Work and divorce, now what?

One in four marriages eventually ends in divorce. Per year, this equates to 130,000 working people in divorce. Of these, 20% experience burnout symptoms in the first year of divorce, and 45% increase absenteeism for this reason. Most divorce filings are in January. Perhaps you, as an employer, are also experiencing this more among your employees at this time?

The Occupational De Arbodienst and De Arbodienst Advisors at De Arbodienst have experience with employees who are in separation and are more absent as a result

"Should I call this employee in sick, the reason is not work related and the employee should be able to do this, right?" Or, "You don't have to call this employee, the employee is going through a difficult time and needs time to recover. We'll be in touch again in two weeks and then we'll see what we can do for each other." Advisors hear these two extremes about how to handle this kind of absenteeism on a regular basis. What are you doing right if your employee is separated and absentee as a result?

Every employee in absenteeism needs a different approach or approach, the same goes for your employee dealing with a divorce. The effects of divorce are intense. Both physically, mentally and practically, and it also has its impact on work. Many trainings are offered for counselors from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. The 'Work and Divorce' training from werkenscheiding.nl teaches that as an employer you are not alone, and the Labor and Health Advisors can also advise on this to provide your employee with appropriate help.

Thus, it appears that absenteeism in divorce only leads to more absenteeism and in this case (distraction by) work prevents it! 'Work and Separation' uses four clear levels where an employee can be during the process of his/her separation.

 Tips appropriate to these four levels

Level 1:

At level 1, the employee feels the impact, but does not (yet) experience visible problems at work. Appropriate tips for the employer are:

• Keep each other informed;
• Provide oversight of work and tune output;
• Remove noise from the work environment;
• Deploy low-threshold, preventive support.

Level 2:

At level 2, the employee has already called in sick briefly a few times, experiences focus problems and/or that the work is piling up. Associated tips at this level are:

• Sit down together regularly: discuss - agree - record - address;
• Temporary adjustments: times and/or tasks;
• Put counseling in place;
• Breaks really help; steer clear of that!

Level 3:

At level 3, the employee struggles with mounting energy and tension complaints. He or she feels increasingly unable to perform the work well. Appropriate tips for level 3 are:

• Create a plan of campaign together;
• Make sure the employee keeps working. It helps prevent absenteeism ;
• Deploy specialist intervention.

Level 4:

The employee has called in sick with symptoms associated with overwork and burnout. At this level, we tip the employer to:

• Create space for acceptance;
• Trying to keep the threshold to the workplace as low as possible;
• To work with personal plan on recovery, self-care, stress reduction and resilience;
• Employing a specialist.

'Work and Divorce' training provides great insight into the impact of divorce and how to deal with it towards the employee. As an employer or HR advisor, you don't have to do this alone. The Labor & Health Advisor can help ensure that your employee remains permanently employable and provide you as the employer with the best appropriate assistance. To gain more insight into what a work and separation specialist does and what your role as an employer can be in this, attend the (free) online session.