42% of marriages end in divorce. But most employers have no idea what they can, or should, do to help. 

How does divorce impact employees and their families? 

If you had a blank sheet of paper, it would be hard to devise a worse process for navigating the legal side of a separation than the adversarial system. It pits couples against each other, breeds mistrust and breaks down communication. 

That is why the Family Courts are urging couples to stay away from Court, and treat it as a place of last resort.

Because at the end of the day, all the lawyers go away, and a couple is left having to manage their relationship, as co-parents or simply as fellow human beings, with shared experiences and memories, not all of which are bad. 

The toll Court proceedings take on the families involved is clear from the impact on their mental health. A Harvard Study of divorcing men and women found that it takes twice as long to recover from a divorce than it does from a close bereavement. Between a third and half of all adults going through divorce report levels of mental distress sufficient to diagnose clinical depression.

This is, sadly, unsurprising. Divorce, although commonplace, still attracts huge stigma. No one goes into a divorce thinking it is going to be easy to navigate (which in fact it can be, with the right support). This fear of the process is compounded by an adversarial, expensive and lengthy legal system, drowning in jargon. And at the same time many couples are facing the fracturing of their support networks. 

Many couples do end up in Court. In January 2019 the Nuffield Family Justice Observatory produced a report which found that 38% of all separating couples end up in Court about their children. The report called this a public health crisis, because of the damaging impact Court proceedings have on the children involved.  This has been supported by the Judiciary, who are urging the legal profession as a whole to find a better way for separating couples away from the court process.

At The Divorce Surgery we have pioneered a fixed fee One Couple One Lawyer process to enable separating couples to work together and efficiently from day one, getting the expertise they need to reach a fair deal but in a collaborative, cost efficient way. We set out lots of detail about our unique, award winning service in our blog ‘What is One Couple One Lawyer?’ https://www.thedivorcesurgery.co.uk/what-is-one-couple-one-lawyer/ 

How does this impact employers?

A Resolution study found that only 10% of employees think their employers do enough to support them during family breakdown. The cost of divorce to the UK economy is £48 billion. 

A You Gov poll was undertaken with 500 high earners (earning £100,000pa to multi million pound packages). 69% of those interviewed admitted ‘significant’ problems in their relationships in their current or similar role. The quote from one employee sets out the crux of the issue: “I get the sense that most employers believe you should leave all home problems at home. Yet employers expect work to be able to intrude on your home life. This has to be a two way street.”

A study by the Nashville Business Journal highlighted the impact a divorce can have on productivity at work. It found that in the 6 months leading up to and in the year of divorce, the divorcing employee’s productivity is reduced by 40%. Productivity will suffer on some level for 7 years.

But what can employers do to help? 

For many years employers have wanted to offer more support to their divorcing employees. However, the last thing an employer wants is to become embroiled in an adversarial process, or offer help to one spouse and not the other. 

The are three key ways in which employers can help: 

  1. Family Breakdown Policy: All employers should have one, setting out not only support available at work but also signposting employees to external sources of support. Separating couples crave information, and the earlier they are signposted to it, the better. 
  • Incorporating relationship breakdown into existing Wellness Programmes: Many employers offer annual presentations to employees on various wellness initiatives. Alongside talks on self-care and managing stress there should be segments on how to approach divorce well, and how to co-parent well following a separation. Many employees will not discuss the challenges they are facing at home, but would really appreciate constructive presentations which form part of a wider programme of events (ensuring they don’t need to reveal their interest in the subject matter if they’d rather not). 
  • Employee Benefits Schemes: Many employers are now attracted by the idea of getting their employees started on divorce in the best and most constructive way, offering a fixed fee session of joint advice to the couple together, from one impartial lawyer, to set them on the right track.

Samantha Woodham, Family Law Barrister and Co-Founder The Divorce Surgery (www.thedivorcesurgery.co.uk)

The Divorce Surgery allows separating couples to access legal advice together from one impartial barrister. This award-winning organisation also advises employers on how to support employees through divorce, by advising on policies, giving presentations to staff or becoming part of existing benefits packages.