Why Help Is Needed

While the effects of stress and depression are felt in the workplace, the source of it and the solutions to it lie primarily outside of work. A CIPD survey in Nov 2009 found that among employees with poor mental health, 88% attributed it partly or wholly to problems in their personal lives. Only 12% attributed it solely to problems at work.

The divorce rate is approaching 50%, and where divorcing or separating couples have children, around half of those children will have no further meaningful relationship with whichever parent they do not live with, usually their father. In a BBC survey, a quarter of children said they do not regard their father as part of their immediate family.

The impact on a parent of losing a child should not be underestimated. It is life-shattering, and many experience the additional burden of feeling they are expected to put the past (and their children) behind them, and get on with their life.

The impact at work may be:

• sickness absence due to anxiety and depression.
• attending work but unable to concentrate.
• being unable to give full attention to one’s job may lead to costly mistakes, or even risk to self and others.

Effects of divorce on health and well-being:

Adverse health effects due to divorce are more profound for young divorced men and for divorced people who have children.

Divorce affects the health of men and women differently.

Both men and women are at higher risk of psychological distress because of divorce, but women tend to experience distress prior to divorce, and men experience it after the divorce.

Divorce increases the likelihood of unemployment, and this risk is greater among men.

Women more often take the initiative to divorce; social and economic determinants have stronger effects on women when it comes to deciding whether to divorce, with one exception: where there are children, this discourages men from divorcing more than it discourages women.

People may appear to get over the effects of divorce quickly, but this is due to escaping the particularly distressing period immediately prior to the divorce. When comparisons are made between how a person was 4 - 8 years prior to divorce, and 4 - 8 years afterwards, the distressing effects are shown to be long-term.

Suicide: Divorce does not affect the suicide rate among women, but divorced men are more than twice as likely to commit suicide compared to married men.

How Can We Help?

Of all the adverse effects which divorce can have on health and well-being, by far the most profound is losing touch with one’s children. This is our specialist field. Our practical hands-on support and advice can improve the chances of strong links between parent and child after divorce, and this in turn will help your employee to perform well at work, and remain in good physical and mental health.