Divorce goes beyond wreaking havoc in households – workplaces pay the price, too, when couples split.
The economic cost is huge: A divorcing employee can cost the company up to $80,000 in lost productivity, says Canadian mediator Karen Stewart. “Divorce causes chaos in lives and reduces productivity at home and at work. It causes a ton of distractions and lost focus.”
The ripple effect of home wars makes for bad business, yet the negative economic impact has not been widely recognized or addressed.
“Consider the appointments away from work to rearrange finances, home, kids, counselling and legal meetings. Then also consider the cost of lost productivity due to stress, lack of motivation/concentration and emotional breakdown,” says Stewart, president of Fairway Divorce Solutions, which is headquartered in Calgary.
The average divorce takes about two years from start to finish; fighting over kids and money is mayhem and costs accumulate quickly.
“The strain of divorce leaves employees tired, overwhelmed and quite distracted. There are personal e-mails, texting, Google searches and phone calls – all in an attempt to survive what for most people is the worst period of their life,” says New York therapist and professor Dr. Joel Block.
“Then, of course, even when they are focusing on work, the focus is compromised by the distraction of surviving the divorce - will the children be harmed, will I have enough money afterwards, will I ever find love and happiness again? These are just some of the questions that compete with focusing on the job,” says Block, author of The Marriage Work Connection: A Couple’s Guide to Balancing Your Life Together.
Divorced mother of four, Lisa Lloyd, weathered the divorce storm while working and raising her brood.
“Absolutely my productivity was compromised during the divorce process. Emotionally you are drained and beat up. You are tired and at times, feeling very inadequate,” says Lloyd, who lives in Alberta.
Her family, not her work, was her first priority and it was a struggle to balance it all, but she managed by using divorce mediation along with keeping her employer apprised of her divorce journey.
“Some days were completely upside-down emotionally and their understanding allowed me to push through those days faster and with the belief that those kinds of days would become less and less as time passed,” she says.
Divorce is much like working through a death or loss - time heals and repairs, says Lloyd.
“I believe divorce makes you much stronger, more aware and adaptable – qualities an employer should embrace.”
Experts agree mediation and conflict resolution are key to moving through divorce effectively and efficiently, cutting down on stress, costs and time vs. the traditional adversarial legal system.
“Companies can be proactive in reducing these costs by educating their employees with regards to how they can move through divorce in a way that does not destroy their career, finances and relationships,” says Stewart. “When an employee is getting a divorce, it affects the company in its entirety.”
Employer Mary Krauel agrees: She spent 25 years in the corporate world and recalls an employee’s divorce that affected a multi-million dollar consulting project she was managing.
This division manager was embroiled in a nasty split and was being denied access to his kids.
“He carried this stress to work. It made him increasingly insecure in what he was doing and in his competency. He began to fear he would lose his job,” says Krauel
He became extremely confrontational, non-cooperative and unproductive, ultimately impeding advancement of the project and possible financial success.
Krauel offered him trust and understanding, a place to be vulnerable without fear of repercussions. Weekly meetings soon included conversations about how things were going at home.
“Even though I could do nothing to help him at home, I could at work,” says Krauel, who recently opened a Fairway Divorce Solutions franchise in Mississauga. “A workplace is a family and when one is hurt all are affected.”
WHAT WORKPLACES CAN DO
Pro-active measures by companies can lessen the divorce impact. Therapist and author Dr. Joel Block suggests these tips:
Employee assistance programs should offer marital counselling services. Partner with marriage enrichment programs and other services that support marriage.
Install marriage-friendly travel policies. For instance, permit executives who are on the road more than one-third of the time to have their spouses accompany them on selected business trips.
Provide psychological support for families who are relocating.
Create more liberal parenting leave by allowing parents to patch together as much paid time off as possible, including vacation, sick days and perhaps even a short-term disability policy.
Initiate personnel policies and work environments that permit parents to spend more time with their children, thus helping to reduce the marital stress that accompanies childrearing. Examples include opportunities for job sharing, compressed work weeks, career breaks and working at home.
THE COST OF DIVORCE ON COMPANIES
- Absenteeism of employees attending meetings with lawyers or appearances in court.
- Time lost to stress leaves or sick days.
- Decline in productivity due to stress.
- Dysfunctional behaviour caused by stress may cause grievances that may result in suspensions, time to investigate grievances and possible legal fees.
- Failing to complete tasks or follow up with customers may result in lost sales or result in missed discounts.
- Increase in benefit costs due to short-term disability for stress leaves.
- Overtime of other co-workers to complete work of absent employee.
- Stressed employees will not be at their best in their dealings with suppliers, co-workers, their bosses and, most importantly, their customers, which will reflect on business.
Source: Mary Krauel, MississaugaFairwaydivorce.com
A company that bills itself as North America's No. 1 brand for divorce mediation opened its new office in Clarkson yesterday.