When John Casey’s wife filed for divorce a year and a half ago, he immediately worried about how he’d stay on top of his high-stakes career.
Casey, then the managing director of a public relations company, added a heavy dose of litigation, custody battles and financial maneuvering to an already hectic schedule.
"I had days at work where I’d be on a natural high after hitting a home run and came back to an e-mail at the office from an attorney that sucked the wind right out of me," said Casey, 42, of Waterford, Mich., who at the time supervised 25 employees at the Detroit offices of Stratcomm.
As candy, roses and other romantic gifts poured into the nation’s offices last Wednesday, a quiet epidemic simmered in the hearts of millions of workers across the country. With more than 50 percent of marriages ending in divorce nationally, studies show that breakups increasingly harm the workplace.
"It’s nearly impossible to go through a divorce and have it not impact your work life," said Karen McDonald, Casey’s divorce attorney and a partner at the law firm of Jaffe Raitt Heuer & Weiss PC in Southfield, Mich. "Aside from the immediate toll it takes, you’re going to be involved in a litigation that requires you take time off of work."
Employees getting divorced must balance legal, financial, housing and child-care decisions. They typically spend a large amount of time and energy finding a lawyer, revising household budgets, looking for a new place to live and making child-care arrangements.
What that means for the other workers is a potential loss of productivity, dealing with a moodier boss or co-worker and, in some cases, picking up the slack for someone who is distracted or must be out of the office to deal with divorce matters.
A 2006 study by Minneapolis-based Life Innovations titled "Marriage & Family Wellness: Corporate America’s Business?" calculated that:
● Stress from relationship-related issues cost companies $300 billion a year.
● In the year after a divorce, employees lost an average of more than 168 hours of work time, according to a 2005 study by Richard Mueller, a researcher at the University of Lethbridge in Alberta, Canada.
● Unhappily married couples are almost four times more likely to have a partner abusing alcohol than happily married couples, according to a 2006 study in Journal of Family Psychology.
● Financial pressures typically worsen for employees going through divorce, the cost of which can range from $15,000 to $30,000.
Because of this, many employees have to adjust to a major change in their standard of living. "These challenges are not the kind to be resolved overnight," said Joshua Estrin, a licensed psychotherapist based in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. "The divorce process can take anywhere from a few months to several years."
Unlike other life-altering events - such as illness or the death of a loved one - the effects of divorce are not always obvious, said Matthew Turvey, a Minneapolis-based researcher with the marriage-focused not-for-profit Life Innovations.
Yet the impact is just as emotionally wrenching and time consuming. "Companies focus so much on productivity that we forget that a happy employee is a productive employee," Turvey said.
Robert Pasick, a clinical psychologist and professor at the University of Michigan’s William Davidson Institute, said it’s common for employees going through divorce to appear angry and bitter and to spread those feelings at work.
"I think employee assistance programs, counseling, church groups and things like that are all helpful," Pasick said. "You shouldn’t draw people at work into conversations about this. It’s not a place to get sympathy or to badmouth your significant other - it’s disruptive." Casey, the executive who divorced last year, said communicating closely with his attorney and his employer helped him minimize the strain at work.
Going through a breakup has made him a more compassionate manager, he said. He now owns Casey Communications, a public relations firm. A current employee of his recently divorced and faces lingering issues. "It never stops," he said. "I know. I think when you go through this yourself you see the havoc firsthand. It helps you care for your employees and empathize more."
Nevertheless, employers are not required to give divorcing employees special privileges, said Thomas Williams, an attorney who works with McDonald, Casey’s attorney. Workers must remember that they still need to get the job done despite the breakup, Williams said.
"All employers want employees to come to work on time and be at work and do a great job each day," he said. "Though our clients are sympathetic, they are also most interested that work is done properly and on time."
Read the entire article at The Columbia Tribune.
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