By Allyse R. Worland, CFSP

For years, funeral service has repeated the same refrain: “We can’t find good people.” But after nearly two decades in this profession as a licensed funeral director and embalmer, a multi‑location general manager, an educator and someone who has mentored many apprentices and new licensees, I can tell you with absolute clarity: We don’t have a talent shortage. We have a culture shortage.

And until we address that, recruitment strategies, sign‑on bonuses and job postings won’t fix what’s actually driving people away.

Why Listen to Me?

Because I’ve lived both sides of this profession. I’ve worked in funeral homes where the culture was so dysfunctional that an umbrella was once thrown at my head because it wasn’t packed into the hearse “correctly.” And I’ve led teams in multi‑location operations where morale was strong, turnover was low and people wanted to stay.

I’ve trained apprentices who were bright, compassionate and motivated, only to watch them leave the profession entirely because of toxic environments that drained the joy out of the work.

I’ve also rebuilt teams, redesigned workflows and coached leaders into creating cultures where people thrive, families feel the difference and the business grows because of it.

My perspective, which I will explain during my seminar at the 2026 Funeral Directors Convention and Expo, isn’t theoretical. It’s lived, tested and proven across multiple states, multiple ownership models and multiple generations of funeral professionals.

What’s the ROI for Attending This Session?

If you’re an owner, manager, or decision‑maker, the return on investment is immediate and measurable:

1. Reduced turnover, which saves you real money. Replacing a funeral director can cost one and a half to two times their annual salary when you factor in recruiting, onboarding, lost productivity and lost continuity with families. Healthy culture cuts that dramatically.
2. Higher morale equals higher quality of service. When your team feels supported, families feel it. Your reputation strengthens. Your online reviews improve. Your community trust deepens.
3. Better recruitment without spending a dollar. Great culture becomes your most powerful marketing tool. Word travels fast in this profession, especially about the places people don’t want to work.
4. Leadership skills you can implement the moment you get home. This session isn’t about theory. You’ll walk away with practical tools for communication, accountability and culture‑building that you can use immediately.
5. A competitive advantage in a shrinking workforce. The funeral homes that thrive in the next decade will be the ones that invest in culture now. This session shows you exactly how to do that.

Why This Session Matters Now?

Funeral service is at a crossroads. We can continue blaming the workforce, or we can finally address the environments we’re asking people to work in.

This session is for leaders who are ready to:

• Build teams that stay
• Create workplaces people are proud to be part of
• Strengthen their reputation in the community
• Improve quality of care
• Secure the future of their business

If we want to attract and retain the next generation of funeral professionals, we must become the places where people can thrive, not just survive.

That’s the work. That’s the opportunity. And that’s the future this profession deserves.

Allyse R. Worland, CFSP, is a licensed funeral director who works with funeral homes on topics such as team building and care center improvements. Her seminar, The Real Shortage in Funeral Service Isn't Licensees, will be held from 2:45 p.m. to 3:45 p.m. Wednesday, September 16 and from 4:15 p.m. to 5:15 p.m. on Thursday, September 17, 2026 at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Atlantic City. Registration for the event is now open. Register for the 2026 Funeral Directors Convention and Expo by July 1 and receive an automatic 10 percent discount. 

A huge natural organic reduction facility has been opened just outside of Washington, D.C. American service members spent time cleaning the headstones of U.S. military veterans buried in Italy. Many of them died more than 200 years ago. And in Kenya, professional mourners aid in funeral ceremonies. These stories and more are in the week in funeral news.

NEWS

A Massive “Human Composting” Facility Just Opened Outside D.C.
By Anne Spiegel (Axios D.C.)
The green burial boom is here. A huge “human composting” site just opened outside Washington, D.C., bringing a fast-growing, eco-friendly death care option close to home. Read more here.

Meet “Green Death:” The Burial Practices for Activists Worried About Climate Change and Carbon Footprint
By Dorany Pineda (Fortune) and the Associated Press
After Moira Cathleen Delaney was diagnosed with an aggressive form of intestinal cancer, her thoughts eventually turned to her eventual death and what she wanted done with her body. Delaney’s love of gardening, birds and the forest inspired her decision to be transformed into soil–literally–through a process known as natural organic reduction. Read more here.

What Makes Natural Burial Different from Traditional Funerals?
By Amanda Shaw (Fox Carolina)
Hiking through the beauty of Ramsey Creek Preserve at the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains in South Carolina, it’s easy to forget you’re surrounded by hundreds of graves. Read more here.

Professional Mourners Mix Tribal Tradition with Kenya’s Widespread Christianity
By Asa Wallin (KIRO 7)
The body of Tom Ochieng Mima is dressed in formal funeral finery, casket shaded from the hot western Kenyan sun as family and friends of the late 64-year-old settle into plastic chairs beneath white tents just off the roadside. Wails pierce the air in a mix of lyrical song and unrestrained cries; a group of mourners wave leafy branches and beat them against the ground in a rhythm. A performance like this would not seem out of place at many funerals around the world–at first glance. Read more here.

Service Members Clean American Graves in Old English Cemetery in Italy
By the U.S. Army
A steady rain fell Wednesday as volunteers including U.S. service members, from the Darby Military Community moved through the Old English Cemetery, in Livorno, Italy, clearing brush and scrubbing centuries‑old headstones belonging to Americans who died more than 200 years ago. The cemetery, tucked along Via Verdi near a parking garage and the former Odeon theater, is one of the oldest Protestant burial grounds in Italy. Among many former English residents of Livorno, the burial ground also contains the graves of early U.S. Navy and Marine Corps personnel who died while serving in the Mediterranean. Read more here.

OPINION

We Plan Our Funerals, But the Act of Dying Is What Needs Attention
By Raya Elfadel Kheirbek (The Washington Post)
He kept everything in a neat folder. The papers inside recorded decisions he had made: the cemetery plot purchased years earlier; the casket chosen down to the satin lining; a printed program for a funeral service that had not yet taken place. There was even a draft of his eulogy, measured, unmistakably in his own voice. He had selected the music and written the closing lines others would read when he was gone. Read more here.

Mulligan

Our sincerest condolences to Essex, Union and West Hudson County Funeral Directors Association members Frank X. Mulligan Jr. and Frank X. Mulligan III on the death of their wife and mother, Marianne S. Mulligan, who died on May 16, 2026.

Walton

Our sincerest condolences to Tri-County Funeral Directors Association member Guy Walton on the death of his mother, Angela Walton, who died on May 7, 2026.

Norton

Our sincerest condolences to West Jersey Funeral Directors Association member Annemarie Norton on the death of her mother, Emma B. Norton, who died on May 11, 2026.

Hepplewhite

Our sincerest condolences to Morris County Funeral Directors Association member William T. Hepplewhite on the death of his mother, Marilyn A. Hepplewhite, who died on May 4, 2026.

Librizzi

Our sincerest condolences to Essex, Union and West Hudson County Funeral Directors Association member James Demyen on the death of his sister, Claire Librizzi, who died May 4, 2026.

Gagnon

Our sincerest condolences to Middlesex and Somerset County Funeral Directors Association member Randy Gagnon on the death of his father, Roland H. Gagnon, who died on April 29, 2026.

Arnold

Our sincerest condolences to New Jersey State Funeral Directors Association President-elect Samuel C. Arnold and Tracey Perry Tisdale, both Essex, Union and West Hudson County Funeral Directors Association members, on the death of their brother, Robert L. Arnold, who died on April 24, 2026.

The New Jersey Mission of Honor organization will hold its 40th interment ceremony at the Brigadier General William C. Doyle Veterans Cemetery in Arneytown on Wednesday, May 27, 2026.

During the ceremony, the remains of 10 World War II veterans, six from the U.S. Army and four from the U.S. Navy, will be interred at the cemetery. The remains were located with the help of the Rutgers/Robert Wood Johnson Medical School Anatomical Association.

The New Jersey Mission of Honor Program works with funeral directors and other groups involved in death care to find the cremated remains of military veterans that have been abandoned and provide dignified funeral services for those veterans. The first ceremony was held 17 years ago.

The organization is inviting those interested to attend the ceremony at Arneytown. Those wishing to go should arrive at the cemetery information center via the front entrance at 1:00 p.m. The committal service will take place at 1:30 p.m.

Anyone with questions may contact Judy Kapp at 732.232.3286.

Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt has vetoed a bill that would have legalized natural organic reduction in the state.

Saying that legalizing NOR “raises questions about moral and human dignity that go beyond ordinary burial practices,” Stitt rejected House Bill 3660, which had passed both houses of the Oklahoma legislature in May 2026.

The bill, however, did not pass without objection. Representative Jim Shaw called the bill “shocking and revolting.” The House of Representatives passed the bill 58-35 and the Senate approved the measure 28-18. Oklahoma would have been the 15th state to legalize the process.

“In my view, this legislation moves too far toward treating the human body as material to be repurposed, rather than remains to be reverently laid to rest,” Stitt said in his veto message. “Human beings are made in God’s image, and our laws should reflect that dignity even in death.”

Natural organic reduction is the process of controlled supervised decomposition of a human body resulting in the conversion of human remains into a soil-like product. New Jersey legalized the process in 2025, and it is scheduled to become available to consumers in July 2026.

John A. Runge, a member of the Essex, Union and West Hudson County Funeral Directors Association, died on May 14, 2026. He was 73.

A lifelong resident of Glen Ridge, John obtained an associate’s degree from Post College and a bachelor’s degree from Quinnipiac College and graduated from the American Academy McAllister Institute of Funeral Service in New York City. He had been a licensed funeral director in New Jersey for 50 years.

John was the former manager of George Van Tassel’s Community Funeral Home in Bloomfield and the Preston Funeral Home in South Orange. He was the owner of John Espy Monument Works in Verona for more than 30 years and served as an on-call funeral director in several funeral homes, including Prout Funeral Home in Verona. John was also a member of the National Funeral Directors Association.

John was a member of several civic and fraternal organizations and was a lifelong member of the Glen Ridge Congregational Church.

Those wishing to honor John’s memory can make a donation to Friends of Glen Gray, 200 Midvale Mountain Road, Mahwah NJ 07430.