These days, most men and women work in the United States, even though we do have some stay-at-home moms and dads. Since a large percentage of the population works, most people who go through a divorce are employed at the same time, and we’d be foolish to assume that the effects of a divorce doesn’t spill into one’s work, because it usually does.
If you’re employed and facing the possibility of a divorce, please be aware that it may impact your job or your job performance. Why? Because, divorce is a highly-emotional event, even if it truly is for the best. It usually affects men and women equally, and it often has specific ramifications in the workplace, which we’ll explain below.
Divorce Can Impact Your Job in These Ways
After assisting countless clients through their divorces, here’s what we’ve learned about divorce impacting people’s jobs:
- You may miss work because you’re too down to come in.
- If you miss too much work, it can threaten your job.
- You could break down crying in front of your boss or co-workers.
- The divorce can affect your focus and concentration at work.
- If you are too “rattled” about your divorce at work, you could lose credibility.
- After you break the news, a short while later co-workers may be unsympathetic and say things like, “Get over it already” or “You’re still upset about that?” or “Be happy, you’re single again,” especially if you’re a man.
- You could avoid firing someone because you don’t want any more confrontation.
- You could be more risk-adverse than usual.
How to Break it to the Office
How you break the news to the office depends on the size of your company, your privacy preferences, and your schedule. Our advice is to certainly break it to those who “need to know.” For starters, you should tell your immediate superior. If you’re a CEO, there are a handful of stakeholders who should know about the divorce, especially if PR is a concern.
If you don’t want the whole office to know about it, you can certainly ask your boss to keep your divorce to themselves. However, whoever you decide to tell, keep it professional. In most circumstances, your co-workers don’t need to know about the affair one of you had while on a business trip, or about an addiction one of you have been battling for years.
When you do tell your superior, make sure that he or she understands that you’ll need a little scheduling flexibility in the upcoming months for court dates and such until the divorce is finalized.
Contact our Orange County divorce firm at (949) 565-4158 for a consultation.
