The reality no one talks about in the boardroom
Divorce is one of the most disruptive life events a person can go through. And it doesn't stay at home. It's estimated that divorce and separation costs the British economy up to £46 billion every year. For the employee going through it, productivity drops by an estimated 40% during the process and remains 20% lower for up to a year after the divorce is finalised.
That's not an abstract statistic. That's your team.
When someone is navigating separation, it follows them into every meeting, every deadline, every conversation. Concentration drops. Decision-making suffers. Sick leave increases. Good people, people you've invested in, start to disengage, or quietly begin looking for the exit.
It's not a personal failing. It's what happens when someone is managing one of the hardest things life throws at you, with little or no structured support around them. And the scale of it is bigger than most employers realise. Around 42% of marriages in England and Wales end in divorce. Add in the rising number of cohabiting couples separating, and at any one time, a significant proportion of your workforce is likely to be affected whether going through it themselves, or managing the aftermath.
Most organisations respond in one of two ways: they ignore it, or they point people towards a generic EAP helpline. Neither is enough. Only 10% of employees feel their employer offers adequate support for people going through a break-up. 34% say more needs to be done.
Introducing the Relationship Breakdown Employee Support Programme
I work with organisations to provide specialist, structured support for employees going through divorce and separation at every stage of the process.
This isn't generic wellbeing provision. It's expert, practical support from someone who has been through divorce herself, trained professionally to help others navigate it and spent years working with people at some of their most difficult moments.
When Life Gets In The Way Of Work
60-Minute Awareness Session
This session is designed to open up the conversation and help your leadership team, managers, or all-staff group understand the real impact of relationship breakdown in the workplace and what they can do about it.
In 60 minutes, we cover:
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Why divorce and separation affects performance and attendance and what that actually looks like day-to-day
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What employees going through it really need from their employer
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How to create a culture where people feel safe to ask for help
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What specialist support looks like, and why it's different from standard wellbeing provision
It's honest, practical, and designed to create a shift in how your organisation thinks about this issue not just on paper, but in practice.
Supporting Employees Through Separation
Half-Day Training for Managers and HR Professionals
For the people on the frontline: the managers who don't know what to say and the HR professionals who want to do the right thing but aren't sure what that looks like in practice.
This half-day session gives them the knowledge, language and confidence to support a team member going through separation without overstepping.
We cover:
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Recognising the signs that an employee is struggling and what not to assume
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How to have the conversation: what to say, what not to say, and how to follow up
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Understanding the legal and practical landscape of divorce so managers can signpost effectively
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Boundaries: how to be genuinely supportive without becoming a counsellor
Individual Coaching Programme
1:1 Specialist Divorce Coaching for Your Employees
The most direct form of support and for many employees, the most transformative.
Each individual coaching programme is confidential, structured and tailored to where that employee is right now. The 6-Session Programme begins with a 90-minute diagnostic session, followed by five 60-minute weekly sessions.
Over six weeks, we work through the emotional, practical and forward-planning aspects of their situation helping them regain clarity, reduce anxiety and start making decisions that are right for them and their family.
The 3-Session Introductory Programme is ideal for employees who need focused support around a specific challenge such as a court hearing or co-parenting impasse.
Coaching can be funded by the employer, or accessed directly by employees at a self-funded rate.
All sessions are held virtually and are completely confidential. I do not report back to employers on content.
Domestic Abuse Awareness Training
Half-Day Training for Managers and HR Professionals
Relationship breakdown and domestic abuse are more closely connected than many employers realise. For some employees, separation is the most dangerous time and the workplace can be a critical point of contact and support.
The domestic abuse awareness module is available as a standalone half-day session or as an add-on to the Supporting Employees Through Separation training.
It covers how to recognise the signs of domestic abuse, how to have a safe and sensitive conversation with an employee you're concerned about, your organisation's legal responsibilities under the Domestic Abuse Act 2021, and how to signpost to specialist support effectively.
Let's Talk
Does your organisation offer meaningful support for employees going through separation, divorce or domestic abuse? Or are you relying on signposting and hoping for the best?
If you're ready to look at a programme that goes further, do get in touch and Iet's take a look at what the right level of support might look like for your organisation.