Business-led charity Business in the Community (BITC) has launched guidance for supporting employees who may be affected by domestic abuse.
An estimated 1.9 million adults aged 16-59 experienced domestic abuse in the last year in the UK while two women each week and one man each month are killed in England and Wales by a current or former partner (http://bit.ly/2UiOqBF).
Yet only 5% of organisations have a specific policy or guidelines on domestic abuse, according to a report carried out by Durham University for the Vodafone Foundation in 2018.
The report, Domestic Violence and Abuse: Working together to transform responses in the workplace, revealed a disconnect between what is happening to employees and how employers respond. In medium and large organisations there was an average of less than one disclosure in the previous 12 months, which suggests not enough employees feel comfortable enough to raise the problem at work.
The BITC’s toolkit, sponsored by The Insurance Charities, sets out three key actions for employers: acknowledge, respond and refer, a process developed by Lloyds Banking Group as part of its approach to tackling domestic abuse.
Acknowledgement is about employers acknowledging their responsibility to address domestic abuse, enabling colleagues to openly discuss the topic and providing a supportive workplace. Responding is about reviewing policies and processes to ensure they are providing a supportive workplace and can respond to disclosure. Referring is about offering access to organisations that can help employees affected by the issue.
The toolkit outlines a number of potential red flags for domestic abuse. They include changes in the person’s working patterns such as frequent absence or reduced quality and quantity of work; changes in behaviour, for example, becoming very quiet, anxious, frightened, tearful, aggressive, distracted, or depressed, or being isolated from colleagues; physical indicators such as change in dress, for example, wearing clothes which may be used to hide injuries.
If there are suspicions, helpful questions and prompts can include: ‘Is everything all right at home?’ and: ‘You don’t have to tell me anything, but please know that I would like to support you if and when you feel ready.’
- Toolkit: http://bit.ly/2APrG30