Divorce and separation are wreaking havoc on Scottish businesses, new survey findings show.
Consensus Collaboration Scotland, a group of Scottish lawyers, family consultants and financial specialists says relationship failures are a major burden on the economy.
It gave no figures for Scotland, but said the emotional fallout and the loss of productivity it caused was estimated to be costing the UK £46billion a year.
The research – commissioned by not-for-profit family law specialist Resolution – involved an online survey of 4,031 adults, including 329 in Scotland, between September 26 and October 2.
More than one in six (15%) respondents said either they or a colleague had been forced to take sick leave as a direct result of a break-up.
A similar proportion of people in Scotland (14%) said separation and divorce had negatively impacted on productivity at their work.
Just 8% of respondents said their bosses offered enough support for people going through a relationship trauma, with 34% saying more should be done to provide help for those undergoing separation or divorce.
Family lawyer and Consensus member Anne McTaggart, senior partner at Aberdeen firm McIntosh McTaggart, said: “It can be easy to forget that sometimes things going on outside of work have a profound effect on what happens within it.
“With workers here in Scotland seeing a notable impact on productivity, taking sick leave or even leaving their jobs altogether, divorce and separation is an issue that bosses in Scotland need to take seriously and look out for the warning signs.
“There are 147,870 small businesses – those with less than 50 employees – in Scotland.
“Losing just one member of staff even for a short amount of time can have a huge impact on productivity and on the other people that work there.”
She added: “Divorce and separation affects a huge number of people – 73% of people in Scotland have been through a split themselves or know someone who has.”
Consensus is circulating its research findings to highlight that there is an alternative to acrimonious divorce and that a better long term outcome can be achieved through a collaborative approach, which focuses on reducing conflict and stress and delivering good financial choices.