ALPHABET supports employees by partnering Dialogue First in a nationwide evaluation of the impact of divorce and separation on employees starting today.

Parent BMW Group UK  has joined the Royal College of Nursing in supporting the evaluation which aims to help major employers come to grips with a risk to productivity still regarded as taboo by many HR and wellbeing professionals.

Launched on World Mental Health Day, the independent evaluation is being spearheaded by specialist provider Dialogue First which supports employees at a time of relationship breakdown.

In accordance with the evaluation, Dialogue First will make available a pioneering family law service called Lawyer-Supported Mediation, capable of supporting a divorcing employee and their separating partner. The University of Liverpool will be independently evaluating the first 50 Lawyer-Supported Mediation cases to further explore the impact on mental wellbeing and explore the connection with workplace productivity.

Jayne Carrington, co-founder of Dialogue First, said: “The data has long been saying that separation is second only to bereavement as a risk to mental ill-health.

It actually takes employees longer to recover emotionally from separation than it does the death of a loved one.

“Employers have been slow to realise EAP (employee assistance programmes) and other wellbeing services do not have this risk covered and that a more specialist response is needed.”

From today, the Royal College of Nursing and BMW Group UK – including its business mobility division Alphabet (GB) Ltd – will signpost impacted employees to Dialogue First for a free legal consultation with a family lawyer. The offer is also made available to the employee’s partner.

Dialogue First is able to uniquely support an employee and their family longer-term by leveraging its fully integrated UK network of family lawyers and family mediators.

Liz Laughton, head of human resources and people development at the Royal College of Nursing, said: “We’re committed to enhancing the wellbeing of our people and given the high risk of depression associated with divorce and separation, we recognise the value of enhancing the support available at what can be the most difficult of times.

“We want to know that our people – and their family – are being helped in a way that’s affordable and aligned with good mental health.”

Adam Lupton, human resources director at Alphabet (GB) Ltd, said: “Mental health at work is not something you can divide between the office and home. That’s a real challenge for employers so the evaluation is an excellent opportunity for us to continue our innovation and learning as an HR team.”

The evaluation is open to participation by major employers, trade unions and professional membership bodies across the UK. It builds on a previous 18-month pilot led by Dialogue First and six EAP providers that first unearthed a widespread lack of risk management around divorce & separation among employers.

The results of the current evaluation will be published by the University of Liverpool in the first half of 2019.