Millions across the country are affected by it, but few talk about it. According to the U. S. Department of Justice and the Centers for Disease Control, one in four women will experience domestic violence during their lifetime. Domestic violence is the major cause of injury to women, resulting in more injuries to women than auto accidents, muggings, and rapes combined. More than 1 million women seek assistance for injuries caused by battering each year. (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services)
Regardless of age, race, ethnicity, mental or physical ability, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, or religious background, victims of domestic violence comes from all walks of life, and most often they are women. Domestic violence, which is physical, psychological, and financial abuse, doesn’t just happen behind closed doors in American families. It often carries over into the workplace, and when the effects of domestic violence spills over into the work environment, the females who are being abused aren’t the only ones who are left devastated. Domestic violence affects management and co-workers in many ways. In fact, many batterers have been known to come to the workplace to do bodily harm to the victim and anyone else who may happen to be unfortunate to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The U.S. Department of Justice has stated that approximately 20,000 U.S. workers are threatened or attacked in the workplace every year by partners or spouses. And the Workplace Violence Institute has done extensive research leading to the conclusion that homicide by intimate partners is the leading cause of workplace deaths among female employees.
Management in many companies know the importance of implementing a wellness and fitness program for their employees for health reasons, to improve morale, to lessen injuries and illnesses, and to heighten productivity, but the same can’t be said for addressing domestic violence, which affects millions of females in the workforce in the United States. Nearly two in three corporate executives (63 percent) say that domestic violence is a major problem in our society and 55 percent agree that this problem is harmful and causes lower productivity in their companies. Regardless of what they know to be true, most companies still don’t have a program in place to address the needs of those suffering from the affects of domestic violence, which includes the victims and the other employees.
“It is an employer’s responsibility to provide a safe working environment for all employees, and not addressing domestic violence in the workplace can be a failure to do that,” says Bill McComb, Chief Executive Officer, Liz Claiborne Inc. “Companies need to create a culture of openness and transparency and this is something we, at Liz Claiborne Inc., work at every day.”
“CEOs can not afford to ignore the emotional, financial, and legal ramifications of domestic violence in the workplace. They need to recognize it affects not only for their employees well-being, but also their company’s bottom line,” states Scott Millstein, Interim Chief Executive Officer, Safe Horizon in New York.
FACTS:
• Intimate partner violence victims lose nearly 8 million days of paid work each year—the equivalent of more than 32,000 full-time jobs and nearly 5.6 million days of household productivity.
• Government agencies lose between $3 and $5 billion annually for medical costs alone. In addition, employers forfeit another $100 million for lost wages and lost work associated with domestic violence in the workplace.
• 94 percent of corporate security directors rank domestic violence as a high security risk.
• 78 percent of Human Resource Directors identify domestic violence as a substantial employee problem.
The domestic violence in the workplace information presented by the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence states that the best way employers can assist employees of domestic violence is through education and awareness. Once businesses have placed a domestic violence policy in place, which includes threats, stalking, and harassment, as well as acts of violence, they must reinforce the policy. Not only must employers learn to recognize when an employee is being abused, they must also recognize if an employee is an abuser, and how they can help the abused or the abuser.
