Latest data show that 1.7 million, 7% of women in the UK experienced domestic abuse in 2022. Or rather felt able to report it to the police. An increase from 1.3 million in 2020, post pandemic.
One in four women will experience domestic abuse in their lifetime.
This alarming percentage, recent high-profile and prolific perpetrators convicted or spared – Ryan Giggs, David Carrick, Mason Greenwood – are proof that abuse happens to anyone. Professionals, women with jobs and careers. Still few companies have a domestic abuse policy in place.
Health and safety, discrimination and accessibility are all critical policy areas that companies are required by law abide by. If up to 25% of the female population is at risk from this experience, surely that is a significant enough number of people to warrant equivalent policy and protection? Victims and survivors of abuse are ignored, stigmatised, and inadequately supported.
Economic abuse
HSBC’s recent advertising campaign alerted that 95% of domestic abuse victims experience economic abuse, an increasingly prevalent and now outlawed form of control. This ranges from interfering with or sabotaging the victim’s employment opportunities and career prospects, taking money or bank cards, ruining work clothes, purposefully making a person late, refusing to care for children to enable critical interview, meeting, social event attendance. Let alone causing injury that leads to sickness absence.
This can happen to anyone at any level or role within an organisation, from contracted staff, to managers, board members and CEOs.
Lost output
Even taking the commercial viewpoint of hindered output and productivity over the humanistic concern, research by KPMG for Vodafone points to £316 million of lost economic output from UK businesses each year because of absences related to domestic abuse.
The potential loss of earnings per female victim is £5,800 a year, and one in four survivors are left with debt of over £5,000. A brutal loss amidst an already crippling cost of living crisis.
Spotting the signs of domestic abuse can facilitate early help and the right intervention. This helps both the victim and saves employers’ time and costs associated with performance management or capability procedures. If a third of a person’s life is spent at work, inevitably personal matters will surface, and employers are in a unique position to provide support and understanding to domestic abuse victims.
Employers have a legal duty to take reasonable care of the health and safety of employees, stipulated in common law (the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974). Is that not enough to act? An employer that fosters a culture of openness, commits to protecting workers from all forms of abuse and seeks to support victims is also likely to be better placed to recruit and retain high-performing employees than an employer that doesn’t.
Spotting the symptoms
Victims may experience anxiety, depression, sleep deprivation or bear physical injury. They may be distracted, frequently interrupted, or seem unable to concentrate, display erratic patterns of behaviour or conversely be rigid with timekeeping. These factors could result in performance issues, absenteeism, presenteeism, reduced productivity and lost output. Too often these victims are penalised as the warning signs go unrecognised.
I continue to meet, and be in the most privileged position to work with and support survivors of domestic abuse who have sustained jobs and careers in the most challenging of circumstances.
Safe Spaces
Whatever our political leanings, this Government rightly initiated a consultation on workplace support for victims of domestic abuse in 2020 as lockdowns exacerbated the issue. The report was published and an open letter sent to employers in January 2021. This urged employers to “look at what more their organisation could do to help survivors of domestic abuse”.
Creating safe places of employment cannot be underestimated for the personal wellbeing and economic security of individuals. Ensuring leaders, managers, HR professionals understand their responsibilities and have appropriate policies publicly available. Supporting the most basic human expectation of being safe in your own environment.
Many employers have developed workplace policies and provided training for staff to understand and recognise the signs of domestic abuse. Increasing awareness and understanding of the dynamics of domestic abuse. Being able to spot the signs, believing and knowing how to respond to a disclosure from a staff member or colleague. Protecting and safeguarding that person from abusive partners and harassment in the workplace (surveys show 36-75% of cases involve this). Signposting to the appropriate specialist service. Providing the safe space even to make that call.
Too many still haven’t. Two women a week continue to die at the hands of a partner or ex-partner;. Surely that is motivation enough to play a part in reducing that risk?