Divorce can affect people in many ways. From becoming embroiled in child custody battles to worries over how the end of the marriage might end a career, there is much to worry about. If you own a business and employ one or more people who are facing divorce, you may notice a shift in their behavior or performance. These changes may be worrisome; however, since divorce can be a long and arduous process, you may want to be aware of and watch for other changes that might eventually affect the day-to-day operations of your business.

1.   Increased Lack of Focus

Employees who are going through a divorce or who are considering filing the papers may become increasingly distracted by the process. They make more errors, leave work incomplete, or start to ask for deadline extensions when they never had a problem making quota before. If you notice this happening, take your employee aside and talk to them calmly and without judgement. He or she may admit their distracted behavior and together you can both work out ways to combat it.

2.   More Missed Work Days

As employees who are experiencing divorce move through the complicated process, they may miss work more often or show up late when they were rarely tardy before. This can be especially true of those who are facing child custody issues and may need more time to find and meet with an experienced law firm, such as Tully Rinckey, to resolve them.

While you might have firm absence and tardy guidelines at your business, giving divorcing employees some extra time to sort out their affairs can help them feel more secure about their job even as their marriage ends. Give them a finite time frame and let them know you expect them to follow it but letting them know you understand can give them peace of mind during this difficult time, which is second only to the death of a spouse or child when it comes to stressful life events.

3.   Heightened Emotion

Employees who are going through a divorce may have a harder time making important decisions and base them on emotion rather than reason. Because divorce can be so stressful, it can exhaust both the body and mind, leaving them both vulnerable to emotional outbursts. While men may be more likely to hide these feelings, they might manifest in other ways, such as anger or overreaction.

Offering affected employees support may help them remain emotionally at the workplace. This can be especially helpful if an employee does not have family in the area and may feel that he or she has few places to turn. If you have office counselors or offer medical insurance, let the employee know about these resources and encourage him or her to take advantage.

4.   Increased Anxiety

As divorcing employees face the cost of the split, meetings with their attorneys and counselors at firms like Tully Rinckey Law, and the stress of trying to find child care as their spouses move out, they may become increasingly anxious during work hours. This might affect any projects or teams they are a part of and cause their work performance to falter. Anxiety may also cause them to be short with coworkers or feel overwhelmed with their workload.

While you may not be able to alleviate all the anxiety your affected employees feel, it can help them to know that you empathize. You can also give them several suggestions for alleviating feelings of anxiety both at and away from work, such as allowing for brief periods of meditation, taking walks during lunch, and forming positive relationships with their coworkers so they have additional emotional support while they are on the job.

Divorce can have many negative effects on your company’s employees. However, when you know how to offer support and ways to help, it can boost morale and give your affected employees additional peace of mind.