Addressing Domestic Violence in the Workplace

 

Don’t let the ‘domestic’ in domestic violence throw you off!

Domestic violence is MORE THAN a personal problem to be handled at home. It is MORE THAN a social services problem. Domestic violence is NOT one of those situations where you should turn away and mind your own business. Domestic violence is very much a societal problem and it impacts you whether you want to admit it or not.

While it is true that men can also be victimized by domestic abuse, statistics show a predominance of female victims with 25% of women reporting either current abuse or an abusive past relationship.  That’s 1 in 4, which means in the circle of your 4 closest girlfriends, one of you could be experiencing domestic violence.

Most employed individuals spend 6 – 8 hours each day at work. Statistics show that
74% of those females who report are victims of domestic violence work outside the home, and that 60% of the men who abuse them also work. It is therefore reasonable to suspect that domestic violence is very likely affecting YOUR place of work. What does this mean?

1) You may already know the victim on your job, and/or you might know the perpetrator.

2) If your co-worker tells you she’s afraid for her life, does that ever make you wonder “what if he comes here and hurts her one day?”

3) What if he DOES come to the job and hurt her, or hurt YOU or hurt others in the process?

4) What if your co-worker loses her job or quits as a result of domestic violence?

5) What about when you have to pick up the slack because your co-worker is often absent from work?

All of these describe ways YOU are impacted at work. Your safety and the safety of others in the workplace could be at risk.  You may worry about your colleague when she shows up to work with bruises or in tears. Your workload might increase because of frequent absences.  You may witness uncomfortable displays of control, humiliation and anger toward your co-worker by the abusive spouse.  The effects go on and on.

Defending Our Lives: Getting Away From Domestic Violence & Staying Safe

Your employer feels the effects of domestic violence too!  More health care claims mean that health coverage costs will go up.  This causes YOUR premiums to go up; YOUR managers are stressed because of low productivity, absenteeism or just not knowing how to deal with situations that involve domestic violence.  This causes them to expect more of you, give you more work and expect you to work longer hours!  Most importantly, due to low productivity, company profits could be down and your employer finds themselves having to make cuts which means you and others could lose your job, or that promotion and raise you’ve been working so hard for is nothing more than a dream! 

You would think with all those facts that companies are doing the best they can to minimize the effects of domestic violence in the workplace, right?  Wrong!  Only 13% of US employers believe that they should do ANYTHING to address domestic violence awareness in the workplace! That’s less than 2 in every 100, and there are more than 7.1 million private industry business establishments in the U.S. alone!

Workplace DVA Survey for Employers

Workplace DVA Survey for Employees

Workplace Violence Risk Assessment

If you believe your employer should change its workplace violence policies to include and address domestic violence policies, and offer training and other support for employees and victims, PLEASE SIGN OUR PETITION. We need 100,000 signatures to take to state and national entities to effect change in the workplace regarding domestic violence awareness… ’cause domestic violence awareness ain’t sexy but it sure is necessary!

The Tenderness Campaign compiled a music project in October 2011 entitled “Artists against Domestic Violence and Abuse” to raise funds to support domestic violence awareness projects. 

Download your FREE copy here http://payloadz.com/d1/freeproducts.asp?id=1515418 or get it for $5.00 and support the campaign’s efforts.  Thank you!