Domestic violence and abuse is a workplace issue. That might seem like an odd thing to say about something that most consider belonging in the realm of personal relationships. But the reality is that domestic abuse tactics and impacts extend far beyond the home, and reach into all aspects of victim-survivors’ lives. Issues of coercive control and economic abuse can be linked directly to work: most directly when the consequences of someone being pressured or coerced to give up employment by an abusive partner mean they lose their economic freedom.
Work and home collided for many in ways it had never done before during the pandemic, and the often-hidden reality of domestic abuse surfaced. It became visible in the way one woman told us her partner disconnected the wifi whenever he left the home, or how another’s ex-partner did not show up for childcare duties the morning she was due to travel to the office. In a third case, a woman had her work equipment routinely damaged by her husband.
Employee wellbeing initiatives are beginning to acknowledge that people’s lived experiences cannot be left outside the door just because they go to work. Sometimes, as with domestic abuse, it stalks them constantly. When a victims-survivor’s every moment is filled with the persistent pattern of controlling, coercive and threatening behaviours which characterise domestic abuse in its many forms, the impact on her work is stark: reduced productivity, increased absenteeism, and cessation of employment. And so many suffer in silence, feeling that they have no means to explain that they are being targeted and hurt by the person who is supposed to love and care for them.
Men can be subject to domestic abuse, as can people from LGBTQI+ communities. It is important to emphasise that the new legislation providing statutory domestic violence leave covers anyone in any intimate relationship. However, victim-survivors are predominantly heterosexual women, making this an issue which contributes significantly to wider gender inequality.
Domestic abuse limits women’s career progression, their broader social connection and their ability to access economic resources.
This is not something that only affects a small subset of the workforce. Recent research by the Vodafone Foundation found that in the year leading up to the study, 32 per cent of workers had been subjected to domestic abuse. Of those, 94 per cent reported a negative impact on their work. In 2021, Safe Ireland released a report estimating the cost of domestic violence to be €2.7 billion each year, with the largest proportion of that cost identified as lost income/productivity.
Statutory domestic violence leave, which offers five days’ paid leave per year to victim-survivors, comes into effect in Ireland today. It is most effectively implemented when introduced as part of a wider organisational response to domestic violence and abuse, best captured in a workplace domestic abuse policy. Women’s Aid has produced a template policy, support materials and services for employers introducing this into their workplaces, on behalf of the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth.
To be clear, addressing domestic violence as an employer is not about taking on the role of a counsellor or support worker. Rather, it is about creating a safe, supportive environment for victim-survivors to disclose what they are experiencing by reducing the stigma surrounding the issue and offering targeted support. There are simple ways employers can do this through training, awareness-raising, and policy development and integration.
Domestic abuse awareness training develops a clear understanding of the context, forms and impacts of abuse, and how these affect an employee’s journey. While not a requirement to implement this new legislation, training can assist in bedding in individual and organisational responses to this sensitive issue. It is most successful when taken up at every level of an organisation, starting with senior leaders, who set the tone for how the business engages with the issue.
It should then be made available to those in a position to facilitate or respond to disclosures from employees seeking support, such as human resources representatives and people managers. Survivors of abuse are most likely to disclose to someone they trust. Training should therefore extend to all staff. While it may not be feasible to enrol every employee in full training, awareness-raising initiatives in the form of guest speakers, making available promotional materials for specialist support services, can be useful. Any domestic abuse workplace policy should also be widely shared through internal promotion and information so that everyone understands it, and how to access or encourage a colleague to access it if needed.
Implementation of a domestic abuse policy for employees solidifies an organisation’s commitment by offering practical support to help victims-survivors stay safe in and around the workplace, maintain productivity, and remain in employment. This should incorporate the five days Statutory Domestic Violence Leave entitlement, the option of flexible work arrangements, temporary protection against dismissal, workplace risk assessments, and a referral system to specialist support services.
Women’s Aid has for several years offered an employer response to domestic abuse training package, a specialist service for employers seeking to address the issue. Employers and colleagues contribute significantly to a survivor’s journey to safety and wellbeing, even saving lives by identifying cases of violence, providing safety and solidarity, and connecting victim-survivors to specialist support services.
Many employers see the good business sense of supporting and maintaining valued staff when they may be going through a period of trauma which is not their fault. Encouragingly, women are also increasingly reporting to our frontline services that they are no longer suffering the loneliness, pressure, and anxiety of trying to maintain their work in the face of their partners coercion and control, because an informed employer now supports them.
We are striving towards an equal Ireland where there is zero tolerance to violence against women, and everyone has a role to play. The workplace has to be part of that vision.
Sara Benson is chief executive of Women’s Aid. A new website www.DVatWork.ie is available to support employers to implement statutory domestic violence leave