Why go DVFREE?

Employees who experience domestic violence

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is the form of domestic violence most commonly experienced by employees. People using violence might undermine their partner’s employment through:

• Sabotage - hiding or destroying a partner’s work phone or laptop, making them late for work, disrupting sleep so they’re tired at work
• Stalking - 17% of employees separated from an abusive partner reported being stalked by their ex-partners outside of their workplace or house – behaviour that is highly correlated with high risk violence. (McFarlane et al, 2002)
• Harassment - interfering with a partner working, eg, constantly interrupting them at work with phone calls, emails, texts, etc. or coming into the workplace to distract, annoy, or monitor the person (Swanberg et al, 2005).

A New Zealand study of employees experiencing domestic violence found that:

• Domestic violence affected the ability to get to work for 38% of participants, with 62% reporting that physical injury or restraint was responsible for their difficulties; and 65% reported that concerns over childcare were responsible. Over half (53%) reported that they needed to take time off from work because of the abuse. Most reported an impact on their work performance by either making them late for work (84%) or making them distracted, tired or unwell (16%).
• Just over half (53%) did not disclose their abuse to anyone in their workplace, with privacy and shame being the most commonly-cited reasons. (Rayner-Thomas, 2013)

Domestic violence has an enormous impact on both mental and physical wellbeing. Women who experience severe intimate partner violence are eight times more likely to attempt suicide. (NZ Ministry of Justice Crime and Safety Survey, 2009) 

How employment helps someone experiencing domestic violence

For someone experiencing domestic violence, secure employment can improve financial stability, promote physical safety, and improve social connectedness. The workplace can provide important stretches of time where an employee can make plans to improve their safety and wellbeing.

The impact on co-workers

In an Australian study, 45% of people who experienced domestic violence disclosed the abuse to colleagues. (Safe at Home, Safe at Work survey, 2011)

Co-workers may feel distressed, try to help the employee, cover for them, or they themselves may be directly harassed by the person using violence.

Co-workers may experience distress after hearing about an employee’s experience of domestic violence. This is especially the case in the aftermath of a co-worker being seriously injured or killed by an abusive partner.

Employees who perpetrate domestic violence

Employees may also use worktime and resources to perpetrate domestic violence.

A 2004 USA study (State of Maine, Department of Labor) of domestic violence offenders found:

• 78% used workplace resources at least once to express remorse or anger, check up on, pressure, or threaten the victim.
• 70% of offenders lost 15,221 hours of worktime due to their domestic violence arrests.
• 48% of offenders had difficulty concentrating at work, with 19% reporting a workplace accident or near miss from inattentiveness due to preoccupation with their relationship
• 42% were late to work

In 2021, the New Zealand Government launched Te Aorerekura: The National Strategy to Eliminate Family Violence and Sexual Violence.  The 25-year strategy identifies that workplaces have a key role to play in preventing, responding and healing when it comes to family violence. New Zealand has seen an enormous increase in reporting of domestic violence over the last two decades, likely driven by increasing public awareness. But prevalence rates have remained stubbornly static.

By working individually and collectively, New Zealand organisations can help create a society where domestic violence is a thing of the past. 

The impact on customers and frontline staff

Because of the prevalence of domestic violence, frontline staff come across customers impacted by domestic violence. This may be in obvious ways, such as hearing someone physically assault their partner or child. Or it may be in less obvious ways, such as:

• a customer who cannot pay their bill because of their partner’s financial abuse
• a customer that cannot make a decision without their partner’s approval.

These experiences often leave employees feeling distressed and worried about what to do. These feelings can impact on wellbeing and productivity.

Without training, employees often respond to customers impacted by domestic violence in ways that are unsafe or unhelpful. At best, these can be missed opportunities to provide support and a path to safety for someone in a time of crisis. At worst, staff may put customers in greater danger and also put the business at risk by doing the wrong thing.

Financial institutions - customer vulnerability

New Zealand financial institutions are now required by the NZ Financial Markets Authority to demonstrate how they meet the needs of customers experiencing “vulnerability”.  

A customer experiencing domestic violence may become more unsafe through a failure to act (by calling Police if there is imminent risk), or through actions such as sharing the customer’s contact details with an abusive partner after they have relocated to a confidential address, or requiring that their partner agree to close a joint account.

The Domestic Violence – Victims’ Protection Act 2018 creates legal entitlements for paid domestic violence leave, short-term flexible working, and no adverse treatment on the basis of being affected by domestic violence.  These provisions are a good start, but do not include other important support provisions recommended by DVFREE, including workplace safety and wellbeing planning.

New Zealand Employers bear significant economic costs associated with domestic violence, estimated in 2014 to be at least $368 million per year. (Kahui et al, 2014)