Business expert says bosses should give staff going through a marriage breakup ... trends now
A new scheme to give parents going through divorce time off work divided opinion today, with one business consultant arguing it's actually be better to give employees splitting with their partners more work to distract them.
The initiative, created by the Positive Parenting Alliance and backed by Tesco, Asda and Natwest, would change HR policies to state that separation akin to a family death or illness - allowing staff to access leave or flexible working arrangements.
In a debate today on Good Morning Britain, Tina Knight revealed she would 'pile work' on staff going through divorces, saying: 'I've had many employees go through divorces and worse. And sitting at home moping doesn't help.'
But business owner and divorcee Marvyn Harrison disagreed, arguing that divorce was a form of bereavement and giving staff time to manage the 'laborious' process of separation would ultimately make them more productive in the long run.'
In a debate today on Good Morning Britain, business consultant Tina Knight said: 'I've had many employees go through divorces and worse. And sitting at home moping doesn't help'
'It's not just a divorce, there's the macro effects on your family, you lose friends and so many things change,' he said. 'The actual process of dissolving your marriage is really laborious, takes up a lot of time and is emotionally very heavy.
'As a consultant myself for businesses, we always say how can we help the people in our teams. We're a community, so if you need something - how can we put that into our policies and procedures so it's automated?'
'When there are 110,000 divorces every year - that's 220,000 people going through it every single year. Creating provisions is a really healthy thing to be doing rather than waiting for it to come, seeing their performance decline and then having to react.'
Mr Harrison said he offered staff going through a divorce four half days off work, adding that these kinds of benefits would help them 'work better and stay longer'.
But Ms Knight, who was presented with the Women in Business Award by Margaret Thatcher in 1988, branded the
