Domestic violence concerns employers as it affects employee health and safety and undercuts company productivity. Employers hesitate to address domestic violence in the workplace due to uncertainty about proper preventive roles, concerns about employee privacy, and the need for guidance through an EAP. Domestic abuse affects one’s home life and workplace. Statistics show that 74% of battered employees were harassed while at work. The abuse caused 56% of abused employees to be late five or more times a month, 28% to leave work early, and 54% to miss three or more full days of work per month. (CDC 2003) Studies have found that domestic abuse victims experience diminished work performance and require more time off than employees who are not abused. …show more content…
Some factors include employer cost: security, medical/insurance policy premium cost; while other factors include ethical considerations, legal repercussions, and privacy issues. Each of these factors must be carefully taken into consideration by the employer. Confidentiality and invasion of an employee’s privacy are foremost in surveyed employer’s minds. (CDC 2003) Many employers view domestic violence as a personal and private issue in which the employer should not get involved. On the other hand they also feel that the safety of their employee is top priority. Finding ways to balance this issue can be tricky. Creating policies that establish guidelines and procedures could save the company from lawsuits. Policies that are put in place must be complete and detailed to ensure that there is no room for “misinterpretation or blame.” (CDC 2003) Inadequate domestic violence policies can cost employers lots of money. Employers also have to be aware of the potential for acts of abuse to occur at the …show more content…
For employees, EAPs are a set of work-based professional services which assist individual employees to address and resolve health, family, substance abuse, or emotional concerns, and thereby also assist workplaces to address productivity and performance issues. (Labor 2006) This includes domestic abuse issues. Many EAPs already offer counseling and referrals to employees and family members dealing with domestic and sexual violence as part of a service package of health and wellness. For employers, EAPs can be a valuable resource for organizations seeking to address the workplace impact of domestic and sexual violence in two ways: responding to individual employees with confidential and professional assistance; and assisting organizations at the strategic level to create a comprehensive prevention and response program. Many EAPs are already tasked with conducting programs in workplaces to raise employees’ awareness of domestic and sexual violence, and of available assistance and resources. (Workplace 2013) EAPs can provide posters or information sheets for employers to display in public areas like break rooms and restrooms about services. EAPs can also help employers hold programs, in conjunction with other health and wellness programs already established, or implement safety training, that raises awareness and teach how to assist a co-worker who might be affected by violence. (Workplace
Domestic violence can also be costly to employers, “employers can be found liable for negligence if they do not take proactive steps to protect the victim of domestic violence as well as the co-workers who are endangered if the perpetrator comes to the worksite” (the-ripple-effect.info).... ... middle of paper ... ... Child Welfare Information Gateway -.
Although domestic violence is a significant societal problem, which continues to receive public and private sector attention, intervention and treatment programs have proven inconsistent in their success. Statistics by various organization show that many offenders continue to abuse their victims. Approximately 32% of battered women are victimized again, 47% of men who abuse their wives do so at least three times per year (MCFBW). There are many varying fact...
This has become a serious concern and companies now have to take a stand to protect their employees as well as the organization. Workplace violence can have a damaging effect on a company. A company can suffer serious implications if they don’t introduce policies in the workplace that protect employees from becoming a target. Families affected can sue a company for not having proper procedures in place to protect their loved ones. Millions are paid out every year to compensate for the damages incurred.
Domestic Violence is a widely recognized issue here in the United States. Though many people are familiar with domestic violence, there are still many facts that people do not understand. Abuse is not just physical, it is mental, emotional, verbal, sexual and financial. Many victims of physical abuse are also fall victim to these abuse tactics as well. An abusive partner often uses verbal, mental, emotional, and financial abuse to break their partner so to speak. It is through this type of abuse the victim often feels as though they are not adequately meeting their partner’s needs.
I work in the mental health field and work with women who have been emotional and physically abused by their spouse. Majority of the women I work with ha...
Preventing domestic violence starts with understanding the causes of it. As defined by helpguide.org domestic violence is characterized as, “Domestic abuse, also known as spousal abuse, occurs when one person in an intimate relationship or marriage tries to dominate and control the other person. Domestic abuse that includes physical violence is called domestic violence.” Domestic violence has many effects to victims such as physical and mental problems; also victims can lose their jobs because of nonattendance due to illness as a result of the violence. “Compared to women with no mental health disorders, measured over their adult life, women with depressive disorders were around 2.5 times more likely to have been victims of domestic violence (with a prevalence estimated at 45.8%)”(Paddock 2). According to Smith, “Emotional abuse includes verbal abuse such as yelling, name-calling, blaming, and shaming. Isolation, intimidation, and controlling behavior also fall under emotional abuse.” “For economically stressed battered women, ...
Workplace violence is a frustrating issue confronting businesses today. While more data on the reason for violence and how to handle it is getting known, there is frequently no sensible basis for this sort of behavior and, in spite of all that we know or do, fierce circumstances happen. No superintendent is resistant from working environment brutality and no manager can completely anticipate it.Workplace violence can cause many issues for a business, from extra expense, to how to deal with the problem, and prevent it from happening in the future.
75% of cases of domestic violence result in physical injury or mental health consequences to women. Due to reports of...
Domestic violence affects a large amount of relationships in the United States each year. As the times have changed, abuse has become less accepted as a normal occurrence, and society has begun working together to provide awareness towards violence in intimate partner relationships. “Problems of family violence are potentially the most destructive in our society” (Kurland 23). Domestic violence is a problem that begins in the home, and spreads to affect the world around it. Violence is present in relationships of all demographics, be it race, sexual orientation, or social class. No one is entirely safe from experiencing abuse, but if society is taught to recognize the signs it can save a life or even prevent abuse from happening.
Domestic violence can affect families in more ways than one: the husband-wife relationship, the children, and also the financial stability. “One woman is beaten by her husband or partner every 15 seconds in the United States” (Stewart & Croudep, 1998-2012). Domestic violence can interfere with the husband-wife relationship because one spouse is always in constant fear of the other. This violence could vary from physical abuse to psychological abuse, meaning that the abuser persuades the victim that they deserve the beating.... ...
Historically, domestic violence was viewed as only involving physical abuse. However, the more contemporary view of domestic violence has come to include not only physical types of abuse; but as well as emotional, sexual, physiological, and economic violence that may be committed
The scary part is that this number does not even account for the numerous cases that are not even reported. Many victims are threatened or even hurt so badly that they must keep their mouth shut in fear of even worse abuse to come. Of course, a large portion of these victims are women, which makes it even more understandable. In order to deal with the after effects of domestic abuse, women need social and emotional support (Svavarsdóttir et al.).
Domestic violence is a devastating social problem that impacts every sector of our population. Domestic violence is a pattern of abusive behavior in any relationship that is used by one partner to gain or maintain power and control over another intimate partner(USDOJ,2012). Domestic violence can be physical, economic, emotional, sexual, or psychological. Physical domestic violence is an attempt to impose physical injury such as grabbing, slapping, hitting, biting, etc. Physical violence can also be withholding necessary resources to sustain health such as medication, food, sleep, or forcing alcohol or other drug use. Economic abuse is an attempt to make the victim financially dependent. Such as sustaining control over financial resources including the victims earned income, forbidding employment, on the job harassment, or withholding information about family expenses. Emotional abuse can be the attempt to undermine the victims self worth. This could be belittling the victim, name calling, insults, criticism, manipulating, etc. Sexual abuse is any sexual contact without consent. For example, marital rape, attacks on sexual parts of the body, forced sex, forced prostitution. Sexual abuse can also be an attempt to undermine the victims sexuality by treating them in a derogatory manner, criticizing sexual performance, or withholding sex. Psychological abuse is the attempt to implant fear. This could involve intimidation, threats of physical harm, harassment, mind games, and stalking. Psychological abuse can also be an attempt to isolate victim from friends and family member. Abusers can go so far as withholding access to a telephone, transportation, constant check ups, forced imprisonment, and undermining personal relationships. Dome...
“Domestic violence is the leading cause of injury to women in the United States” (Jones 87). Every twelve seconds, a woman is beaten by a man (Jones 6). Every nine days, a woman is murdered by her husband or boyfriend (Jones 7). Statistics like these outline the severity and seriousness of the domestic violence epidemic in this country. Unfortunately, it has taken lawmakers too long to recognize domestic violence as a devastating situation that affects millions of people both physically and emotionally. Domestic violence affects not just people, but businesses as well. Domestic violence results in high turnover and absenteeism at work, extended sick leave, and losses in productivity (Jones 12). The financial cost of domestic violence on business productivity helped facilitate government intervention towards addressing domestic violence, and encouraged laws protecting victims of this type of abuse.
Domestic violence is skyrocketing in our society. In the U.S., as many as 1.5 million women and 850,000 men were physically assaulted by their intimate partner last year, and numerous children abused by their parents. These sad criminal acts will continue to grow in our society, unless our community takes action to stop these crimes. First of all, the most important tool we have available against this type of crime are the authorities, which include the police department, hospital, and social workers. If they manage to work together as a team to make the whole process of protecting a victim more efficient, it will encourage victims to actually phone for help.