We help clients understand and deal with all of the financial and legal aspects of their divorces, but there’s an often underlooked aspect of divorce that impacts almost everybody. It’s not how divorce affects you physically and emotionally, it’s how it can impact your job performance.
“My job performance?” You bet and if it didn’t impact your job in some way, it would be highly unusual. “But how does divorce affect people’s jobs?” For starters, it can affect their schedules (court hearings, attorney meetings, etc.), it tends to affect their focus, it can affect their emotional stability, and it can make them more risk-adverse.
Here are some common ways divorce impacts people at work:
- It can affect their schedules as they have to attend court hearings, negotiations, etc.
- They can be emotionally unstable and cry at the drop of a hat.
- They can lose so much focus, they are sent home or ask to go home.
- If they are depressed by the split, they can call in “sick” because they are too upset to be around people and fear losing respect if they break down.
- They can lose their temper with colleagues and juniors.
- They can avoid firing someone because they can’t deal with any more drama.
- They can be more risk-adverse than before.
- Emotionally shaken, they can make poor decisions or big mistakes that hurt the company.
- If they are a CEO and the divorce followed an extra-marital affair, especially one in the office, the CEO can be terminated.
Should You Tell Your Boss?
If you are going through a divorce, we recommend telling your boss and if you are a CEO, the Board of Directors should know about it. Do you tell them the reason for the divorce? That is not necessary, and if the marriage ended because of an affair, addiction, a gambling problem, etc., telling people about it may not be professional.
You should definitely tell your boss, but you can certainly ask him or her to keep it quiet if that makes you more comfortable. Your boss will need to know that you’re asking for some scheduling flexibility in the upcoming months for court dates, hearings, settlement meetings, etc., all of which are usually conducted during business hours.
Contact Cutter & Lax today to meet with a Ventura divorce lawyer, who is also a board-certified family law specialist.
