| Each year, somewhere between 1 and 4 million | | | | terminate the employee because of substandard |
| American women are assaulted by an intimate | | | | performance if the situation is affective the quality of |
| partner. That may sound like a personal problem, but | | | | her work. But that doesn't do anything to help the |
| domestic violence is clearly a business issue. The | | | | victim avoid serious injury or death; it also doesn't do |
| impact of that violence spills over into the workplace | | | | anything to preserve your corporate investment in |
| in the form of increased absenteeism, high insurance | | | | the employee's training and work. |
| costs for medical claims, lower productivity, and the | | | | A better strategy is to help. One way is to provide |
| relative risk to other employees if the batterer | | | | all employees with information about domestic |
| decides to attack his partner at work. In fact, the | | | | violence. Even if you are unaware of any specific |
| Department of Justice reports that husbands and | | | | situations, this will let them know you are concerned |
| boyfriends commit 13,000 acts of violence against | | | | for their safety and you will support them if they |
| women in the workplace every year, and more than | | | | have a problem. |
| 70 percent of employed victims report that their | | | | If you identify a domestic violence victim, work with |
| abusers have harassed them at work. Perpetrators | | | | her (or him-men can be victims of domestic violence |
| cause over 60 percent of their victims to be either | | | | as well) to create a safety plan. Safety planning |
| late to and/or absent from work. If the victim has | | | | benefits the victim, your company and the |
| left the abuser and relocated to a shelter or to an | | | | community. By supporting the victim and developing a |
| address he doesn't have, he still knows where the | | | | plan to make her less vulnerable at work, the entire |
| victim works and will often try to find her there. | | | | workplace becomes safer. At the same time, you |
| What should you do if either suspect or have clear | | | | send a clear message to the abuser and to the |
| evidence that one of your employees is a victim of | | | | community at large that domestic violence will not be |
| domestic violence? It may be tempting to simply look | | | | tolerated or ignored. |
| the other way or, as many companies have done, | | | | |