Current practice
There is recognition that many employers have Domestic Violence policies, unfortunately many do not. The information below identifies issues for employers and organisations to consider.
Recent good practice domestic violence audits have indicated:
- Agencies and companies are not always aware of how many of their staff are affected by domestic violence in the workplace, or
- How many clients presenting to their services, have experienced domestic violence.
Key reasons highlighted for this are:
Organisational strategic planning, procedures and guidance
Domestic violence work is rarely integrated into an organisation’s strategic and operational planning processes.
There are limited or no organisational protocols in place to guide and support staff working with domestic violence cases.
Regular reviews and evaluations of domestic violence practice are not undertaken.
There is a lack of awareness in Human Resource and Personnel departments of agencies, companies and organisations, in relation to domestic violence in the workplace.
The lack of organisational access to quantitative and qualitative data severely limits an agency or company’s ability to develop effective strategies for tackling domestic violence within the workplace and/or service provision for clients.
Self assess your workplace practice – undertake our short checklist
Staff training
Lack of access to training on domestic violence is commonplace at both management and operational level.
Staff are not equipped to identify clients that may be at risk of, or who are experiencing the effects of domestic violence
Staff are not equipped to provide an effective response to clients who disclose domestic violence
Prevention
Much of the work on domestic violence is re-active rather than pro-active limiting the organisation’s capacity to work in a preventative way.
Lack of acknowledgement by management , that “it could happen here’’ within the workplace increases the safety risks to staff experiencing domestic violence
An effective response to domestic violence starts with all employers across the public, business, voluntary and community sectors recognising that
- Domestic violence does affect employees within the work place
- Clients accessing services for help and support require an informed and skilled response
Every minute in the UK, the Police receive a call from the public for assistance for domestic violence. This leads to police receiving an estimated 1,300 calls each day or over 570,000 each year. (Stanko, 2000).