 🤍 On compassionate leave, back [date].

"Compassionate leave" is the common term in the UK, Australia and Ireland, and "bereavement leave" in the US and Canada.

Funeral

• • 🗓️ Out today for a funeral. Back tomorrow.
• • 🕊️ Out Thursday and Friday for a family funeral. Urgent: [name].
• • ✈️ Travelling for a family funeral, back [date].
• • 🗓️ Out this afternoon for a family service. Online tomorrow.

Family or medical emergency

• • 🏠 Out for a family emergency. [Name] is covering.
• • 🏠 Family emergency, offline today. Back when I can.
• • 🔕 Dealing with a family matter, limited access until [date].

Coming back

• • 🌿 Back part-time this week. Replies may be slow.
• • 🌿 Back from leave, catching up slowly.
• • 📥 Back today, working through messages. Ping me if urgent.
• • 🤍 Back from leave. Thank you for covering for me.

Do not promise to check messages. "Not checking Slack" is clearer for everyone than "checking occasionally". Ask the person you name before you put their name in the status.

Quiet emoji for a bereavement status

We added each code as a reaction in Slack on 30 September 2026. All of these worked.

:dove: and :spiral_calendar: do not exist in Slack; the names are :dove_of_peace: and :spiral_calendar_pad:. 🗓️ is the most private choice, because it looks like any other time off.

When a coworker is on bereavement leave

Send one short message and expect no reply: "I'm so sorry. Take all the time you need. I've got [project]." Route work questions to whoever is covering. Which reactions fit sad news, with emoji you can download, is in Slack emoji for condolences.

FAQ

Does Slack tell my team when I set a status?

No. Slack does not post or send anything when you set a status. People see it next to your name on messages and in your profile.

Should I log bereavement leave anywhere else?

Yes, if your company uses an HR system for leave. A Slack status is only seen in Slack, so tell your manager directly as well.

Can I set the status from my phone?

Yes. In the Slack app, tap You, then your status. The same Duration and pause options are there.