Divorce in the Workplace
Is Your Divorce Seeping Into Your Work?
I don’t need to tell you that divorce is an extremely stressful and painful experience. It bleeds into every aspect of your life. It should come as no surprise, then, that it impacts on your work life, lowering your productivity and depressing the morale of those around you, and possibly reducing their productivity, as well.
Studies show that divorce affects your creativity and the amount of work you can do by 50% to 75%. It causes financial concerns and emotional distress. It leads to extra time away from work as you attend legal meetings, are more likely to succumb to sickness and/or need counseling, and are just generally stressed out.
It negatively affects your supervisors as they take extra time to deal with you and their other divorcing employees.
Divorce Can Be Quick And Cost Effective
But there is a better way. The collaborative approach is a solution-oriented process that considers the entire family’s most important interests, as professionals guide you to reaching a better, more holistic agreement. Spouses are able to craft resolutions that judges in litigated divorces may not be legally empowered to order. Spouses are encouraged to be as creative with their agreements as they need to be, and they are much more likely to sidestep post-judgment issues because they take more ownership of the agreements that they create themselves.
In the collaborative process, a team of professionals consisting of two attorneys (one for each spouse), and sometimes a neutral family facilitator and/or a neutral financial professional, helps the spouses reach a resolution quickly and cost-effectively. Other experts join the team if necessary. Full team meetings generally occur for two hours each, every two-to-three weeks, so the process gains momentum until the spouses reach a full agreement.
Divorce Shouldn’t Be A Game
While the team approach is unique, the only absolute prerequisite to a collaborative matter is that the two attorneys sign a written agreement to withdraw if their clients can’t reach an agreement and litigation becomes necessary. Thus, they are completely invested in the process and in reaching a peaceful resolution acceptable to their clients.
Because the lawyers are not in litigation mode, the spouses are free to be open and transparent, which negates the need for playing costly and timewasting “discovery” games with one another. They need only one financial expert, who is neutral, so they avoid paying for two expensive experts who battle it out against one another. The goal of the full collaborative team is to assist the parties in reaching a full agreement as quickly and as equitably as possible.
It’s easy to see how the collaborative process is the better way for the vast majority of divorces. And if employees are happier, less financially strapped, and less stressed, they can be better employees. Encourage your fellow employees to use the collaborative process when undergoing any family law issue, whether it’s divorce, paternity, custody, child support, or any other family-related dispute. See the testimonials from clients like you and then call us; we can help.
Learn more about collaborative divorce. Follow Open Palm Law.
Need advice now? Contact Joryn!
About this week’s author, Joryn Jenkins.
Joryn, attorney and Open Palm Founder, began her own firm here in Tampa after a 14-year career in law, two of which she served as a professor of law at Stetson University. She is a recipient of the prestigious A. Sherman Christensen Award, an honor bestowed in the United States Supreme Court upon those who have provided exceptional leadership in the American Inns of Court Movement. For more information on Joryn’s professional experience, take a look at her resume.
