Work And Marriage

3 Pages 809 Words

Dee Mathis – Research Paper

Working and Marriage

Jobs can and do effect marriages and can cause marital breakups. In the military, have dual careers have been know to cause breakups. Not just in the marriage, but also in the family. There is probably more infidelity going on the military than in civilian life. Because of this it caused work/life problems that went unnoticed by the military. Separation causes relationship stress, which result in job stress. Having two individuals focusing on their careers tends to build gaps in the relationship. I feel that it takes a strong relationship to with stand the dealing of separation, overtime at the job and lack of time spent at home. Today job demands are so great that they becoming the cause of breaking down the very foundations that may have taken years and years to build. According to Workforce Magazine, in 1994, 2.3 million couples were married. That same year, 1.2million couples officially agreed their marriages couldn’t be saved, (Workforce Dec 2001). HR professionals should care about their employee’s personal lives. Not to the extent that they are always butting in their businesses, but enough to be concerned as to what could effect their job performance. I agree that the quality of an individual’s work life can be the deciding factor as to weather one has a good relationship or bad. Job strain can harm relationships and relationship strain can and will hinder job productivity. If two individuals are having relationship strain, they tend to bring their personal feeling on the job. In most companies the HR professionals have left the discussion balancing the work and family out of the interviewing processes i.e. childcare and elder care. However, companies like Johnson & Johnson, Hewlett Packard and CIGNA who are known for having family-friendly policies, and no programs directly aimed at helping employees develop and maintain positive relationships with th...