Week Without Violence 2004

FAMILY VIOLENCE AS A WORKPLACE ISSUE

The focus of the 2004 Week Without Violence for the Western and Northern Region Family Violence Prevention Network was family violence as a workplace issue.

A forum to highlight how family violence affects the workplace was organised by the Network and Victorian Community Council Against Violence on 26 October 2004. Managers and CEO’s of community based organizations, Women’s Health Services, Department of Human Services, Local Councils, housing and health services and Neighbourhood houses from the North and Western regions were invited.

During the week prior to the forum, Access Economics released the findings of a study, which estimated 408,100 people, or 2% of the population, experienced some sort of domestic violence in 2002-03. An estimated 1.7 million people had experienced it at some time in their lives. Access Ecomomics estimated that the cost of family violence to Australia is more than $8 billion a year, with victims experiencing pain, suffering, premature death, health problems and lower living standards”.

A study in 2000 commissioned by the Brisbane City Council (Henderson, 2000) focused specifically on the impact of domestic violence on business and estimated that the cost of domestic violence to businesses and corporations is over $1.5 billion annually. The direct costs to employers include absenteeism, staff turnover and employer liability Domestic violence in the workplace can encompass a range of behaviours both on and off the work site, and includes all behaviours which interfere with a person’s ability to safely and securely perform their duties at work.

Given these statistics, the Family Violence Networkers believe that it is important for employers and CEOs to be educated about the impact of family violence and to be able to recognize when employees may be the victims or perpetrators of domestic violence. Similarly employers and CEOs are best placed to implement workplace policies that allow for an appropriate response.

Representatives from Equal Opportunity Commission, Victoria, the Victorian Community Council Against Violence, and Trades Hall Council spoke at the forum. Topics covered included the employer’s responsibility to provide a safe workplace, how to recognize victims and perpetrators in the workplace, and strategies to raise awareness of the issue of domestic violence and communicate that violence will not be tolerated. The speakers also facilitated small group discussion on several case scenarios with feedback provided to the larger group.

The forum ended with participants telling the larger group what they planned to do in their workplaces as a result of attending the forum. As part of the evaluation all participants will be contacted in a few months to ascertain what they have been able to implement in their workplace.

A component of the awareness-raising role the Family Violence Prevention Networkers will be to organise further forums. “Domestic violence was once considered to be a private family problem hiding behind ‘closed doors’ in people’s homes where victims often suffered in silence. However these same victims are employed in our workplaces; they are our co-workers and our employees”. (PADV, 2004) It is only by continually raising the issue that we can appropriately recognize and respond to victims and perpetrators, in the hope that the ultimate cost of domestic violence and the impact on people’s quality of lives can be reduced.

References

Henderson, M., 2000, Impacts and Costs of Domestic Violence on the Australian Business/Corporate Sector, Brisbane, Lord Mayor’s Women’s Advisory Committee, Brisbane City Council.

Office of the Status of Women, Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, 2004, Domestic Violence: A Workplace Handbook, Partnerships Against Domestic Violence, Commonwealth of Australia.

FIND OUT MORE about the Western Region Family Violence Network.

Women's Health West

Week Without Violence 2004

FAMILY VIOLENCE AS A WORKPLACE ISSUE

References