Skip to main content

Thinking outside the (family home) box: domestic violence as a workplace issue

Sex Discrimination

Thinking outside the (family home) box: domestic violence as a workplace issue

NEEOPA (NSW EEO Practitioners’ Association) Meeting

Elizabeth Broderick


Sex Discrimination Commissioner

Sydney

23 October 2012


It is always a pleasure to speak with NEEOPA practitioners. And I am
especially grateful for the opportunity to speak with you about domestic and
family violence and the steps that businesses can take to address this important
workplace issue.

Before I begin, though, let me acknowledge the Gadigal people of the Eora
nation on whose land we now gather. I pay my respects to your elders, past and
present, and all the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men and women who
work tirelessly to end violence against women.

During my term as Sex Discrimination Commissioner, I have had the distinct
privilege of working side-by-side some of Australia’s most innovative and
dynamic business leaders, including many of you here today.

I know from these experiences that Australian workplaces have always been
good at engaging with issues that affect them and their employees – issues
in the market and in the workforce – issues that may be holding them back
or preventing them from achieving business goals.

Australian workplaces approach these issues with pragmatism and common sense,
acknowledging, when they do, that what occurs outside the workplace can also
have an impact on what happens within it. They know that support for employees
ultimately benefits organisations as a whole. And, so, they show leadership on
issues ranging from sexual harassment to depression to racism and beyond.

Yet, one issue that Australian workplaces have been slow to address is
domestic violence.

As I travel around Australia, I often ask people to name countries where they
consider domestic violence to be a problem. More often than not, they reel off
a list of countries from overseas and, in doing so, fail to recognise the high
rates of domestic violence in their own country. Yet, domestic and family
violence is widespread in Australia.

What does domestic violence look like?

Some of you may know of Catherine Smith – her story was told by
Australian Story several months ago. She experienced more than three decades of
violence and abuse at the hands of her former husband.

As is so often the case, the violence started out as an isolated incident,
Catherine explained that she was pregnant and “he just pushed me ... sort
of a bit of a punch in the back and knocked me to the ground. I never told
anyone because I didn’t want anyone to think that there was a problem with
my marriage”. As time went by, however, the violence escalated.

Catherine sought assistance from police on a number of occasions. Yet, at
the time, her former husband was never charged.

In the absence of assistance from local authorities, Catherine attempted to
take matters into her own hands. She fled the family home and sought refuge for
her and her children in domestic violence shelters.

However, Catherine’s former husband always found them.
Catherine’s daughter, Vickie, recalled how he would stalk local refuges to
find her mother. “He was obsessive. He had to find her. He had to have
her. He had to control her. He had to own her”, she
said.[1]

When he did find them, he would force Catherine and their children to return
home with him. Catherine has explained that people often ask her why she
didn’t leave and why she kept going back. She tells them that
“[i]t’s not a simple thing when someone’s a control freak, a
psychopath. He always found me any time I got away, and it made it far
worse.”[2]

I am pleased to be able to say that Catherine did eventually succeed in
leaving her former husband but only once her adult children had left home. The
violence did not end there, however, with Catherine and her children remaining
in fear for their lives as they were stalked, threatened and, in the case of one
son, kidnapped at gun point.

Finally, in July this year – after more than three decades of violence
and abuse – Catherine’s former husband was found guilty on 17
charges, including multiple counts of attempted murder, rape and assault and
sentenced to 17 years imprisonment.

After the verdict was handed down, Catherine said:

It’s really hard to believe that I’m actually free. I
don’t have to run and hide anymore. There are so many things I’ve
wanted to do for so long and now I can finally do them. The first thing I want
to do is get rid of the cameras, open my curtains, get a dog – a little
pup. And I’d like to start painting again. And I’d love to get a
pottery wheel and put it on my back veranda and pot to my heart’s content.
To me it’s like the end of our sentence and the start of
his.[3]

At periods over her life Catherine was in paid work but as you might imagine
trying to stay in paid work was very difficult.

It’s not that the business leaders don’t think domestic violence
is an important issue – it’s that many of them don’t always
think of domestic violence as a workplace issue.

So, I want to talk today about why domestic violence is a
workplace issue and why businesses need to address this issue with the same
vigour and leadership that they have shown in relation to other issues that
affect the workplace.

I also want to talk about how workplaces can engage with
domestic violence.

  • What concrete and practical steps can workplaces take if they know or
    suspect that an employee is experiencing or has recently experienced domestic
    violence?
  • And what can workplaces do if they know or suspect that an employee is a
    perpetrator of domestic violence?

Because efforts to frame domestic
violence as a workplace issue are relatively recent, we have only begun to
explore the various ways that workplaces can address this issue.

Domestic violence as a workplace issue

Why should Australian workplaces care about domestic violence? Why should we
be trying to improve awareness of domestic violence in workplaces?

The first reason is that a significant number of individuals affected
by domestic violence are in paid employment. And as you all know, what affects
employees affects employers.

It is often assumed that domestic and family violence and the workplace are
mutually exclusive; that one has nothing to do with the other. It is thought
that work is something that happens between the hours of 9am and 5pm, or
thereabouts, and domestic and family violence occur outside those hours. –
that a women’s entry into one world signals her safety in the other.
Surely, we might say, a colleague or employee could not be experiencing violence
in her home without us realising it.

However, it is a little known fact that almost two-thirds of women affected
by domestic violence in this country are in some form of paid
employment.[4]

Based on the ABS’s estimates, this equates to around 800,000 women in
the workforce, who are experiencing domestic violence that’s enough women
to fill the Telstra Stadium, at Homebush almost ten times over.
Something to think about the next time you’re watching an NRL, AFL or
union match.

And those women are spread across different industries, different employers,
and small, medium and large enterprises.

Add to this figure the number of male victims and survivors of domestic
violence, the many individuals who do not report domestic violence and the
perpetrators of violence, who are also in paid employment.

That so many individuals affected by domestic violence are in paid employment
means that domestic violence is therefore very much a concern for business.
Simply put, it means that domestic violence is not something that can be neatly
compartmentalised into what happens after the hours of 9 to 5.

The second reason workplaces should care about domestic violence is
that domestic violence can affect a victim’s or survivor’s
participation in the workforce, including their ability to find work and to
attend or stay at work, as well as their performance and productivity while at
work.[5]

The reasons for this are varied but may include:

  • the physical and psychological harm of violence;
  • the need to attend medical or legal appointments, seek safer accommodation
    or care for themselves or affected children;
  • a disrupted history of work; and
  • behaviour by the perpetrator that seeks to prevent a victim leaving their
    sphere of control.

Take a minute to think about how your
participation and performance in the workforce might be affected if you were a
victim of domestic violence, or even a friend, colleague or manager of a
survivor.

Would you turn up to work if you had a black eye or other visible bruising?
What if your abusive partner hid your work clothes in an effort to stop you
going to work, or promised to care for your children but turned up drunk?

How would you explain to your manager that you needed time off work to attend
legal proceedings, move into a domestic violence shelter, or see a doctor? What
would you say if you had already used up your leave allowance?

Would you tell your manager that the recent drop in your attendance,
performance and/or productivity is linked to domestic or family violence or
would you try to cover it up, explaining it away with an excuse of some
kind?

These are just some of the issues facing victims and survivors of violence,
in addition to the violence itself.

The third reason workplaces should care about domestic violence is
that domestic violence can occur in the workplace and during business hours.

Perpetrators of domestic violence regularly use the workplace as a further
means of exercising power and control over their victims – sometimes
mis-using their own employers’ resources to pursue their abusive
objectives and causing disruption and trauma to colleagues.

Of the respondents to the 2011 National Domestic Violence and Workplace
Survey who reported experiencing violence, 19% said that the violence had
continued in the workplace, including through abusive phone calls and emails and
the perpetrator presenting at the workplace of the
victim.[6]

This means that, rather than being a respite from domestic violence, work can
sometimes be a site of such violence – the autonomy that paid employment
offers women posing a threat to an abuser’s control.

And finally, perpetrators can display violent behaviours, making
threats and displaying aggressive behaviour toward their own work colleagues and
I’ll talk a little more about that shortly.

There can be little doubt that domestic violence affects Australian
workplaces, regardless of whether it occurs within or outside the four walls of
the family home.

Cost to Business

And most importantly, all of this has a cost to business. Access Economics
has estimated that the production-related costs of domestic violence will cost
$609 million by 2021-2022 unless effective action is taken to address it, with
employers expected to bear 39% of those
costs.[7]

Less obvious, though, is the fact that the failure by workplaces to
acknowledge or address domestic violence can compound the harms of such
violence.

Struggling to maintain stable hours in the face of a completely unpredictable
partner, a woman experiencing domestic violence can be trapped in a vicious
cycle of fear – fear of the way in which the violence may jeopardise her
credibility or even her job; of the fact that losing her job will make an
already impossible situation worse.

Given that poverty – or fear of poverty – is a major reason for
victims and survivors remaining in violent or abusive relationships, the support
and security that a woman receives from an employer can often make the
difference. As one survivor of domestic violence explains:

I’ve had to take large amounts of sick leave and, when that ran out,
annual leave to deal with the effects of an abusive partner... The fear of
losing my job made dealing with the emotional and legal issues even more
stressful ... It would have been a huge help if I could have been upfront about
what was going on...[8]

Workplaces can lead change

So what does all this mean for Australian workplaces?

In the conversations I have had with business about domestic violence, I hear
that workplaces are by and large willing and keen to take steps to address
domestic violence, but they are not sure what they should do about it.

I have heard from some business leaders that they have suspected that a
colleague or employee might be experiencing domestic violence but they are
concerned that approaching them about the situation may constitute a breach of
their privacy. I have also heard business leaders say that they just
don’t know where to refer victims and survivors or that they don’t
have the resources or training to know how to advise a colleague on such a
personal and sensitive issue.

There are a number of concrete and practical steps workplaces can take if
they know or suspect that an employee is experiencing or has recently
experienced domestic violence or is perpetrating domestic violence.

(1) Identifying domestic violence as a workplace issue

An important first step is for workplaces to begin a conversation about
domestic violence.

This is particularly important given that research suggests that many
individuals do not disclose their violent domestic or family situation in the
workplace for fear of the repercussions, such as dismissal or discrimination.
According to the 2011 National Domestic Violence and the Workplace Survey, less
than half (48%) of respondents who had experienced domestic violence disclosed
it to a manager or supervisor.[9]

In cases of non-disclosure, the implications of domestic and family violence
remain largely hidden and may contribute to discriminatory treatment by an
employer because of its lack of understanding about the causes of an apparent
decline in an employee’s attendance or performance.

By starting a conversation about domestic violence, employers can send a
clear message to their employees that:

  • domestic violence is an issue that affects the workplace;
  • those experiencing it are not alone;
  • they should feel confident that disclosing a violent situation will not
    result in adverse consequences for them or their employment;
  • bystanders should stand up against violence in the workplace;
  • their employer will support them and work with them to find solutions to
    their situation, for example by developing a safety plan; and
  • violent behaviour and using employer resources to perpetrate violence in
    another workplace is not tolerated.

Naming domestic violence and
discussing its impact on the lives of victims and survivors (for example, in
relation to their working lives) will help to empower victims and survivors to
take the necessary steps to ensure their safety and minimise disruption to the
workplace.

On the other hand, ignoring domestic violence and its impact on the workplace
can discourage victims and survivors from openly discussing their situation with
their employer or seeking help. It may even mean that she feels she has no
option but to resign.

(2) Providing a supportive environment

Another step employers can take is to provide a supportive environment for
employees experiencing domestic violence. There are a number of different ways
employers can do this.

A growing number of workplaces are developing policies and processes to
support victims and survivors of domestic violence:

  • Some workplaces have included an entitlement to domestic violence leave in
    their enterprise
    agreements
    . For example, the University of New South Wales expressly
    acknowledges in its enterprise agreement that ‘both female and male
    employees sometimes experience situations of violence or abuse in their personal
    life that may affect attendance or performance at work’. It further
    acknowledges that University employees experiencing domestic violence may need
    to access a broad range of support and makes provisions for access to certain
    types of leave, flexible work arrangements and the ability to change one’s
    work location, telephone number and email address.
  • Others workplaces offer flexible work arrangements, special leave, the
    ability to change extension numbers or leave a bag of belongings in a safe
    place, the possibility of working in another office, and domestic violence
    support information through workplace training and
    induction.

Workplaces can take the simple step of hanging posters
around the workplace to raise awareness about domestic violence. Examples
poster slogans include:

Workplaces can create employee factsheets to be
included in induction and training materials for new employees and that are
available from human resources. Example topics to address include:

Workplaces can assist employees experiencing DV to
develop a safety plan.[10] There
are two types of safety plans that workplaces should be aware of:

  • workplace safety plan: identify actions to help keep the workplace
    and employees safe from threats of domestic violence. E.g., making emergency
    phone numbers easily accessible, making sure employees know how to report
    concerns or threats:
  • personal safety plan: identify actions to keep a specific employee
    who is experiencing domestic violence safe while at work. E.g., providing
    perpetrator’s photo or description to reception or security, using caller
    ID on work phones, obtaining an emergency contact number in case the employee is
    late to or absent from work.

Workplaces can get involved with the White
Ribbon Workplace Accreditation Pilot Project
, which seeks to recognise and
accredit workplaces that are taking active and effective steps to stop violence
against women. The pilot aims to:

  • increase the knowledge and skills of staff and managers to address issues of
    men’s violence against women in the workplace;
  • enhance the capacity of workplaces to respond to the issue of men’s
    violence against women;
  • accredit workplaces taking active and effective steps to stop men’s
    violence against women; and
  • change the attitudes and behaviours that allow men’s violence against
    women to occur

Workplaces that are seeking guidance in this area can
consult employer resources that have been developed by experts on domestic
violence.

(3) Recognising and addressing abusive behaviour

As I mentioned earlier, violence often spills over from the home into the
workplace. Perpetrators of domestic violence may also bully or be aggressive
towards colleagues, though this is not always the case.

Employers can play a vital role in recognising this behaviour and
facilitating crucial change.

In fact, a Four Corners episode called ‘Changing Men’
documented the journey of three men as they undertook a program to address their
violent behaviour.[11]

For two of them, the event triggering their inclusion in the program was not
that they were violent at home, though this was certainly the case, but that
their aggression was spilling over into the workplace. Their employers told
these men that if their behaviour towards their co-workers did not change, they
would be fired.

Such leadership would not only have a positive impact on the workplace but
also have likely flow on effects in the home. This is, of course, in addition
to any steps that need to occur within the context of legal proceedings.

(4) Providing education and training on domestic violence

Finally, employers can play a broader educative role, increasing their own
and their employees’ understanding about domestic violence.

Education and training that identifies domestic violence as a workplace issue
and equips workplaces to respond effectively can offer pathways out of violence
for those experiencing it.

Last year, I made on this subject in Sydney. The next day I had a call from
a woman I had known for many years who is a senior manager for a large bank.

She said that, following my speech, she had called her staff together and
told them that she wanted to talk about domestic violence, the prevalence data
and what it means for business.

She started, however, by recounting her own story – a story she’d
never told before. The story of growing up in a violent household, of wiping the
blood off her mother’s face, or taking her to hospital – of the
shame and silence. She concluded by asking her staff to tell this story to
everybody in the bank, hoping that it would make it easier for others to tell
theirs.

Such a simple and courageous step may well have made the difference to an
employee anxious about explaining an absence, seeking safe options at work or
even contemplating seeking help to leave a relationship.

My question to you is what difference can you make to the people in
your organisation? What conversations can you have? What steps can you take
not only to mitigate the effects that domestic violence may be having in your
workplace, but also on individual lives? How can you help your workplace take a
stand against domestic violence?

The responsibility is ours to share. It is not a simple task, but it is one
of the most worthwhile I can think of. Talking about it as we are today is a
crucial first step – finding a language of compassion and common sense
that makes the discussion easier for others. I invite you, then, to continue the
conversation – to support your organisation in the campaign against
domestic violence – for your workplace, for women, and for all
Australians.

Thank you.


[1] Vickie Smith, “The
Courage of Her Convictions”, Australian Story, 19 September 2011
(transcript). At: http://www.abc.net.au/austory/content/2011/s3321209.htm (viewed 12 October 2011).

[2] Catherine Smith, above.

[3] Above.

[4] Australian Bureau of
Statistics, Personal Safety, Australia, 2005 (Reissue), Cat. No. 4906.0,
35. At: www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Lookup/4906.0Main+Features12005%20(Reissue)?OpenDocument (viewed 12 October 2011).

[5] See generally Ludo McFerran, Safe at Home, Safe at Work? National Domestic Violence and the Workplace
Survey
(Centre for Gender Related Violence Studies and Micromex Research,
2011), 17. At http://www.adfvc.unsw.edu.au/PDF%20files/Domestic_violence_and_work_survey_report_2011.pdf (viewed
11 October 2012).

[6] McFerran,
note 2, 10.

[7] National Council to Reduce
Violence against Women and their Children, The Cost of Violence Against Women
and Their Children
(2009), 45-46.

[8] Anonymous survivor of family
violence, cited in Australian Services Union, Family Violence is a Workplace
Issue
(2011), 13

[9] McFerran, note 2, 13.

[10] WorkSafe BC, Addressing
Domestic Violence in the Workplace: A Handbook for Employers
(2012), 10-13.
At http://www2.worksafebc.com/pdfs/Violence/AddressingDomesticViolenceOutsideBC.pdf (viewed
11 October 2012).

[11] Changing Men, Four
Corners
, Reporter Janine Cohen, Broadcast 25/02/2008. At: http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/content/2008/s2168683.htm (viewed 11 October 2012).