Marriage in the workplace - 3/25/07

[Smartmarriages]

- SUCCESSFUL RELATIONSHIPS IMPROVE THE BOTTOM LINE
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We have the first registration reports on Denver and the workshops on
marriage and the workplace are going to be very popular. Register on-line
at: http://gotomylist.com/cme/smc05/smc07rf2.cfm   - diane

> 220 - Friday 
> Marriage & Family Wellness: Corporate America¹s Business?
> Jeff Fray, PhD, David Olson, PhD, Gary Oliver, PhD, Matthew Turvey, PsyD
> Research makes the case: employees with healthy marriages are more productive.
> Learn what HR executives say they need and how marriage educators can deliver.
> Corporate examples.

> 605 - Sunday 
> Marriage @ Work
> Tim Gardner, MA, DMin
> Innovative, practical, proven strategies for adapting marriage education
> principles to the business environment. Learn what one committed educator can
> do ­ and how to do it. Multiple examples.


Why Employers Should Take an Active Role Helping Employees Improve Their
Personal Relationships
By Glenn Cohen/"I-TO-WE" Relationship Coaching
Mar 25, 2007      

(PRLog.Org) ­ Charleston, S.C. - ³I-TO-WE² Relationship Coaching has done
some research into the effects personal relationships have on the world of
work. It may seem obvious that happy, healthy workers are more productive,
efficient and effective team members but what makes them happy and healthy?
And, what business is it of business?

The Current State

We have the highest rates of marriage and divorce in the world. According to
the 2003 Census Bureau, annually, there are about 2.3 million marriages and
about 1.2 million divorces in the US. Think of all the people those divorces
affect. You know some of them, and you know how destructive the whole
divorce process can be.

Divorce effects the workforce -- a real concern for management. For example,
in the year following divorce, employees lose an average of over 168 hours
of work time ­ an equivalent of being fully absent four weeks in one
calendar year. In addition, before divorce, high marital stress is
associated with increases in work loss days ­ a person with marital distress
will lose more than 38 more days of work per year than someone with average
marital stress. Can employers prevent this sort of negative impact?

Until now, we all thought that marriages and relationships were the
responsibility of the couples themselves, clergy, coaches, and healthcare
professionals. However, with companies taking on more of the burden of
healthcare costs, plus the loss of productivity due to relationship stress,
business owners and corporate executives are beginning to take an active
part in promoting happy, healthy relationships and marriages for themselves
and their employees.

Investing in, and building direct and indirect relationship wellness
programs improve a company¹s overall financial health, while ignoring these
opportunities can decrease a company¹s productivity and profitability.

Workers in Unhappy Marriages

Workers in failing relationships often have serious health concerns ­ like
stress, anxiety, depression, and substance abuse. We don¹t need to tell you
that these directly effect healthcare costs and the bottom line.

Indirectly, relationship problems and divorce impact overall worker
productivity more frequently than death in the family, serious illness,
problems with children, substance abuse, and depression. In addition, an
inefficient and unprofitable work environment results from the many factors
experienced by employees in failing relationships: increased absenteeism and
presenteeism (being physically present but mentally absent), decreased
health, increased anxiety, and stress.

Presenteeism can affect an employee for days or longer causing decreased
productivity and profits. Lost productivity on the average is a half times
greater then that lost to absenteeism. The Harvard Business Review estimates
that presenteeism costs American Business $150 billion annually in direct
and indirect costs. (Dixon, Weighing the Costs of Presenteeism, The Chief
Executive, June 2005)

Workers in Happy Marriages

We can conjecture that employees who enjoy relational health at home, in
their marriage, and among their peers are more productive, more effective
team members and make better leaders. They are happier, healthier, more
confident, positive, and motivated.

Studies show that individuals in happy and successful relationships have
greater skills in areas such as communication, flexibility, closeness,
personality compatibility, and conflict resolution. The connection between
these skills and the workplace are obvious ­ and are worth cultivating.

According to a 2006 study, when dual-income couples are happy in marriage,
they are more loyal to their employers, thus turnover is lowered. The
cost-saving benefits of not having to train new employees leads to greater
profitability.

We found several studies that break down the returns on investment (ROI) in
employee wellness programs. While most companies report initial losses
because of having to find the ³right fit² for their employees, long-term
results show savings of $1.40 - $4.90 per every dollar spent, and an ROI of
up to $6.85 for every dollar invested in employee relationship wellness
programs.

When your company invests in such relationship wellness programs, like those
that ³I-TO-WE² Relationship Coaching offers, you will benefit by greater
loyalty of your employees, reduced turnover, more effective teamwork,
increased sales, productivity and positive morale of the workforce. Who
wouldn¹t want that?

Glenn Cohen
Certified Relationship Coach
Website: www.i-to-we-relationship-coaching.com


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11th Annual Smart Marriages Conference, Denver Adam's Mark Hotel,
June 28-July 1, 2007
Download a brochure: http://www.smartmarriages.com/Brochure.07.pdf


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Coalition for Marriage, Family and Couples Education, LLC (CMFCE)
Diane Sollee, Director
5310 Belt Rd NW, Washington, DC 20015-1961
http://www.smartmarriages.com
202-362-3332

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