By Catherine Marchant, CEO, Impact Family Services
In boardrooms across the country, leaders are talking about the future of work-AI readiness, hybrid strategies, the skills gap…
Yet one emerging issue rarely makes the agenda, despite its profound implications for workplace culture, productivity and wellbeing: the relationship experiences of today’s teenagers.
At first glance, teen relationships may seem far removed from talent pipelines or organisational health. But as the CEO of a domestic abuse charity, I see firsthand how early patterns of behaviour-both healthy and harmful-shape the adults young people become. And those adults eventually become our employees, managers and leaders.
Today’s teenagers are navigating relationship landscapes more complex than any generation before them. Technology has blurred boundaries, amplified pressures and created new forms of control. Behaviours such as constant digital surveillance, pressured sexting, and coercive control via social media-once thought niche-are now alarmingly common. Many young people struggle to distinguish between intensity and intimacy, between persistence and pressure, between love and manipulation.
Why does this matter to employers? Because relationship norms formed in adolescence do not simply vanish at the office door. They influence how people handle conflict, manage boundaries, exercise power, and communicate under stress. They shape expectations of respect, autonomy and emotional safety.
If coercive behaviours are normalised at 16, they can reappear at 26-manifesting as bullying, harassment, micromanagement or an inability to build trust within teams. And for those who experience harm in youth, the impacts often include diminished confidence, difficulty concentrating, absenteeism, or fear of authority-factors that directly affect workplace participation and progression.
Conversely, young people who learn early how to set boundaries, navigate consent, challenge disrespect and practise empathetic communication carry those skills into every environment they enter-including work. They become the colleagues who defuse tension, the managers who lead with fairness, and the leaders who understand the importance of psychological safety.
Employers therefore have a significant stake in the relationship education young people receive today. But they also have a role to play themselves. Many of the young people entering the workforce in the next decade will turn to their workplace-not their families-for support when they encounter controlling or abusive behaviour in their personal lives. Employers who are unprepared risk failing those individuals at critical moments.
So what can organisations do now?
First, recognise that domestic abuse is a workplace issue. It affects absenteeism, performance and retention, and can escalate inside the workplace if a perpetrator targets their partner during working hours.
Second, invest in training. Equip managers with the confidence to recognise signs of distress, respond safely and signpost support without overstepping boundaries.
Third, cultivate cultures where respect is modelled consistently-where power is exercised responsibly, boundaries are honoured, and employees feel safe raising concerns.
Finally, partner with experts. Charities like ours are ready to help employers understand the evolving realities of young people’s relationships and what those realities mean for the future of work.
Tomorrow’s workforce is already forming its expectations about wellbeing, inclusion and respect. Employers who pay attention now will not only protect their people-they will future?proof their organisations.
impactfs.co.uk