Family stress could hit employers' bottom lines

“What happens at the office, stays at the office. I don’t bring business home.”

“I tell my employees to leave their private lives at home.”

If only it were that simple.

Not long ago, a Springfield couple I know shopped for a new car. With checkbook in hand, they visited a local dealership intent on purchasing a new car – their first in several years – expecting to have a positive experience.

Unfortunately, the service was less than ideal. The salesman seemed distracted and failed to follow up with phone calls related to specific questions they had about model and features. Even though the couple had cash in hand and were ready to purchase, he appeared irritated by their questions. Frustrated, they began calling dealerships in other cities. At the last moment, a different salesperson from the local dealership stepped in and saved the day.

When they expressed dissatisfaction with their previous salesman, the second salesperson remarked, “Oh, that’s Tony. He’s going through a divorce.”

That’s not the salesman’s real name, but the truth is that his employer probably never considered how his employee’s home life, and specifically his marriage, might be impacting the dealership’s bottom line.

Marital researchers at the University of Denver have found that American businesses lose $6 billion a year due to lost productivity associated with marriage and relationship difficulties. Supervisors and co-workers can testify to the absenteeism and presenteeism (being physically present but mentally absent), decreased health, increased anxiety and stress, and increased health insurance costs associated with an employee whose marriage or intimate relationship is not going well.

Human resource personnel bear witness to the fact that unhappily married and divorcing employees decrease productivity and profitability. And employees can confirm that their co-workers’ ill health often increases their insurance costs.

If marriage and divorce were one-time events, employers might better anticipate and plan for the associated distress introduced into the workplace. Unfortunately, unhappy relationships are more often a downward slope impacting physical and mental health for months and years preceding and following a divorce.

Judith Wallerstein, author of “Second Chances”, noted that in two-thirds of former couples, one partner was unhappy, lonely, anxious and depressed for a decade after a divorce. In 25 percent of couples, both former partners were worse off, suffering from loneliness and depression. In only 10 percent of the cases she examined did both former partners build happier, fuller lives after a decade.

It’s not surprising that persons in unhappy relationships are also at increased risk for substance abuse, stress, depression and anxiety. All these translate to greater health care costs and higher insurance premiums.

Consider this: A healthy marriage pays dividends. If poor quality relationships impact a company’s profitability, do healthy ones benefit a business’ bottom line?

According to the Corporate Resource Council, happily married men have reduced job turnover rates, lower rates of absenteeism and are generally more reliable and hardworking. They are also less likely to quit or be fired than single men. In “The Business of Love,” John Curtis states that, when dual-income couples are happily married, both have a greater commitment to their employers.

Physical and mental health and well-being also are improved. In “The Case for Marriage”, Linda Waite, of the University of Chicago, states that, “Marriage is sort of like a life preserver or a seat belt. We can put it in exactly the same category as eating a good diet, getting exercise and not smoking.” It stands to reason, then, that when employees have healthier relational lives, then a company has lower overall health costs.

Businesses that want to improve employees relationships should consider offering marital and relationship education to increase overall relationship wellness. Relationship coaching should be part of what’s offered through existing employee assistance plans.

Employers may also want to consider providing access to professional services specializing in helping troubled relationships.

If your business does not have an EAP or ability to offer access to professional services, free services are offered for employers and employees in southwest Missouri through Operation Us, a federally funded project designed to offer educational services promoting healthy marriages and relationships to persons living in southwest Missouri.

Area businesses can serve as host sites for “lunch and learn” topics focused on relational health. In many cases, Operation Us will even provide lunch for participants. With a focus on improving communication, many of the skills addressed have the added value of not only helping relationships at home, but also in the workplace. More information about Operation Us is available at www.operationus.org.

Dr. Jennifer Baker is a licensed clinical psychologist, a licensed marriage and family therapist, associate professor, and director of the Marriage and Family Program at Forest Institute in Springfield. [[In-content Ad]]