What do companies have to do with marital separation of an employee? Isn’t it an employee’s personal matter? These are the most common concerns an organization has before getting involved in an employee's divorce. Many companies are reticent because they feel it is a purely personal matter. However, personal matters can have an effect on one's professional life. Here are some of the reasons why companies might want to take extra interest in an employee who is going through divorce.
Direct impact on performance
According to the Social Readjustment Rating Scale, a standardized measure of the impact of a wide range of common stressors, divorce is one of the most stressful events in life, next only to the death of a spouse. When companies hire an employee, they hire a whole person with full capabilities. A person going through divorce, however, has a greatly reduced ability to focus on work due to emotional trauma. The fact is, performance takes a back seat, even if it is the person who wants divorce.
Undoing a marriage is exhausting, with legal, financial and housing consequences, not to mention child custody and many other aspects to consider, in addition to lost love and hopes. If the divorce is a high-conflict one, it can be an ugly, expensive, dragged out ordeal that takes a toll on the employee’s mental, emotional and physical health. It is nearly impossible to not bring some, if not most, of the stress to work.
According to one former justice of the Colorado Supreme Court who believes employers should seek divorce court reform, divorcing employees "make more mistakes; work more slowly; and if they are feeling angry, project that anger onto colleagues and customers."
Absenteeism
Absenteeism, time off for court dates or fewer work hours, and being unavailable for travel means low productivity and sometimes a dent in the reputation of the employer.
There is data to prove that in the year following divorce, employees lose more than 160 hours of work time, equivalent to being fully absent for four weeks in one calendar year. An Integrated Organizational Development study has shown that the average cost of divorcing employees to an organization can be roughly $83,171 per year.
Then there is Presenteeism
While the high cost of employee absenteeism is well-documented, the cost of presenteeism cannot be ignored either. Employees not showing up for work, in the physical sense, is bad news for a business. But, “presenteeism”, being at work physically but not there mentally and emotionally, is becoming an even bigger and more challenging problem for companies. According to an article in The Chief Executive, "lost productivity due to presenteeism is, on average, seven and a half times greater than that lost to absenteeism."
Effect on co-workers and environment
There are costs for employees using working hours to discuss their divorce details with co-workers and leaving work due to depression. Stress has a way of propagating itself to others –fast.
Higher health-related costs
Most of the time, the employer has to bear higher health-related costs due to stress and depression as a direct result of divorce.
Cost of employees quitting
There is also loss to companies due to employees quitting because of divorce and relationship-related issues. Many times, divorce from a spouse is followed by divorce from an employer. The value of an effective employee and cost and trouble of rehiring and training is then yet another aspect.
Essentially, divorce leaves the organization to face either of these two situations: reduced productivity or loss of a valuable employee.
What can be done?
Divorce is not going away. Since the couple is not the only entity impacted by it, it makes sense for employers to help employees effectively manage the divorce process. When employers are able to help employees through this very difficult, taxing in every way and yet so common situation, it is a win-win for both.
Assisting employees in mitigating the distress caused by divorce has become a high-priority issue for companies all over the world. Businesses have an interest in sticking with their employees during this crucial phase of their lives. If employers provide valuable guidance, hand holding, information and support at the time, it will save a lot of money, time and most importantly, avoidable stress to many.
Employer support for divorcing employees is not only a good thing to do, it is good business as well. Most progressive companies and organizations that are more “human” in their approach are turning to take an active role in helping employees come out of divorce. This works wonders for their own benefit, their image of an employer who cares, in addition to making a huge difference in the employee’s life.
Sources:
It’s Just Good Business: The Case for Supporting Reform in Divorce Court, by Rebecca Love Kourlis, former justice of the Colorado Supreme Court and executive director of the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System (IAALS)
http://omgchronicles.vickilarson.com/2012/10/29/you-cant-divorce-yourself-from-your-work/
http://thesmartdivorce.com/divorce-support/for-organizations/
http://chiefexecutive.net/weighing-the-costs-of-presenteeism/
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I agree that employers should take a more "human" approach when their employees are going through difficult times.
However, I would not limit this to divorce related issues. There are other challenges in life that employees have to live through as well strongly affecting their performance and negatively impacting the work environment. Problems with raising and educating children (especially for a single parent) and taking care of elderly parents are just two and there are many more.
There is also the aspect that all of the above affects also self employed people. Many of them do not have the financial means "to make it through". Quiet a few lose their business, all their savings and can't financially recover, facing poverty at retirement age.
I see this topic as an overall social responsibility where employers should contribute their share (e.g. creating more flexible working hours, working from home etc.). In my opinion, the bigger part of the burden has to be shouldered not by companies facing competition from companies based in countries with substantially lower social standards and overall lower cost of labour.
I totally agree with Eduard on the fact that emotional stress tend to taken for granted!
I think it's clear that these kind of problems have to be addressed quickly to benefit both the employee who is 'living' the difficulty...and their colleagues. At the same time, how does a company go about doing this? It seems to be a responsibility for Human Resources to deal with but at the same time, do they have the skills to do this? Is special training required? How does the company succeed in crossing what is obviously a sensitive line?
Cette discussion et cet article démontrent une fois de plus, selon moi, que le métier des ressources humaines n'est absolument pas à la hauteur des espérances des employés, et finalement des employeurs également ?
Il y a de cela une vingtaine d'années en arrière, on parlait du "service du personnel", dont le rôle majeur était alors de s'occuper de toute l'administration relative aux employés de l'entreprise. Puis est arrivé la terminologie "département des ressources humaines". Mais finalement, ne sommes-nous pas en train de vivre aujourd'hui un retour en arrière avec une réelle perte du rôle humain et social qui devrait être de la responsabilité d'un employeur ? N'avons-nous pas aujourd'hui des ressources humaines "à la solde des employeurs", ne faisant finalement qu'appliquer une stratégie d'entreprise définie par le senior management ?
De mon point de vue, tout comme les fonctions d'audit ou de contrôle interne, les ressources humaines devraient avoir une position indépendante au sein d'une entreprise. Et ainsi avoir l'opportunité d'assumer un véritable rôle de gestion active et proactive des employés d'une société. Cela s'avère d'autant plus nécessaire aujourd'hui, avec les innombrables cas (avérés ou non) de burn out, voire parfois de suicide.
Si une entreprise veut demeurer compétitive sur le marché, il est à mon avis indispensable de réintroduire très rapidement une forme d'humanité dans sa vision et sa stratégie. Les dégâts sont bien trop importants pour ne pas avoir le courage de prendre cette question à bras le corps.
D'où une question subsidiaire que je pose ici :
et si les entreprises externalisaient leurs ressources humaines à des structures tierces, garantes ainsi d'une objectivité et neutralité tant pour les employés que pour les cadres dirigeants de l'entreprise ?
I consider the perfect scenario for the company and the employee, an employee integrates both personal and professional life and if the employee separates it, the employee draw lines between the family and work and feels pulled and guilty on both sides and one party suffers. So when divorce happens, the company ought to support the employee, while respecting his wish for privacy and tend the human hand when needed. HUMAN RESOURCES per se.Totally agree that the company should help in such situations. We spend most of our lives in the working environment.
HR departments are not trained in these areas but some understanding is already a big step.